My son, who is a great Honda mechanic: he re built his own tranny, pulled and replaced several engines, is an electrical genius but is afraid to do our Nissan Frontier 2003 Super Charger repair kit. This is a kit to re build the super charger. The vehicle only had 100K on the engine before it started this problem. We had it diagnosed but the new charger is $2200 and only a one year warranty and a used one is $1200.00 with only a 1 year warranty. So we bought the repair kit ($300.00), thinking our mechanical son could do it. Do you think he can do it? All on line scared him out of it. Thanks
Rebuilding a supercharger wouldn’t seem harder than rebuilding a transmission. Any idea what he’s worried about?
EDIT - nevermind, after thinking about the comments below, and what happens if something goes wrong (the engine inhales shrapnel and dies) I agree that he’d better be VERY sure about what he’s doing before rebuilding it. Another problem is that so few are rebuilt, it’ll be hard to find folks that know how to do it.
I Can Find Almost Anything Online.
Be More Specific. What Is Supposed To Be The Scary Part ?
What Parts Of The Procedure Are Concerns Of The Online Warnings ?
Special Tools ? Access ? Adjustments ? Just What Is The Trend Of Admonitions ?
CSA
Sometimes the smartest mechanic is the one who knows when he/she is getting in over their heads. A transmission rebuild is tricky, but at least the case splits apart and you have pretty easy access to the parts that need replacement.
I’m not that familiar with a super charger rebuild, but I suspect the case might need to be sealed and perhaps isn’t as easy to open up to access the inner workings. Super charger bearings also spin very fast, and anything out of alignment will bind up and not spin freely or last very long.
Differentials are very tricky to rebuild due to getting all the gears to line up properly with each other. Many mechanics who routinely work on transmissions will pass on rebuilding a differential.
I have never rebuilt an automatic transmission because I always feared that I would make a mess of it. I have rebuilt a couple of differentials (they are tricky) and a supercharger (very tricky) in diesel school. It took most of the students two or three tries to get it right since they are very difficult to work on. Our instructor stood close by because he said if the tolerances were not correct it would ruin the rebuild the first time it was run up. He may need help from a professional who is familiar with superchargers. A speed shop should be able to help him find the right person.
How hard is rebuild? Well, what is in kit? We have had several supercharged grandprixs and it’s very common for high school kids to hot rod them. Tearing apart a supercharger and porting the housing is common. If these juvenile delinquents can do it, than ur kid can. So, what is the kit? Does the box holding the parts glow when u open it?
Porting and putting on a different drive pulley is different that replacing bearings and adjusting tolerances, don’t you think?