[Video] Blower shot or bad pulley bearings...or something else?

[vipergts281]

[Video + Pics]Blower Problems?? Here is what an Eaton looks like after 151,500+ miles

Post #34 - More pics added and the problem was found. It was a bad tensioner pulley on the back belt.

 

[Posi]

Take the belt off and spin the supercharger by hand to see if you can feel anything at all inside it. Or if the sound is still there then that means it's not the blower itself.

 

[vipergts281]

Take the belt off and spin the supercharger by hand to see if you can feel anything at all inside it. Or if the sound is still there then that means it's not the blower itself.

It spins fine. Don't hear anything abnormal when I spin it by hand. I'm about 1/3 of the way through removing the blower (taking a quick break). I needed to remove it anyway to fix the SC coolant leak. It's gorgeous outside so I figured today is a good day to get pissed at my car while I work on it. :lol1: I hate working on my car.

On the edge of the valve cover I found a little piece of metal just sitting there. Not a good sign. But it looks like it's been there awhile judging by all of the grime on it.

And so far I don't see anything obviously broken/chewed up/etc.

I'll snap a pic of the piece of metal. (EDIT: Pics included below)

Filthy, needs a cleaning!!

In this picture, that little "ledge" (right behind the piece of metal) is where I found it.

 

[vipergts281]

Blower is off. IC is still connected...can't find the damn air ratchet.
I'll update later when I get the IC separate from the blower and can actually see the inside of the blower.

As of now the blower spins freely and there is no obvious leak/hole in the IC. Which, in a way, I was hoping to find...would explain how coolant got into the TB.

See this thread for more details if you care.

 

[Posi]

I'll be watching here to see what you find. Will look at your other thread later or tomorrow. Good luck.

 

[dynobobstieg]

Actually could be several things call us and we can go over everything with you.
If you send it in to us we do not charge to evaluate.
We do have a blower dyno to put it on.:beer:
Thank you
STIEGEMEIER:burnout:
636-949-2275
Stiegemeier Porting Services, LLC - Supercharger Rebuild and Repair

 

[vipergts281]

I'll be watching here to see what you find. Will look at your other thread later or tomorrow. Good luck.

Thanks!

I have some updates I'll post about later. I just got done taking the IC off the SC.

Actually could be several things call us and we can go over everything with you.
If you send it in to us we do not charge to evaluate.
We do have a blower dyno to put it on.:beer:
Thank you
STIEGEMEIER:burnout:
636-949-2275
Stiegemeier Porting Services, LLC - Supercharger Rebuild and Repair

I'm glad you posted! I'll be uploading a pic I'd like you to look at. There is a tiny gouge in the rotors of the SC. Not sure how it could have gotten there.

And I may end up sending it out to you.

I'll get the pic up soon, and maybe we can talk on the phone tomorrow.

 

[Posi]

If there is a tiny gouge in the rotor all that needs to be done is to just deburr it to get it back to how it should be. Even if there is a small hole or cavity. You'll be amazed at how bad a set of rotors could be damaged and still put out the same hp as a set that's perfect.

Please post the pictures so we can see what it is and so EVERYONE can learn something. That's how all of us benefit from forums.:beer:

 

[Posi]

Also keep in mind with the mileage on your blower that the rear needle bearings are more than likely pretty worn and also you're going to need a snout rebuild. Then you're still stuck with a high mileage blower.

Now the reason I say this is because you can pick up a 50,000 or less blower in the Market Section and have a blower for $300 shipped to your door for a LOT less than it's going to cost to get the one you have back to almost new condition.

Have you checked your alternator by chance for that noise? I've had people think they had bad blowers or something wrong with them only to find out the noise was coming from the alternator. Trust me they thought it was from their blower and sent video's to prove it lol. It's hard to tell exactly where a noise is coming from sometimes.

 

[vipergts281]

Also keep in mind with the mileage on your blower that the rear needle bearings are more than likely pretty worn and also you're going to need a snout rebuild. Then you're still stuck with a high mileage blower.

