Changed my supercharger oil

[fitzydude]

It never fails that your car will breakdown right before you need it. My thermostat died on a Friday night on my way home from work and of course I needed the car to make a 13hr emergency trip the next morning. I attempted replace the thermostat that night but when I started to put it back together I realized I broke the water supply line.. So I had ended up taking my trusty beater pickup with no lumbar support.

Now that I had the time I decided to change my S/C oil and repair my PCV valve while I had the supercharger off.


Here is the drain plug you need to remove in order to drain the old S/C oil. When I drained the oil I emptied it into a measuring cup in order to record how much fluid I was able to get out. At first no supercharger oil came out... I was like is there any in there??? I thought maybe it was too cold for the oil to flow, but figured out I need to rock the charger back and forth in order to get the fluid out.



It appears a lot of the fluid sat in the muzzle behind the pulley when I tipped the charger upside down. I was able to recover ~125ml after several sessions of rocking the charger back and forth. The old oil was nasty and hadn't been changed for 108k.


I had order new compressor oil from ECS and it came in a 150ml bottle. I was kind mad because the bottle had no seal and kind of looked like some had leaked out at some point. Not sure if it was returned or that's just how they manufacture it.


The new oil was extremely clear like water! I added ~125ml plus a little extra for good luck.


Next I thought I would try to tackle the PCV repair


Audi replaces the ventilator cap and spring to repair the PCV as apposed to replacing the whole unit. The service also includes a "restrictor" to change pressure in the PCV in order to prevent ventilator cap failure in the future. The new restrictor requires Audi to flash to ecu with an update in order to use the restrictor piece. I didn't want bother dealing with Audi and reflashing so I skipped this part and figure I'll just replace the $15 ventilator cap again if it starts burning oil again.


So bad news, in the back of I was thinking maybe I can replace this ventilator cap without removing the fuel lines/lower intake plenum. I was wrong! The cap just snaps right in once you get it removed but the fuel lines just hug the pcv too tight in order to get in there. I decided to tackle this job next time... I've got a sneaking suspicion my power steering pump is going to fail soon so I'm going to get it when I get back in there.


Now can someone can tell me how and where to get this supercharger oil analyzed? Like I mentioned the oil has about 108k on it and is extremely dark compared to what I replaced it with. I'd like to see how degraded it really is.

[AudBoost]

Nicely done! Audi doesn't recommend changing the SC oil but by the looks of yours it definitely looks like it needs to be done at some interval.

[brainpan]

I'd try giving Blackstone labs a shout, they do engine, trans and coolant tests. I'd think they'd be testing for the same impurities in the s/c oil. Bob the oil guy is also a great site with a separate fourm that may have more info.

Sent from my Note 5

[infinkc]

i wonder if you should just put in the full 150ml. This post says it takes 155ml, not sue how much will stay in the blower. http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ger-oil-change i need to do mine also, crazy the difference between the old and new color.

[roadawg]

i wonder if you should just put in the full 150ml. This post says it takes 155ml, not sue how much will stay in the blower. http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ger-oil-change i need to do mine also, crazy the difference between the old and new color.

I am not sure if color is a true indication of how ineffective or worn out the oil is. With motor oil for example I've read numerous times you cannot tell how "worn out" oil is solely by looking at the color.

I am very interested to see what OP finds out though.

Great work on the repair overall, not many people would tackle something like that.

[fitzydude]

i wonder if you should just put in the full 150ml. This post says it takes 155ml, not sue how much will stay in the blower. http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ger-oil-change i need to do mine also, crazy the difference between the old and new color.

Yeah I was debating just dumping the whole bottle in. Supposedly it's a sealed system and nothing escaped, the cavity was large enough I don't think it would have mattered. Plus I added a little extra for any residue that didn't make it to the cup.

[Boris]

Yeah I was debating just dumping the whole bottle in. Supposedly it's a sealed system and nothing escaped, the cavity was large enough I don't think it would have mattered. Plus I added a little extra for any residue that didn't make it to the cup.

I've wondered about this too, because Audi says there is no service interval for the oil in SC, but how can it be beneficial to stay the same for over 200k miles. Maybe someone else knows

[shadycrew31]

Hate to bring up a old thread, I've been trying to find the replacement ventilator cap for the PCV system. Not sure if you still frequent the threads... Anyways, do you have a part number? Also I was trying to find out where you discovered that was the part they replace, I am assuming you spoke with an SA or Audi tech, just wanted to verify. Thanks!

[fitzydude]

Yeah just had someone asking about the replacement cap the other day. I'll pull it up, it's $12 from ECS.

[fitzydude]

06E103772G. On sale for 12.35 at ECS.

When Audi does this repair they also install a pressure restrictor and reflash the ecu to prevent future failure. My plan is to skip that part and replace this cap as needed.

