supercharger oil...

I bought a supercharged MR2 and the PO didn't want to buy the Toyota Supercharger Oil (that seemed to contain the seed of dinosaurs, it was soo expensive). He claimed he sent the oil in some where and they came back and said it was Honda's power steering oil.

When you google GM: 12345982 you can find hits for under $10 a bottle. So in theory you should be able to beat down your local dealer. Or at least ask them for a wholesale price. All they can do is say no... (People ask me for discounts all the time where I work, (Acura, Nissan.) And I say no... )

novaderrik wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: I'd just call Magnusson directly if you really want to know.

Eaton made the supercharger, and the people at the oil distributor did call them.. they seem to think that the specs of the oil is a state secret that would lead to the downfall of society if it were to get out..

Yeah, but Magnusson takes care of the aftermarket end of things, which is where you're more likely to get info

Sure is a lot of effort to save a couple of bucks. What's your time worth? How much of other people's time are you spending to save $20?

Ian F wrote: There's a reason why nobody has gone to great lengths to come up with an alternative: it doesn't make financial sense.

There are many alternatives. Like I said before, I worked on blowers for a long time. it's a few gears, a few bearings and a couple seals. It's not rocket surgery.

EDIT: The info in that link shows that the ISO VG is very close to that of Synchromesh, or Redline 70/80 GL4. Either of which will do the job. Redlines' high temp ATF would also work.

Zomby Woof wrote:

Ian F wrote: There's a reason why nobody has gone to great lengths to come up with an alternative: it doesn't make financial sense.

There are many alternatives. Like I said before, I worked on blowers for a long time. it's a few gears, a few bearings and a couple seals. It's not rocket surgery. EDIT: The info in that link shows that the ISO VG is very close to that of Synchromesh, or Redline 70/80 GL4. Either of which will do the job. Redlines' high temp ATF would also work.

one page i found this morning also said something about the volatility of the oil being important, too, since there is no vent anywhere on the blower and the seals will get blown out if you use something that evaporates.. i've done enough reading and talking to people to kind of start to fool myself into thinking i'm starting to understand the needs of this particular application a little bit..

In reply to Zomby Woof:

It's your car. You can do what you want. Personally, I've done the R&R job of the MINI supercharger enough times that saving $10 isn't worth the risk to me. There is so little oil in the housing, that $20 bottle is damn near a lifetime supply of oil changes.

novaderrik wrote: one page i found this morning also said something about the volatility of the oil being important, too, since there is no vent anywhere on the blower and the seals will get blown out if you use something that evaporates.. i've done enough reading and talking to people to kind of start to fool myself into thinking i'm starting to understand the needs of this particular application a little bit..

That would explain why the special blower oil is a nasty, stringy fluid, rather like Phil Wood Tenacious Oil, a substance that most people lubricated their chains with exactly once.

Speaking from the service side, it's almost always cheaper to just use whatever fluid the manufacturer calls for. The lone exception that I can think of is ZF automatic transmissions, they seem to last much MUCH longer if you use a synthetic Dexron III instead of whatever expensive junk they call for...

In reply to Ian F:

No.

It's his car. He wasn't asking about the recommended oil. He was asking for an alternative. I gave him my recommendations based on my years of experience.

I don't disagree with your assessment, but that's not what he was asking.