Now the reason I say this is because you can pick up a 50,000 or less blower in the Market Section and have a blower for $300 shipped to your door for a LOT less than it's going to cost to get the one you have back to almost new condition.

Have you checked your alternator by chance for that noise?

Good luck with getting your car back to tip-top shape.:beer:

Yeah, I saw someone selling their blower for $260 plus shipping. They are pretty cheap. I actually used to have a spare blower. I got it with the intention of having it ported. Then decided to stop modding my car so I sold it.

And yeah, I'm guessing mine could probably use a rebuild because of the mileage. But like you said, it may be better to just get a lower mileage one.

And I am on my 3rd or 4th alternator, I lost count. After telling a friend about this (he has a fully built turbo'd Cobra), he mentioned that it could be a timing chain tensioner (sp??) that went bad or the timing chain guide pivot broke (or both). So I went into research mode and it may be a bad timing tensioner.

Someone else on here posted a video of their car making a noise and it was a bad timing chain tensioner. It's this video...

[youtube_browser]FXeleV88ZHc[/youtube_browser]


From this thread.

My car was making the same exact noise (that inconsistent tick/slap noise from :01-10 seconds in the video). But again, it also made a grinding noise.

Anyway, here are the pics...

Notice the gunk at the bottom. It had the consitentcy of peanut butter...like the kind in Reese's peanut butter cups (maybe a tiny bit thicker)

It was also on these...(which btw is where the IC coolant must have been leaking, the o-rings are bad. They popped right in and out of the IC, no tension/pressure whatsoever.)

Blower removed...

Dirty blower!!

Here you can see the gouge in the rotors. The one on the left is raised a little bit, which made the mark on the right side. Can I just sand that down?

You can see some more wear here, up top...

Random blower shots...

Filthy intercooler!

 

[04svtsnke]

Man you'll probably gain 20 hp from just cleaning that stuff up, lol! I think posi was saying to debur the rotors is they were nicked up. I'd get your intercooler sonic cleaned. It's the best way to ensure all that gunk is out of there. 10 bottles of brake cleaner would do a pretty good job as well. Probably wouldn't hurt to get a catchcan setup to keep all that oil from your intake, lower intake, and blower( it seems).

 

[vipergts281]

Here is another video from about 3 days ago. Around the :07-:10 mark you can hear a whine noise. I was getting a lot of that as well.

Btw, the rest of the video you don't really hear anything, so no need to waste your time going past the 12 second mark or so...unless you want to hear a Cobra accelerate.

[youtube_browser]CENApbel-BQ[/youtube_browser]

Man you'll probably gain 20 hp from just cleaning that stuff up, lol! I think posi was saying to debur the rotors is they were nicked up. I'd get your intercooler sonic cleaned. It's the best way to ensure all that gunk is out of there. 10 bottles of brake cleaner would do a pretty good job as well. Probably wouldn't hurt to get a catchcan setup to keep all that oil from your intake, lower intake, and blower( it seems).

I was planning on using brake cleaner but there is a machine shop right near me that does cleaning. I may just have them clean it up if the price is reasonable. I'll see if they offer the sonic clean...never heard of that before.

And yes, I plan on installing a catch can when I put everything back together.

 

[Posi]

Those spots on the rotors are very easy to clean off. You could do it by hand with sandpaper in just a few minutes just like you were asking. You would just need to get the high spots back down to the same level as the rest of the rotor in that one particular area.

Honestly right now I don't see how it's your blower. They should make random loud noises and then the noise disappear. If you had some loud noise and IF it was coming from there it would be the rotors hitting either the case or themselves. Then it would not disappear because with friction comes heat and with more heat comes more friction.

Same goes for bad bearings too. If they make noise they should calm back down again. Unless it was noisey and then you added the oil and it calmed down.

Most of those spots on your rotor tips are just small pieces of debri's that's made it past your air filter over the years. You can sand them down easier than the other spots really easy.

 

[hotcobra03]

Those spots on the rotors are very easy to clean off. You could do it by hand with sandpaper in just a few minutes just like you were asking. You would just need to get the high spots back down to the same level as the rest of the rotor in that one particular area.