[shadycrew31]

Perfect, I am going to replace the SC oil as well, because why not... Also trying to get everything handled while I am doing the t-stat and carbon cleaning. I figure by the time I have everything working on the engine side the transmission will die.

[fitzydude]

Lol, are you going to replace your injector seal when you remove the lower plenum?

[shadycrew31]

Lol, are you going to replace your injector seal when you remove the lower plenum?

From my understanding you have to replace all the upper fittings when you remove the lower manifold and high pressure lines. So yes, I will be replacing some of them, just the uppers, the injectors will stay in the engine... Unless I get the crazy Idea to send my injectors off for cleaning.

[BlownOne]

Perfect, I am going to replace the SC oil as well, because why not... Also trying to get everything handled while I am doing the t-stat and carbon cleaning. I figure by the time I have everything working on the engine side the transmission will die.

Hahaha like that positive spirit!

From my understanding you have to replace all the upper fittings when you remove the lower manifold and high pressure lines. So yes, I will be replacing some of them, just the uppers, the injectors will stay in the engine... Unless I get the crazy Idea to send my injectors off for cleaning.

If you send the injectors out, fuel injector clinic not only does great work cleaning, but they flow test them also.

[shadycrew31]

Hahaha like that positive spirit!


If you send the injectors out, fuel injector clinic not only does great work cleaning, but they flow test them also.

The flow testing is what I am mainly interested in. I've had injectors cleaned and flow tested any other time I've rebuilt an engine. But I am also not interested in having this car down for another week, nor am I interested in buying a fuel injector installation/removal kit. However the oring set cost me $122 for the set... Decisions Decisions...

Also I just noticed injector clinic doesn't do direct Injection, InjectorRX does though.

[B18b1ex]

Do you think it's possible use an oil extractor to pull the SC oil without having to pull it off?


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[shadycrew31]

Do you think it's possible use an oil extractor to pull the SC oil without having to pull it off?


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I'm guessing its possible if you can get a good seal and build enough negative pressure to empty the SC.

[hotleadsingergu]

I am not sure if color is a true indication of how ineffective or worn out the oil is. With motor oil for example I've read numerous times you cannot tell how "worn out" oil is solely by looking at the color.

I am very interested to see what OP finds out though.

Great work on the repair overall, not many people would tackle something like that.

All of this. Impressive work, but there's a good chance you don't ever have to replace the oil. The oil turning black could mean nothing to longevity.

[BlownOne]

The flow testing is what I am mainly interested in. I've had injectors cleaned and flow tested any other time I've rebuilt an engine. But I am also not interested in having this car down for another week, nor am I interested in buying a fuel injector installation/removal kit. However the oring set cost me $122 for the set... Decisions Decisions...

Also I just noticed injector clinic doesn't do direct Injection, InjectorRX does though.

Yea I can see wanting the car back up and running ASAP and not waiting on injectors to reassemble everything. Ahhhh didn't know fic wasn't doing di.

[BlownOne]

Do you think it's possible use an oil extractor to pull the SC oil without having to pull it off?


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Yes you could use an extractor tube as long as it's submerged, it will extract fluid. You won't get all of the fluid out obviously, but enough to consider it changed. You're going to need to make/buy some kind of a fill tube mini funnel to get the new oil in.

[shadycrew31]

FYI, my oil was completely full of metallic flakes at 78k. I will be sending it off for testing and making a case to Audi. Its hard to tell in the picture but the stuff literally looks like semi metallic paint, not sure if I just have bad luck or if others ran into the same thing.

[shadycrew31]

Also another FYI, here is the PCV cap, notice the bent seal and compressed spring.

[fitzydude]

I didn't note any metallic flakes in the two chargers I've drained :-/

[shadycrew31]

Well shoot, I guess I'm thinking about a supercharger rebuild...

[fitzydude]

Well you might be in luck I've got the internals from my 2014 10k super charger with the front snout if you're interested.

[shadycrew31]

Well you might be in luck I've got the internals from my 2014 10k super charger with the front snout if you're interested.

Interesting, is there a gasket with that or is it just RTV?

[BlownOne]

Shady it's hard to tell exactly how your s/c oil looks with the flash (looks kinda grey-ish), but all of the blowers I've tore down have some amount of metallic flake. The inside of the snouts cover has metal flake stuck to the walls and around the gears.

[shadycrew31]

I've just never seen semimetalic paint come out of a device with gears that was not destroyed internally. Again I am going to get it analyzed, so we can know for certain. I do think this is a wakeup call for other owners to change their fluid and not rely on the word "lifetime".

[alvarors]

Hate to bring up an old thread, but I had a question about replacing the PCV cap/diaphragm. Upon doing research to tackle this job, I came across a section that mentions adding vacuum to the intake manifold runner in order to open the flaps. Did you guys use a tool to do this, or did you have to do this at all after repairing the PCV? Any help would be appreciated, just trying to get as much info as possible and set up a game plan before I go through with this.