Posted: Aug 17 2011 at 9:23am | IP Logged

Hello all!

I have a 2004 Frontier (V6, Crew cab) with just under 100,000 mi on it, and a bad supercharger that has been through a lot. I’m hoping someone can give me some advice on swapping it out for a new one, and how difficult that might be. I’m not a mechanic, and haven’t worked on my truck much, but I’m pretty handy with lots of other things and I am hoping this is a project I can do myself - because the dealership wants 2300 to fix it.

Here is the background: the supercharger started making a bunch of noise about 3 years ago. I was told by the dealership it was bad and the price they quoted me was 2100. I had a friend who thought rebuilding the supercharger (replacing all the bearing) would be the cheap fix. 600$ in parts later, it appeared to be done. Then he fired up the engine and realized he had forgotten to take a rag out of the intake. Needless to say, it was a mess, and the whole thing had to be taken apart again. End result: it didn’t sound better; it just made a slightly different noise. So I had been driving around for about 30,000 mi with it like this until about a month ago when the noise got worse (like cement in a blender) you cant even hold a conversation next to the truck when its idling. This time the dealership (different one in another part of the state) quoted me 2300.

The part I need appears to be an Eaton, and it looks fairly simple to replace: 6-8 bolts, replace a gasket, maybe hook up a sensor.. Let me know if im totally off on this.

Any comments, suggestions or feedback would be great. 

Looking forward to hearing from the Frotier community!

thanks,

Posted: Aug 18 2011 at 12:19pm | IP Logged

Thanks for the feedback frontierguy. Ill be sure to check your #2 point, I hadnt thought of that. I need to check if there is a seperate belt or if it is part of the serpentine.

Also, I always thought hi-octane fuel was more of a suggestion than a requirement, sounds like thats not the case, I hope I havent screwed it permenantly. Ill fill it up with the good stuff tonight and see what kind of difference that makes.

If it helps at all, i found out the engine configuration is a "VG33ER".

Thanks again,

Posted: Aug 22 2011 at 1:25pm | IP Logged

Update -

After filling up with 93, and putting in some system cleaner, its definitely running better. I took off the supercharger/ac belt and ruled out the timing belt.

Bottom line is this: supercharger is still bad, but not so bad. I think I can hold out for another 30,000 mi before I will need to replace it.

Anyone know what risks might be involved in holding off on replacing SC? If I risk permenant damage, ill get it done tomorrow. If its just a matter of it sounding bad, i can put up with that for a while.

Thanks,