Honestly right now I don't see how it's your blower. They should make random loud noises and then the noise disappear. If you had some loud noise and IF it was coming from there it would be the rotors hitting either the case or themselves. Then it would not disappear because with friction comes heat and with more heat comes more friction.

Same goes for bad bearings too. If they make noise they should calm back down again. Unless it was noisey and then you added the oil and it calmed down.

Most of those spots on your rotor tips are just small pieces of debri's that's made it past your air filter over the years. You can sand them down easier than the other spots really easy.

posi,, mine sounded like it had marbles in it

when i had mine off..it looked like his except i had more black on the rotors,,,,it was thick and flaking off ,,

i had to pull rotors to be able to fully clean...

from the home work i did i seen some did come with coated rotors,,they said it only helped to lower the temps...

is this true?

 

[Posi]

posi,, mine sounded like it had marbles in it

when i had mine off..it looked like his except i had more black on the rotors,,,,it was thick and flaking off ,,

i had to pull rotors to be able to fully clean...

from the home work i did i seen some did come with coated rotors,,they said it only helped to lower the temps...

is this true?

I've never seen anything about lowering temperatures with the different types of coating on the rotors. So I'll say that isn't true. Some coatings flake off and some just wear off.

 

[hotcobra03]

I've never seen anything about lowering temperatures with the different types of coating on the rotors. So I'll say that isn't true. Some coatings flake off and some just wear off.

this wasnt the link but it also says it..here they say 2 different types are used

The High Speed Lab Eaton M-Series Rotor Assembly Rebuild Service, Eaton Rotor Coating and Case Coating

 

[hotcobra03]

Yeah, I saw someone selling their blower for $260 plus shipping. They are pretty cheap. I actually used to have a spare blower. I got it with the intention of having it ported. Then decided to stop modding my car so I sold it.

And yeah, I'm guessing mine could probably use a rebuild because of the mileage. But like you said, it may be better to just get a lower mileage one.

And I am on my 3rd or 4th alternator, I lost count. After telling a friend about this (he has a fully built turbo'd Cobra), he mentioned that it could be a timing chain tensioner (sp??) that went bad or the timing chain guide pivot broke (or both). So I went into research mode and it may be a bad timing tensioner.

Someone else on here posted a video of their car making a noise and it was a bad tensioner. It's this video...

[youtube_browser]FXeleV88ZHc[/youtube_browser]


From this thread.

My car was making the same exact noise (that inconsistent tick/slap noise from :01-10 seconds in the video). But again, it also made a grinding noise.

Anyway, here are the pics...

Notice the gunk at the bottom. It had the consitentcy of peanut butter...like the kind in Reese's peanut butter cups (maybe a tiny bit thicker)

It was also on these...(which btw is where the IC coolant must have been leaking, the o-rings are bad. They popped right in and out of the IC, no tension/pressure whatsoever.)

Blower removed...

Dirty blower!!

Here you can see the gouge in the rotors. The one on the left is raised a little bit, which made the mark on the right side. Can I just sand that down?

You can see some more wear here, up top...

Random blower shots...

Filthy intercooler!

are you going to pull the lower intake out???

there is a vaccum hose going under to that hole...thats where i had leak causing po171/174...

hose would not pull off nipple but would spin on nipple...i put hose clamp on it....

than do you see now about removing the stuff around blower to make easier to pull with lower still attached

 

[Posi]

this wasnt the link but it also says it..here they say 2 different types are used

The High Speed Lab Eaton M-Series Rotor Assembly Rebuild Service, Eaton Rotor Coating and Case Coating

Okay I worded that wrong. Sorry. Maybe it does help the rotors with heat but it will never touch the IAT2's or Downstream temperatures that we care about.

The main thing with rotors are a set that fit properly and that can be pretty far off as well. To the loose side so they don't lock up obviously.

My very first port that was done in Public and then posted for all to see was an upper only (2.8) car. Typical rotor to case clearance is .004" and this blower had .010" to .013" if I remember correctly. To say I was worried was an understatement but I told myself if this thing makes good power then my ports are going to be good forever. It put out 508hp which is right in line with any upper only car.:beer:

OP sorry for the hi-jack.:beer:

 

[vipergts281]

Those spots on the rotors are very easy to clean off. You could do it by hand with sandpaper in just a few minutes just like you were asking.

