What happens if the supercharger fails - Challenger 180

[schnur7]

I'm still looking at this 2010 Sea doo Challenger 180 with the supercharged 255 motor. I think this year has the stainless steel washers right? If so, what can happen if the supercharger fails? Does everybody just automatically rebuild them every 2 years or 100 hours? Seems like a pain in the butt and an expensive maintenance item.

 

[MacSeaDoo]

Here is my mechanical opinion and actual experience.

I bought a 2011 Speedster in 2020 that was bought in 2012 and had only 55 hours on it. It was taken care of by another obsessive owner like me.

I read on the forums about the 2 year 100 hour rebuild and being a gear head, I pulled the SC and inspected it. I tested the clutch and it was flawless. I put it back in. I then proceeded to drive the crap out of this machine bringing it to 93 hours when blammo...

Now I hit the best case scenario, which was luck.

A week before, I had a weird short shrill sound but it went just as fast as it came. I swore it sounded louder after that but my friend who is another gear head thought it might be me. (I am certifiable mechanically OCD)

The next week is when I went out.

The bearings sit in a raceway with plastic fingers to separate the bearings. Over many heat cycles, this plastic becomes brittle and at some point in time one breaks, shears the rest off and the bearings lose their spacing. In my case, I was lucky as all the plastic fingers stayed in the raceway. Also, the shaft was not able to deflect enough to have "touchdown", which is the compressor wheel touching the housing.

For me it was a removal, send to the dealer to be rebuilt, then put back in and on my way. Again, I was lucky.

Worst case scenario is touchdown or loss of plastic parts into the PTO housing. Both have the consequence of either plastic or metal pieces ingested in the engine.

Now in late 2020, I rebuilt the the SC at 93 hours. I am now at 130 hours and basically 2 years later. I will most likely rebuild next year or possibly the year after but I will not go 8 years like the original for obvious reasons.

Attached are some photos of the SC.

The moral of the story is.... I would not go over a few years for the rebuild regardless of the hours.

 

[schnur7]

Here is my mechanical opinion and actual experience.

I bought a 2011 Speedster in 2020 that was bought in 2012 and had only 55 hours on it. It was taken care of by another obsessive owner like me.

I read on the forums about the 2 year 100 hour rebuild and being a gear head, I pulled the SC and inspected it. I tested the clutch and it was flawless. I put it back in. I then proceeded to drive the crap out of this machine bringing it to 93 hours when blammo...

Now I hit the best case scenario, which was luck.

A week before, I had a weird short shrill sound but it went just as fast as it came. I swore it sounded louder after that but my friend who is another gear head thought it might be me. (I am certifiable mechanically OCD)

The next week is when I went out.

The bearings sit in a raceway with plastic fingers to separate the bearings. Over many heat cycles, this plastic becomes brittle and at some point in time one breaks, shears the rest off and the bearings lose their spacing. In my case, I was lucky as all the plastic fingers stayed in the raceway. Also, the shaft was not able to deflect enough to have "touchdown", which is the compressor wheel touching the housing.

For me it was a removal, send to the dealer to be rebuilt, then put back in and on my way. Again, I was lucky.

Worst case scenario is touchdown or loss of plastic parts into the PTO housing. Both have the consequence of either plastic or metal pieces ingested in the engine.

Now in late 2020, I rebuild the the SC at 93 hours. I am now at 130 hours and basically 2 years later. I will most likely rebuild next year or possibly the year after but I will not go 8 years like the original for obvious reasons.

Attached are some photos of the SC.

The moral of the story is.... I would not go over a few years for the rebuild regardless of the hours.

Thanks for the personal story and moral of the story! So you just have to consider it an every two year maintenance expense.

 

[DooGuy]

Having had a supercharger blow up and take out engine everything Mac said is spot on. And as long as you buy and know it’s part of the cost of ownership you’ll enjoy it. Even with the issues have had replacing motors etc I love this boat. This will probably be last year only because kids are older and wife and I want a cabin cruiser etc.

 

[CLSeadoo]

Here is my mechanical opinion and actual experience.

I bought a 2011 Speedster in 2020 that was bought in 2012 and had only 55 hours on it. It was taken care of by another obsessive owner like me.

I read on the forums about the 2 year 100 hour rebuild and being a gear head, I pulled the SC and inspected it. I tested the clutch and it was flawless. I put it back in. I then proceeded to drive the crap out of this machine bringing it to 93 hours when blammo...

Now I hit the best case scenario, which was luck.

A week before, I had a weird short shrill sound but it went just as fast as it came. I swore it sounded louder after that but my friend who is another gear head thought it might be me. (I am certifiable mechanically OCD)

The next week is when I went out.

The bearings sit in a raceway with plastic fingers to separate the bearings. Over many heat cycles, this plastic becomes brittle and at some point in time one breaks, shears the rest off and the bearings lose their spacing. In my case, I was lucky as all the plastic fingers stayed in the raceway. Also, the shaft was not able to deflect enough to have "touchdown", which is the compressor wheel touching the housing.

For me it was a removal, send to the dealer to be rebuilt, then put back in and on my way. Again, I was lucky.

Worst case scenario is touchdown or loss of plastic parts into the PTO housing. Both have the consequence of either plastic or metal pieces ingested in the engine.

Now in late 2020, I rebuilt the the SC at 93 hours. I am now at 130 hours and basically 2 years later. I will most likely rebuild next year or possibly the year after but I will not go 8 years like the original for obvious reasons.

Attached are some photos of the SC.

The moral of the story is.... I would not go over a few years for the rebuild regardless of the hours.

Would you know of a video or link that shows how to remove the supercharger on the challenger?

 

[Digdog]

The recommended current maintenance interval on new style bearings is 2 years or 100hrs , whichever comes first , and it looks like you have the old bearings in it with the old ceramic washers.
Get that Supercharger rebuilt now , it's a ticking time bomb that if it fails can cost you thousands of dollars to repair the engine.
If you plan on keeping this unit you should buy a shop manual for it , it will save you big time even if you do not rebuild things like the supercharger yourself.