Hey guys,

So after installing my V2 kit about 5 weeks ago, I noticed a very minor oil leak and really wasn't too concerned with it. To the extent that it was not even dripping on the ground. After a few weeks, it began to drip on the pavement, at which point I thought that the oil sandwich adapter wasn't tight enough. So I drained the oil, retightened the sandwich plate adapter bolt, and put everything back together. Oil still leaked. So I bought a new sandwich adapter under the assumption that the fitting for the feed line was not sealed correctly. So I sealed it properly and waited for everything to cure. Cleaned everything up and it is definitely NOT coming from the feedline/oil filter area, it is indeed dripping from the top and getting thrown around from the belt, making it very difficult to source.

So my question is...

What sealant did you guys use for the drainback plate on the timing cover? I used the Permatex Copper gasket maker and made sure that I waited the proper time for it to cure and all. It does not appear that it is leaking from the drainback tube, and I have hose clams on both the plate end and the blower end that are tight as hell. Also, from what I can see, the drainback tube is dry near the fitting from the blower, but it looks like there is oil directly underneath the pulley on the blower.

Its making a mess and I really don't like the idea of having a lot of oil all over the hot blower. I am ready to pull the plate off the car and reseal the drainback plate cover and double check the drainback tube fittings, but I am trying to prevent countless hours of work if possible.

Can it be possible the the blower itself is leaking oil?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the wordy post.

Matt

 

One more thing, I replaced the CPS o-ring when I installed the S/C, as there was a minor leak coming from there before (but nothing was dripping on the pavement). So I am pretty sure we can rule that out...

 

I used Permatex® High-Temp Red RTV Silicone Gasket and from the description it sounds like copper is better. Perhaps the surface wasn't clean when it was applied.

 

Matt,

I used Permatex Grey, no issues.

It most certainly can come from the blower. Stick your hand underneath and see if you get any on your hands. Very common problem, even with rebuilt blowers.

 

Another thing to look at is your actual drain back hose. Mine used to leak like a damn sieve at the blower at high rpm because the drain hose was ever so slightly kinked. The restriction can also cause the front seal at the pulley on the blower to blow out (easily replaced with a new one from 928 motorsports - one of the only places i found the correct one at a reasonable cost).

Have you noticed any oil on the hood at all?

 

I wiped the area with brake cleaner and made sure that there was no existing sealant before reapplying the new drainback plate.

It looks like that is where it is coming from. I'll try and snap a couple of pictures tomorrow though. The blower has been rebuilt once before, I just don't know if it really needs another one now. There is zero play in the impeller shaft and its super quiet.



I don't think the drainback hose is kinked at all, I used molded heater hose too (which is stronger and less prone to kinking). Any more information on the front deal on the blower? Can we replace it without shipping it back to Vortech?

And yes there is oil all over the hood It looks like its getting on the belt and taking it for a ride all over the passenger side of my engine bay.

What gets me though is it hasn't been a consistent oil leak. Some days it drips more than others, which makes me think that it isn't the drainback plate but either a seal on the blower or the drainback tube itself.

 

i also used permatex ultra grey with no issues. make sure you clean the area very well and scrape off the old material on the engine black with a nail. oil can leak from the blower, timing cover, drain back plate or feed/drain hoses. check each one of those.

 

Based on that, it sounds very similar to what my blower was doing. I had the drain back hose on very tight, but even still it was backing up enough to cause reversion and come out around the nipple on the blower. Eventually my front seal failed, not dramatically or anything, but enough for it to start slinging oil all over my hood and around my engine bay.

I did mine very easily at home. I tapped out the old seal with an appropriate size socket and a rubber mallet and replaced it the same way. I found it to be a rather simple procedure for the amount that vortech and other companies charge to do it. I would recommend getting a new O-ring as well for the supercharger.

You can get both the seal and the o-ring here a bit cheaper than from 928 Motorsports:
http://www.superchargerrebuild.com/?page_id=6
You'll need a front cover O-ring and an input shaft seal (both are $20 each).

That again sounds like what I was experiencing when my blower started acting up. Originally I thought it was a leak at the drain back plate as well. I cleaned the whole engine, took it for a spin around the block and then checked where I could see oil coming from and it was running down from the bottom of the blower and also coming down the outside of the drain back hose. Part of the problem was that my hose was beginning to heat form from the hot oil constantly going through it (it was the mid-pipe intake hose that is typically used).

