Are the supercharger companies lying?

[hexum311]

Ok I need something cleared up. I realize that with any power adder you are taking a chance. Vortech and KB both claim in their web sites that superchargers will do nothing to engine reliability. I have seen a lot of talk on here however that says they will only last this long or that long. I know this depends on what boost and driving and all, so lets just assume this is under their recommended conditions. WILL THIS AFFECT YOUR ENGINE OR ITS RELIABILITY?

Thanks........this has been bugging me all day.

 

[V_Eight]

Stock motor, Non-upgraded Supercharger. No, it won't.

 

[hexum311]

Anyone else?

 

[04DarkShadowGT]

Of course it will. If you have it tuned properly it will minimize the problems greatly, but anytime you are putting more power in the engine it has to work harder and will decrease the life. That is not saying it will last 10K miles and then need rebuilt but it still will have an effect regardless.

 

[V_Eight]

Of course it will. If you have it tuned properly it will minimize the problems greatly, but anytime you are putting more power in the engine it has to work harder and will decrease the life. That is not saying it will last 10K miles and then need rebuilt but it still will have an effect regardless.

Name people that keep supercharged mustangs beyond 300,000 miles with the supercharger installed.

A good example is the S2000. It runs mighty high compression, yet will stay as reliable as other hondas. Even push it to 9k every shift and it will still last a long long time.

 

[04DarkShadowGT]

I am just saying the a Supercharged motor will not last as long as a stock motor. Simple as that. You cant cheat physics. There is undenyably more stress on a SC motor than stock. You cannot deny that.

The S2000 is a reliable car I agree, but put on a SC and it will also decrease the life.

 

[BlackFox5.0]

It all depends on how you drive it. Unless you go WOT all the time you will NEVER make boost. You have to be WOT to be in boost. I rarley go into boost, and I do get on it often, but hardly ever go into WOT. It is N/A without boost, how will that affect reliability? Unless you've had or have a car with a supercharger on it, I don't want to hear your estimated opinion.

 

[aggiedj02]

It all depends on how you drive it. Unless you go WOT all the time you will NEVER make boost. You have to be WOT to be in boost. I rarley go into boost, and I do get on it often, but hardly ever go into WOT. It is N/A without boost, how will that affect reliability? Unless you've had or have a car with a supercharger on it, I don't want to hear your estimated opinion.

that's not entirely true... the extra pulleys still spin... they just don't create boost until you reach a high rpm range.

And when you do go WOT, you are going to put the car under more stress than an n/a guy, meaning at that point the car has to work harder, and this is at its point where it is already working at its max... I don't understand how you think that won't affect engine life??? Even if you boost once, you have just shortened the life span of that motor, even if it is for a very short increment of time, which adds up over multiple WOT pushes.

All the extra wiring for the extra sensors means extra pull from the battery, means extra hard working alternator. More fuel to compensate for more air means higher pressure through fuel lines, meaning the weak spts in the hoses will crack much quicker.

The rods have to ndure more pressure every time you go WOT... this list goes on. While I realize you don't do it very often, you have it on there to go WOT. When you do, you will shorten life spans of engine parts that weren't meant to take the abuse you give it... simple as that!!!

And when it comes down to it... most people do not do huge engine mods correctly. Their trannies and suspensions can't handle the power runing through them anymore, and they normally break even quicker. DSM's snapping half shafts is a common thing to happen to those guys b/c they don't modify the whole car... just portions of it at a time, and not in the right order!!!

 

[ADRENLN]

roush stage 3 are just gt's with blowers. i dont think they have built internals or anything. i would think that cars engine would last just as long as any other mustang engine.

 

[CTGrey02]

So long as the tunes good, the motor will last. I've gotten over 15,000 miles out of my supercharger with out a problem and it's still going strong. I've had friends with similiar mileage have thier motors torn down and rebuilt with forged materials only to find that thier stock short block showed no signs of wear. The only way I can really see it doing damage is by having a bad tune or having something else give first, like an impellar blade. Other than that it should hold out.

 

[Ruckus46Gt]

i would say as long as you have a good safe tune running low boost and dont always try driving in the boost and keep up with all the maintance like change the plugs, fuel filters and check everything once in a while you would have no problem

 

[hotforstangs]

The supercharger actually not in a boost will help make the engine work easier, by helping it breathe better, getting better gas mileage as well, now when the motor goes into high boost however you are stressing the internals more than you would n/a, so it really depends on how much you romp on it, hell look at all the turbo factory cars out there, they end up rebuilding the turbo 3 or 4 times before the motor is ever pulled.

 

[Screaminyellow7]

so wouldn't KB be a not so wise choice because they have the highest rated boost at low RPM's? So you constantly have 6-10lb's all the time, wheather WOT or not.

 

[hotforstangs]

I have a vortech so my boost comes in at higher rpms, and kb is a wise choice who wouldnt want that torque? but still 6 to 10 psi is not normal driving with a kb, I know its hard not to drive our mustangs with out agressiveness wether n/a or forced induction.

 

[MT1083]

so wouldn't KB be a not so wise choice because they have the highest rated boost at low RPM's? So you constantly have 6-10lb's all the time, wheather WOT or not.

You don't have constant boost on a KB. The boost only comes when you open up the throttle more than you would for normal driving. So you don't go into boost unless you want to.