trunks333

When my Z06 hit 11k miles, the supercharger started to get louder. I would barely hear the whine when i got the car, but now its really loud. I took my car to the dealer and they said it was normal and the supercharger could of just loosened up. My mods are AFE cold air intake and mamo ported throttle body. I really like the sound, but it is just strange that the first 11k miles, it was super quiet. Anyone have the same thing happen?

smbsocal

I have only driven 2 Z06s extensively one used with 3.5k miles on it and the supercharger whine was obvious when accelerating and the other is the new one we purchased which makes almost no noise at all.

trunks333

Strange, so i guess, it just loosened up. Sounds really good now.

OH THREE Z

I have a 15 with 13000 miles... the whine is and always has been barely noticeable. I have even removed my rear hood seal.

I'd suggest taking it to a different dealer. Stating that it has loosened up sounds like a ridiculous diagnosis to me

trunks333

Well i took it to Bryner Chevrolet. The corvette mechanic Steve Spencer is very reputable. I still have 3.5 years of power train warranty left, so i am not worried.

ajrothm

Bearings are going out in the blower and the clearances are getting distorted.... its likely on its way out.

dar02081961

If able post a cell phone video with audio of the whine.

The only thing that "loosens up" in these blowers is the bearings.
If its gotten noticeably louder the bearings are suspect.

I am not there so I don't know what your mechanic heard.
Obviously he wasn't concerned or alarmed.

However If he didn't pull out a stethoscope and listen to yours and compare to another Z06, the truth is he is just guessing based on his experience. Not a bad thing but not scientific or thorough either.

One thing is for sure if its a bearing it WILL show up sooner rather than later. 21,000 rpm has that affect on things. LOL.

lordofwar

borla xpipe,cant hear any whine.

djnice

I agree the bearings are suspect. Although, in my LSA it sounds more like screeching than whining. So another question. When the bearings are going out how likely is it to cause engine damage?

dar02081961

I have no experience with bearing failure in the 2.3 or 1.7 superchargers.

So take what I say here with a grain of salt because it is speculation on my part.

Looking at the design, I would say minimal unless you wait until you have a complete catastrophic failure at high RPM.

It seems the bearings are housed in separate cavities from the impellors and the airflow path. So logically even with a complete bearing failure you are looking at minimal transfer of bearing material into the airflow path where it could then be ingested into the valves and combustion chambers. Point is the way the self contained bearings are designed to fail and the way they are housed within the supercharger case, it seems like the integrity of the case would have to be compromised during a major catastrophic failure before you would see significant damage to other parts of the engine.
Otherwise even if the bearing material does get into the flow path I think the intercooler bricks would filter out most of the debris.
This is one of the reasons the supercharger is a self contained unit.

That being said I am sure even in the best case some amount of bearing material will end up going through the engine and out of the exhaust before you could get it shut down.

Just my humble opinion.
I am interested to hear what others have to say?

djnice

I don't think the bearings on the front of the impellers are in a separate chamber. They are the most suspect too because they are sealed and not running in oil bath like the rears. I suppose the intercoolers will work like a filter to catch debris.

ClydeFrog

Don’t know if you’re a year round driver but now would be a good time to pull the blower off, send to Brett at Jokerz, & have him look at before it shells. Might as well have him port it too.

z51vett

I had noise from mine they replaced supercharger belt with green one. Mine is a 16, 17's I think understand had nose from tensioner or something. Do a search on here there are bulletins for 15,16, and 17s for noise. My car was so loud talking was impossible.
z51vett
Doug

ACS55

My supercharger began intermittently making ticking sounds, and the belt also was occasionally chirping. 2K miles. Brought to the dealer and they found metal in the oil and replaced the entire engine, oil tank and oil lines.
I only drive it to church on sundays, ;-)

JHEBERT

My concern would be metal dust from the rotors themselves, as the bearings also maintain the clearance between them. As the bearings get sloppy, the rotors will contact each other, sending dust through the engine. I have seen this before, the dust can be VERY fine particles, and no doubt would make the rings and bore happy

John

berryvette

Mine just started at 3k making a loud whining noise when I press the accelerator but when I let off it make no noise just under acceleration only, is there any other reason besides the supercharger this would happen?

speedsquad

There is a gear set in the rear of the blower that could possibly have a wear issue and cause the rotors to come out of time allowing the rotors to loose proper clearance, loose boost and even kill the rotors.