Yet another Supercharger Rebuild Question

[Nicko953]

Need advice.

I have a 2008 Speedster with a 215 + SC. It has 91 hours on it and runs like a charm. I have extended warranty until June 2012.

Dealer tells me that the SC needs maint at 100hrs. The cost for this is about $700. Dealer tells me that it is part of scheduled maintenance.

The owners manual says that the SC needs scheduled maint at 200hrs.

Not sure what to do here. Do I buy yet another extended warranty until 2013? Or do I fork out for the SC maint? Dealer tells me that if the SC blows without scheduled maint, warranty wont cover it. Extended warranty is about $1000.

I'm confused. I called BRP and they say to follow the owners manual. I asked to speak with a BRP tech, but they only allow dealers to speak with them.

This seems like conflicting information to me between the dealer and BRP.

Any suggestions?

Nicko

 

[kustomkarl]

Super Chargers should be serviced at 100 hours. If you have a extended warranty it might have other information to keep it in line with their policy's. Is the extended a seadoo warranty or a dealer warranty? If its from seadoo, call another dealer and ask what they suggest based on the warranty you purchased. It's better to be within the warranty program then to avoid it and have no warranty...besides that 's why you purchased an extended warranty anyway.

Karl

 

[Nicko953]

I am trying to determine what the difference is between "serviced" and "rebuilt". If the dealer services the SC and determines that it needs to be "rebuilt" should this not be covered under warranty????

The warranty I have is through BRP, but was purchased through the dealer. I can buy an additional extended warranty, but it must be done through the dealer.

 

[kustomkarl]

Servicing and inspection of the seadoo is checking and looking for problems/ doing preventative maintenance, before problems happen. Rebuilding is after you have a problem. If you ignore the "servicing and inspection" part it might lead to failure and no warranty coverage.

Karl

 

[Nicko953]

I have full intentions of having maintenance done. But the dealer is recommending "rebuild" as part of this scheduled maintenance.

1 - The maintenance they are recommending conflicts with what is in the manual - manual says maint on the SC after 200hrs. Dealer says its 100hrs.

2 - In my mind "Rebuild" is not part of scheduled maint, but the dealer is telling me that it is.

3 - BRP is no help at all. They won't let me talk to a tech.

 

[Nicko953]

So today I decided to walk into my local dealership to get the Low Down on this situation. He's a reputable BRP dealer, been in business for 15 years. Everyone seems to trust this guy.

Anyway - he explained it to me like this.

Per the Owners manual, BRP recommends SC "maintenance" at 100hrs. This includes and inspection of the SuperCharger to ensure there is no "slippage". This is done with some sort of torque mechanism. If there is slippage, they do indeed recommend the rebuild kit.

He told me that there are all sorts of stories on the internet about peoples SC's blowing apart and destroying engines. He tells me in all his experience dealing with Sea Doo he HAS NEVER SEEN THIS HAPPEN. Not even once. He has seen blown Super chargers, but never one that has caused a catastrophic failure to an engine.

With respect to the warranty, if your supercharger does blow, it should be covered under warranty if you have performed the regular maintenance.

Funny thing is - i called another dealer and got a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY!

This other guy tells me that the "rebuild" at 100 hours is the "maintenance".

I'm so confused by this. So I have formally written to BRP to get an explanation.

I am now officially obsessed with this topic.

Nicko

 

[djredman99]

It has been my experience with BRP that they do not answer those types of questions for you and direct you to your local Sea-Doo dealer. Very frustrating, especially when you want information from the "source" as opposed to a dealer who wants to make money off of you.

 

[djredman99]

I believe this came up before with the superchargers in the skis and the boats. Boat manuals say 200 hours while the ski manuals say 100 hours. Speculation was that in the skis, the superchargers are overworked more.

 

[Nicko953]

Well, I have taken the time to send a "Registered Letter" to BRP get clarification on this. I explained that I have spoke to several dealers, all with conflicting recommendations.

One says just to service it - meaning change the engine oil and check for slippage.
One says Rebuild the whole damn thing
Another said - I'm not sure and will contact BRP to get clarification, then call me back. This was of course after I explained everything.

I met a guy on the lake last week with 130 hrs on his speedster. Told me his SC blew at 120hrs. He had warranty and it was fixed by his dealer no questions asked. He didn't even do the 100hr maintenance.

So bottom line is - BRP is telling a different story than the dealers. And dealers are making their own recommendations.

I'm not doing anything till I hear it from BRP. (Hopefully they respond).

 

[djredman99]

I hope they respond as well. Please report back anything they say to you.

 

[ruby]

yea hi out there. have some conflicting stories too. has anybody ever ran a boat to see how long a supercharger will go before it quits with normal use and if it does quit at some point in time and i have to pay for a rebulid anyway why do it at 100 hrs if boat is working good and just do it when it quits. it might go 200 hrs then i am i rebuild ahead of the game. thats asuming it does not cause engine damage as many of you are saying. maybe this is just a way for dealers to make a ton of money off us.

 

[djredman99]

yea hi out there. have some conflicting stories too. has anybody ever ran a boat to see how long a supercharger will go before it quits with normal use and if it does quit at some point in time and i have to pay for a rebulid anyway why do it at 100 hrs if boat is working good and just do it when it quits. it might go 200 hrs then i am i rebuild ahead of the game. thats asuming it does not cause engine damage as many of you are saying. maybe this is just a way for dealers to make a ton of money off us.

Because often, it just doesn't quit. It blows apart and can cause major engine damage. The idea is to do the proper maintenance on it so it doesn't cause very expensive repairs.

 

[ruby]

thanks for the response but of all the stories i read about sc problems i have never read of an explosion, they just quit boosting. had 2 previous boats that both failed at less than 50 hours and both were of the metal type washers. now this boat i have has 90 hours on it without a failure and hate to have someone work on it and then have problems anyway. thatis why i was wondering if anybody out there has gone past the 100 hrs and how far have they gone

 

[djredman99]

thanks for the response but of all the stories i read about sc problems i have never read of an explosion, they just quit boosting. had 2 previous boats that both failed at less than 50 hours and both were of the metal type washers. now this boat i have has 90 hours on it without a failure and hate to have someone work on it and then have problems anyway. thatis why i was wondering if anybody out there has gone past the 100 hrs and how far have they gone

I guess the "blowing up" I was referring to were with the ceramic washers, which are no longer in use. I would like to think that they just stop boosting as well and do no further damage. Would certainly ease my mind when thinking of my own supercharger.