I bought my first Bonneville last May, and LOVE IT!

It is a 93 SSEi and has 73K miles on it. (paid $6000)

I don't have a good maintenence log on the car :( .

I was told by a guy at my local gas station that I ought to have the water pump looked at because of a fairly loud noise comming from that area of the engine. So yesterday I took it to my local dealership and had them do some regular maintenence and look at the water pump.

They told me the water pump was fine but that my Supercharger was bad... $2800. I definately wanted a second opinion so today, I took it to a reputable mechanic in my area and he showed me that I did indeed have a bad water pump (it wiggled, and in addition showed my a worn serpentine bel)t. While he was at it, he spun the pully on the super charger several times to check for noise... he didn't seem to think there was enough noise there to be a problem. He thought one of the berings had a little bit of wear though.

I have done a bit of research on this problem... enough to know basicly what everyone is talking about.

His advice to me was to replace the waterpump. Then while everything was still apart, he would listen to the supercharger, and determine how damaged it was. And check the oil in it.

My question is... would the water pump provide that much noise to make it sound like a bad supercharger? And if the supercharger is bad, what would be your advice?

Any advice on any of this is MOST WELCOME!

Thanks!

If the bearings in the nose of the supercharger are bad, the dealer will only replace the entire unit. The reasonable way to fix it is to replace just the nose cone. Some people actually even take the nose cone apart to fix the bearings or coupler. If you're not mechanically inclined, then you will have to find someone to fix the nose cone, by either replacing it or changing out the bearings/coupler inside.

Have you had the supercharger oil checked yet? The 92-95 superchargers tend to leak the oil out over a period of time.

Ditto on Fuddy. Replace the nosedrive only, if necessary. I'd be curious to see how much boost you get at WOT. Are you hitting about 9psi on the boost gauge? If so, the blower itself (impellers) are ok, and just do the nosedrive. A little noise is normal. There'* an oil change procedure posted up in Techinfo.

Give me your email adddress in a PM here & I'll send you some info with detailed picz on how first to check your SC Oil Level & some info on what jobber bearings & seals will work instead of a GM Replacement Nose Cone. Second option is go here & mention my name & he'll give you a great deal on a rebuilt nose cone! http://www.canadiansupercharger.com/

The mechanic installed the waterpump, and that took away a lot of the noise. Then he flushed the oil in the supercharger and put new oil in it (he said it was 1/4" below the threads...it was low). He said when it wasn't in idle you couldn't hear the noise at all and there was only a small noise when it was in idle. The noise couldn't be heard when the hood was closed.

He did advise to have a little nest egg building so if in the future it went out, it wouldn't be such a surprise. Good advice I think.

Also, you all were very helpfull in making me feel that this mechanic was capable as he said many of the things you all offered. Many thanks to you!!!

DeathRat, I will be emailing you later to get the information so that I have it on file, and if I need that nose replacement down the road- I'll have the info...

Thanks again!!!

You're not getting away that easy! I wanna know how much boost you're getting. Let me know when you get a chance.

If the supercharger noise is only in idle, then it'* probably the coupler inside the nose cone.

willwren:

I'm not sure how to check the boost to give you the info you want. I can say though, if I'm merging on a short on ramp- and really lay on the gas, I can get the needle to the orange (+10) on the boost guage. Let me know what I can do to get you the right reading...

Shiann

That is the reading he was looking for.