Hello, I’m new here and have just bought my first jag. It’s a 2002 s type r with about 60,000 miles on the clock. The supercharger seems to whine all the time, even when idle. Is this normal?

I’ve read a couple of other posts about jag superchargers but still can’t tell if I should be worried or not. As you can probably tell I’m not mechanically minded and admittedly know very little about cars! Any help in as simple terms as possible would be much appreciated!

 

Have a Jaguar specialist inspect the supercharger to determine if the snout bearing is the cause of the noise. Easiest way determine the cause is to remove the supercharger drive belt and test the pulley bearings for wear.

 

Thanks for your prompt response!

 

As NBCat suggested a Jaguar specialist is a great idea.
You could also try a supercharger retailer. Some usually have an associated workshop that would be able to test, service, change oil etc.

 

I’ve just called my local jaguar specialist and they don’t seem to offer a service for super chargers. I’ve seen a couple of places online that do services but I’d need to remove it and send it to them. Is this common practice? If so, does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks!

 

Not unusual for your local Jaguar specialist not to service superchargers. You'll find a few specialists that will service the supercharger, but bear in mind that some parts for this unit may be hard to source...
While I was changing the 'valley hose' I figured since I removed the supercharger I'd take it to my local specialist (Harrop Engineering. It's a retail store and a modern workshop) for an oil change and health check up (I think they bench tested it etc.). Fortunately for me they were only a couple of miles away and one of the biggest Eaton distributors (the American brand of supercharger in your car) here. But since they are 'retail' focussed they were never going to have heaps of old superchargers sitting on the shelf and heaps of spare parts for old models. Perhaps that's where a smaller specialist may be a better bet. I would check with both and get a price estimate for an oil change, bench test, bearing etc. and cost of removal if you can't do it yourself; your problem could be just one of the bearings.

Superchargers | HARROP | Engineering, Superchargers, Brakes, Driveline, Engine, 4WD, Cooling

Have a look for the UK's equivalent of a 'licensed master distributor committed to supporting Eaton Corporation' like Harrop Engineering here.

 

Well SC's do whine a bit? I would see if you can find another STR and take a listen? May be entirely normal? You will get a little to a lot more whine if you are running an aftermarket intake of some kind. In fact most of them are designed to let that SC scream!

With only 60K on it you should not need bearings or a rebuild yet. I ran my 2005 STR SC to 132K miles with no problems.
One suggestion for sure is please change the SC oil and check that it's not low. It's pretty easy to do on the old M112 Eaton's.
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You really should not hear it at idle. I have an 06 str with a bigger intake and smaller pulley and engine cover off. I hear really nothing at idle. If the bypass has failed it could be in boost mode all the time and you would hear it at idle