Honestly right now I don't see how it's your blower. They should make random loud noises and then the noise disappear. If you had some loud noise and IF it was coming from there it would be the rotors hitting either the case or themselves. Then it would not disappear because with friction comes heat and with more heat comes more friction.

Most of those spots on your rotor tips are just small pieces of debri's that's made it past your air filter over the years. You can sand them down easier than the other spots really easy.

Thanks for the info.

Yeah, after taking it off, it appears my blower is fine. Not sure if you caught it above in one of my posts, but it sounds like I may have a bad timing tensioner.

are you going to pull the lower intake out???

there is a vaccum hose going under to that hole...thats where i had leak causing po171/174...

hose would not pull off nipple but would spin on nipple...i put hose clamp on it....

than do you see now about removing the stuff around blower to make easier to pull with lower still attached

I would like to remove the lower intake to clean it.

How hard is it to remove the intake at this point? I only have 4 bolts holding it down right now. Is it just as simple as removing them all and lifting it out (and disconnecting the vacuum hose)?

The main thing with rotors are a set that fit properly and that can be pretty far off as well. To the loose side so they don't lock up obviously.

OP sorry for the hi-jack.:beer:

No problem. :beer:

Should I not open up the snout on my blower? I swear I remember reading that you shouldn't mess with them because they are hard to get back together properly (or something along those lines).


As of right now the plan was to clean the IC, sand down the burrs on the blower rotors, put new o-rings on the IC tubes, and then put everything back together.

Although, how long can you run around with a bad timing chain tensioner? Can you ruin your engine (or something else) if you go too long with a bad one? I thought I red something about a chain jumping??

I have ZERO desire to do that fix myself, I would just pay someone.

 

[Posi]

Honestly there's no reason to break the seal on the snout at all. Not unless you just want to really clean everything out. You could do this by putting some type of cleaner in it and spinning the snout shaft by hand and leaning it forward to get it up in the front bearings too. Then just let it drain out the fill/drain hole. Then just spray everything back out with Brake Cleaner really good.

After that just refill with whatever oil you're going to use and the snout will think it had been taken apart.


Now if you want to take it apart it's very easy to do.

1. Drain oil

2. Take the snout bolts out

3. Whack the front of the snout up towards the pulley with a rubber mallet. When this breaks loose you sould be able to "wiggle" (by grabbing the pulley) the snout up and down and it should come right off.

4. Now if you want to you can now remove the rotors that are attached to the rotor plate. If you look in say the 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock positions there are some nice TABS to hit with that same mallet. Hit those and see if it comes loose. Once it starts moving it comes out pretty easy. If you can't get it to move if you look underneath the rotor plate you'll see some really good places to pry on. Between the two you'll get it taken apart.

5. You can clean the rear needle bearings by using brake cleaner and an acid brush. This will get everything out of them. You can use a hose to help rinse if off in the process.

For reassembly..

1. Pack the rear needle bearings with synthetic grease and you'll only need 3 small fingertips worth in each one. If you put to much in that's fine but try not to.

2. The rotor pack does not need to seal inside the case so I always just slide that back in after cleaning all the old sealant off. This makes it to where if the blower ever has to be taken back apart it's very easy to do so.

3. Clean both the surfaces for the snout with brake cleaner and a scotch brite pad. Then you can use the Anaerobic sealant to seal this or even black RTV sealant as well. Be sure and put it on super thin because when you tighten the snout up whatever oozes outside the snout area is also going inside the snout. What I do is put it on super thin and then use my finger to smear it around on the snout.

4. Clean the snout bolts and put a tiny bit of loctite on them. Retorque in a star pattern to 23ft lbs.


It's really this easy and YOU CANNOT put it back together wrong. It's impossible because there are hollow dowels to locate everything back to where it needs to be.

If you have any questions just shoot me a pm or post them here.