Powerdyne Supercharger problem

[95 GA/TA]

I purchased a Powerdyne supercharger about a month and a half ago, to start with, it was 4.5 psi but i was so impressed with it i ordered the upgrade kit to go to 6 psi.The supercharger had about 200 miles on it before the upgrade and 300 after the upgrade.The car ran great until this morning.I was on the way to work and it started making a terrible whining noise, almost like a power steering pump going bad.I thouhgt thats what it was but it wasnt.Itook it off and will send it back to them but im very disappointed to have spent all that money and now i cant drive the car, has anyone had this happen or know what could have caused it to go so fast.After i removed it i can spin the pulley and it spins but you can tell its rough inside, not smooth like it was.

[LoudLT1]

95 GA/TA ...
Sorry to hear about your supercharger problem. I'm considering a supercharger next year.
did you buy it new ?
who installed it ?
what did you pay for the unit ?
how much for the instal ?
Are they fixing the unit under warrantee?
How long is the warrantee good for?
Eddie

[fastTa]

Does your unit have the belt driven impeller? Sounds like either a impeller bearing failure or internal reduction pulley bearing failure.

[Tundrahog]

Belt slip??

[95 GA/TA]

I couldnt stand it anymore, i took the supercharger apart and found the inner bearing on the reduction drive was bad,looked like it had just overheated.The supercharger is under warranty if they approve it after teardown,but i was looking at about 3-4 weeks downtime and i was gonna have to pay shipping.So i will replace the bad bearing, the outer small bearing feels good but i can get a notch every now and then out of it, it will be replaced too.The guy at Powerdyne priced the 4 bearings and belt at $490.00.Im gonna do some shopping, the bearings are ceramic coated but give me a break.The whole supercharger is very simple,only 4 bearings and a belt.With any luck ill get it back together and be on the road by the weekend!Me and a buddy installed it, it wasnt easy but i enjoyed it,i bought it new, it cost around 3300.00 ,warranty for 2 yrs (if powerdyne feels its not your fault).If youre thinkin of gettin one look around, the power is awesome,the powerdyne seems to be the cheapest, its a nice unit but some of the quality doesnt seem as nice as other chargers ive seen.

[fastTa]

I couldnt stand it anymore, i took the supercharger apart and found the inner bearing on the reduction drive was bad,looked like it had just overheated.The supercharger is under warranty if they approve it after teardown,but i was looking at about 3-4 weeks downtime and i was gonna have to pay shipping.So i will replace the bad bearing, the outer small bearing feels good but i can get a notch every now and then out of it, it will be replaced too.The guy at Powerdyne priced the 4 bearings and belt at $490.00.Im gonna do some shopping, the bearings are ceramic coated but give me a break.The whole supercharger is very simple,only 4 bearings and a belt.With any luck ill get it back together and be on the road by the weekend!Me and a buddy installed it, it wasnt easy but i enjoyed it,i bought it new, it cost around 3300.00 ,warranty for 2 yrs (if powerdyne feels its not your fault).If youre thinkin of gettin one look around, the power is awesome,the powerdyne seems to be the cheapest, its a nice unit but some of the quality doesnt seem as nice as other chargers ive seen.

I always wondered how long a bearing could last being spun periodically to 40,000+ RPM's without being lubricated by some type of petroleum based or synthetic oil. Even ceramic coated bearings can't survive the heat and friction forever.

Just let the guys at Powerdyne know that you have already posted this info about your bearing failure on f-body.com!

It just might change their attitude!

BTW, could you post some pics of the head unit apart. It would be interesting to see a Powerdyne belt-driven unit opened up!

Thanks.

[95 GA/TA]

Thats right, we did the math, at 6000 rpm, the bearing is right at 40,000 rpm.The guy at powerdyne was nice when i called today.The problem is when i ordered the upgrade kit from 4.5 to 6 psi from them i kinda got the run around and it took around a month to get it when i was told 3-5 days. I guess thats why i was so hesitant to send it in this time.I know we all make mistakes and maybe thats all it was but it was in the back of my mind.Otherwise i have no complaints with them except for my bearing going out at 500 miles??? Ill try to get some pics up as soon as possible.Its really very simple how it works, theres not much in there.

[fastTa]

Thats right, we did the math, at 6000 rpm, the bearing is right at 40,000 rpm.The guy at powerdyne was nice when i called today.The problem is when i ordered the upgrade kit from 4.5 to 6 psi from them i kinda got the run around and it took around a month to get it when i was told 3-5 days. I guess thats why i was so hesitant to send it in this time.I know we all make mistakes and maybe thats all it was but it was in the back of my mind.Otherwise i have no complaints with them except for my bearing going out at 500 miles??? Ill try to get some pics up as soon as possible.Its really very simple how it works, theres not much in there.

Look forward to them!

[Injuneer]

.....and now i cant drive the car....

Why can't you drive the car without the blower?

[raroZ28]

I was thinking what Fred was thinking, can't you just take the belt off it?

[Injuneer]

I've seen guys do it with 4.5# Powerdyne and 20# Vortech setups.

[LoudLT1]

95GA/TA,
did you rebuilt the engine at time of bolting on the supercharger ?
i noticed you have over 130,000 miles ? thats one of my concers. i have 110,000 and don't know if i should at least refresh the motor ? does the kit come with intercoler ?
eddie

[95 GA/TA]

The car can be driven without the blower.I didnt think about it till this morning but i was able to make a functional intake.I guess its just the inconvinience of the superchargerbeing so new and having to take it back out and rebuild it.If i didnt have access to a lift and some mechanical ability it would have costed me more money to pay someone to do it.Im kinda an impatient person and i just couldnt stand to wait.The car is running though, not near as strong, i had gotten used to the supercharger and almost forgot how it was before.I remember now, its no slouch but the big power hit is gone, but not for long.I checked around,those bearings are really expensive,I didnt really want to go back with the powerdyne bearings after this so i checked around and found a better bearing, i hope.I only needed the 2 small bearings on the output shaft and they cost $120.00 each.They will be here tomorrow and i will be back in business tomorrow night.As for mileage the car has 132k,it runs really strong,i thought about rebuilding before the blower but i decided id cross that bridge when i got to it.Ive seen alot of higher mileage cars on here making some impressive times so im not worried.

[Tundrahog]

Did you try www.bocabearings.com?

I bought more than a few bearings from them. Different applications...cars, shop equipment, RC heli's/cars, and special orders.

All you need are the mesurements and bearing type. They had every one I needed.

[Injuneer]

How is the belt tensioned in the Powerdyne drive setup? Did you possibly over tension the belt?