As far as the sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't part; it all depends on how you drive. I honestly found that on long drives that were mostly highway, I had very little leakage. If i did even mild city driving, there would be oil leakage. This is because of spikes in oil pressure from that type of driving. Getting nerdy, you also have to think about thermal expansion as well. The hose is going to expand and contract quite a bit faster than the metal. So while the hose may not look kinked, as it heats up and expands, it can cause the hose to collapse and kink on itself. If it is even slightly kinked, it can cause problems.

I'm still working on a hardline myself, but the problem is the angles you need. Since it's, more or less, gravity fed, sharp angles can cause restriction as well...

Anyway, i would pull of the blower and the pulley and look for any signs of failure around the input shaft seal and go from there.

 

Wow, thanks for the input! It makes me feel better that I am not the only one who has experienced this problem.

Im planning on spraying down the area with degreaser, and pressure washing it to try and figure out where exactly the leak is coming from up top. I spent the last month testing different feed line fittings, sandwich adapters and whatnot so its safe to say its not coming from down below.

I used molded heater hose (the crap that is 2x as thick and supposed to be more heat resistant, and I trimmed it several times to make sure that it wouldn't kink, but I understand what you are saying. My hose clams are on so tight that you can see the hose clamps imprinting on the hose too. The guy that had the kit before me might have had a drainback hose that was too long that could have caused damage to the seals for all I know.

Do you need to remove the pulley to replace the seals? Or can I simply take the plate off the car and leave the blower on the plate to get the job done?

And based on the small amount of oil leaking, how long did you wait to replace the seal? I can live with it as is for the rest of the summer and may consider waiting until the fall/winter to tackle this project as I want to enjoy the car during the few warm months we have in MA.


Thanks for your help man!!

 

That's what I did initially too, it really helps track down where the leak is coming from.

What kind of hose did you get (like what car, store, etc)? been looking to get a new hose myself next time I pull the SC'er off to change the tranny.

But you're right, it's a fairly common problem from the people I've talked about (the drain back hose), so the previous owner may have been the one to cause some of the damage to the seal if in fact it is messed up. I would also recommend calling Vortech and verifying with them that the blower has been rebuilt. I called about mine after the seal went only to find that the blower I had been told had been rebuilt a year prior had never been serviced in 9 years...

Yeah you're going to have to pull the SC'er and remove the pulley. You're also going to have to open the back of the super charger and open it up to replace the seal. That's why i recommended getting a new body o-ring for the supercharger. Mine looked fine when I opened it up and tried to re-use it and it developed a leak. $20 is cheap insurance that i don't have the spend a couple hours removing everything again....

I honestly cannot stand the smell of burning/hot oil. Also, the smoke that would venture into the car made me smell like the car... I waited about a week after figuring out it was the input seal fix it (4 days was just waiting for it to ship to me from 928 Motorsports). You have to keep in mind though that crap can find its way into the supercharger and mix with your oil. Not saying the oil filter wont help with that, but still. It really doesn't take long at all to open it up change the seal and o-ring and be back on the road with no leak... And at $40 plus shipping (both things are really light and small), i don't see why you wouldn't just do it even as cheap insurance in case your SC'er seal is fine for in the future.

 

I could say your timing chain cover is where the leak is comming from. I had the same leak. My blower was not leaking, my drain back plate was not leaking, my return line was not leaking i checked everything. Oil managed to get outa the timing chain cover where the blower is bolted. I re-sealed the entire cover and problem solved. This was my experience but I can't say your situation is the same. Just giving you my $.02

 

Did you take the entire cover off to reseal ? Im getting a slight leak after my blower was put on right near the alternator, coming from the cover. Its weird because there was only 10K miles on this motor. Def has to do with the blower being mounted up

 

I got molded heater hose from autozone, I am not sure of the part number but it has the two 90 degree bends molded and required some cutting of the ends to shorten it (maybe 2" on each end). IIRC it was something like $15 for the small rubber hosing lol.

I called Vortech and they said that it was last serviced in 2007, even though the previous owner told me it only had about 5000-6000 miles on it. Guess that's a risk of buying a used kit


So are these two seals the only seals that Vortech charges nearly $400 for their basic rebuild?

The only time I can smell just a hint of burning oil is if I go WOT and do a hard pull. Cruising around town, highway driving and mildly spirited runs don't smell at all, which makes keeps telling me to wait to investigate this problem, haha. Thankfully it isn't smoking up the cabin and making me smell

But it is definitely something to look into in the future. I am still going to spray down the whole passenger side of my engine bay with degreaser and watch carefully.

I actually read matty's thread about this, did you pull the engine to reseal it? Did you actually replace the seal or did you clean it up and permatex it again? I really hope its not the timing cover leaking

 

Yep! That is exactly where my leak started and it only got worst and worst and worst. I took the entire timing cover off. Cleaned it good, used the gray silicone gasket maker and put it back on. Problem solved. My leak also started right after I installed my blower.

 

Forgot to add, that damn leak killed my alternator.

 

It depends, your also forgetting the shipping costs and the sometimes 3-8 weeks of down time (depending on race seasons). There is another seal going to the charged side of the supercharger at the impeller as well. They may also replace the bearings if they're worn out which requires pressing out the old ones and pressing on new ones. Full repair/service kits can be had for as little as $200 for brand new bearings (which are ABEC-7 versus the standard ABEC-5, meaning they can spin a good 7k rpm more with no issues).

 

this is the right way to do this... but when this happened to me after the blower install i realized the bolt wasnt helping seal the timing case above the alternator.

thus slow leak. it would leak a bit more once well heated up.

There wasnt proper amount of force beign exerted to the valve cover side of the timing case after it pased through the adapting bolt etc.
This is the one the v2. uses that copper adapter to fit. the one that is right above where alternator on the timing case.

I took that adapter etc off, used OEM timing case bolt at that location, remounted teh blower leaving that bolt out all together. and it stopped the leak.

just FYI.

hmm.. aslo i have to look at this seal procedure. for the O ring and oil on the blower...

 

ahh, oil leaks after installing a s/c. been there. lol

my first leak came one night during tuning... actually, i lost all of my oil. light came as soon as i parked.


the culprit was probably my drainback hose being kinked...and i guess it blew out that seal. i knew it was sliiiiightly kinked, but didnt think it would do this. so i got a new hose, probably just like the one you have now. 2 90 degree bends, from Advance auto. its just a bypass hose sitting with their radiator hoses. oh, i actually sealed that seal with rtv around the outside of the seal so that it wouldnt leak or blow out again. It made the blower much quieter after this as well. (i can only assume this helped in some way with oil pressure and bearings?)

Then i had a leak coming from my timing cover as well. The cover was splitting near the front valve cover. Longer bolt solved that issue. Then i had a small leak from the oil pressure sensor fitting. got a different fitting and fixed that. THeeeennn, had a leak for the longest time coming from the drainback plate, so i sealed that back up. And now, i can say i am now oil leak free (knock on wood). So yeah, check all those.

 

Dayum that's alot of damn leaks hahaha. Glad you took care of all of them.

 

seriously.

Please people who istall SC. if you have kinked hose etc. just get a new one at $5-$10. This will save you so much trouble in terms of taking off blower and cleaning etc.

Did all of the guys with the leak use the V2 plate or V1?

 

Bumping this thread because I finally took the plate off tonight. The results were not what I was hoping for...

As you can see in the picture below, it looks like my oil leak is coming from one of the seals on the blower. The seal on both ends of the drainback tube were tight and the fitting on the bottom of the blower was dry and oil free.



My question is, will the "basic" Vortech rebuild fix this seal issue? Or is there something that I can do myself (replacing the seal) that would hopefully fix this issue, saving both time and money.

 

Just pick up a front seal and a body O-ring from one of the sites I listed earlier. It's really easy to do.

For reference:
http://www.superchargerrebuild.com/?page_id=6
$20.00 - V-series Input shaft seal
$20.00 - Front cover O-ring

 

Update: It was the front input shaft seal that was broken and leaking!

After taking the front cover off, it was clear that the input shaft seal was destroyed and needed to be replaced. Hammered it out with a socket and tapped the new one in. Also replaced the front o-ring seal. Super easy and straightforward, I took a bunch of pics and will do a quick writeup once the power comes back on here (been out for 4 days and counting!).

Big props to George (Max-MAX SE) for all the advice! Thanks man!