3.4L TRD Supercharger rebuild

@1997tacomav6 you know quite a bit about the TRD Superchargers, how much money do you think it would realistically take to get this one road worthy? Seems like a project but the price is good...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/az-trd-supercharger-3-4.524765/#post-16708486

 

it's a gamble, it might just need a full rebuild 1000.00 if you can't do it yourself with rotors coated.
But with other parts needed your quickly close to 2500.00 with rebuild, Still you don't know if there are any other problems. My opinion is to pass, I would only buy one from someone that KNOWS it running or who has some history or if you could listen to it. This one looks rough,
I don't like the look of the marks on the rotors.
Not sure if that good

 

I appreciate the response. I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced one and that price was much lower than I’ve seen.

 

You bet, it's an inexpensive price but there's no way to know exactly what's needed,
And the repairs and unknown issues could turn it into a bad deal fast, it's a gamble, I dont see the pulley or front nose condition either,
It's like buying a used engine in a junk yard on a self, you have no idea what your buying.

If those rotors are all nicked and scratched then the rotors will be out of balance and that means new rotors needed

 

Parts wise you’ll only have to spend about $70 more (not sure why the bypass is bad but if so that is another $100). The bolts are simple to find online and you will need to fab a couple pieces (wire loom and dipstick bracket, I posted traces of them a couple pages back, a spacer to attach the support bracket on the drivers side of the engine (I’ve used plastic cylinder spacers from any hardware store) and find the right throttle cable bracket).

Maintenance wise, a full rebuild is recommended, but not always necessary. The nose cone is simple to rebuild if you have access to a press. The rotors look normal to me but hard to really tell unless you have them in your hand. The casing also looks normal. I’d pick it up for around $700-800 and just rebuild the nose cone and replace the rear needle bearings. Should be good to go after that.

 

This type of an item can be a deal and other times can be a bust. You have no idea exactly
what your getting or what exact problems it might have till you have it in hand to inspect knowing what
to look for. If it's JUST bearings it's a deal, it's a gamble.

 

Exactly, really hard to tell without seeing it in person. Worse case you get it for $750 and get rebuilt for $750-1000. Still way under a new one.

I picked one up years ago to use for parts and the guy said it only needed a nose cone rebuild. Received it and the pulley was welded to the shaft, completely torn to pieces in the nose cone and the rotor gears were stripped. Obviously looked fine from pieces but completely trashed. Luckily I wanted the housing (1st gen) and that was in great shape.

 

Those rotor walls looked all scratched up to you???

 

Hard to tell with pictures, but they look normal to me. Have to remember dirt and such does get passed the filter and will be circulated throughout that casing. As long as you can slide your finger along and nothing major catches you, it should be good to go.

 

Well looks like a lot of wear marks on the walls which would mean a looser fit between the rotors and the wall, less boost, this is probably expected with a used supercharger. I would get the Internal Case Rotor Bores - Thermal Coating done, that would help for a better seal with the worn areas you see and more boost for the extra 200 some dollars considering it needs a full rebuild anyway.
The tighter the fit with the rotors and walls the better it will perform just like an engine piston.

 

A little OT but how can I tell if I have the 7th injector kit?

 

You'd have a shiny braided steel line plugged into the back of your supercharger, it's hard to miss. I'll post a pic in a sec...

 

It would look like this, except the blue line would be a steel braided one (not blue).



Also you'd have the piggyback ecu for it hidden somewhere on your truck, mine is up behind the glove box.

 

I’m sure you have some sort of fuel mod. If you don’t pull a plug and post up what you have in there.

 

My truck came with the supercharger but no fuel mods, I remember asking the same thing about the 7th injector when I first got my truck lol. I was hoping it was hidden somewhere and I just couldn't see it, but alas...the PO didn't install anything other than the blower. Truck pinged like crazy so I had to get the 7th (still pings some so I need to tune it better now).

 

I hope the the fact you haven’t adjusted it is out out of pure laziness. I have the 7th on order and my biggest fear with it is that it would be hard to tune.

 

Thanks all. I'll check but I'm pretty sure I've never seen those mods. The SC was installed by the dealer just after they discontinued the factory option. It has run pretty pretty much flawlessly which is why I suspected I might have the 7th injector kit or possibly the upgraded 2004 injectors. The VIN sometimes comes up 2003 or 2004.

This is a great thread btw. I'm about the stage where I need to think about rebuilding and maybe upgrading the injectors. I started throwing a P0350 code (knock sensor) when I filled up last time and I suspect I got some bad gas and a clogged fuel filter or injector. Or it could just be a legit bad sensor.

Thanks again.

 

Few questions for you.

You sure you know what ping sounds like?
Do you run premium?
Do you know what spark plugs you have?
How long you had the truck?

And you’re in Florida right?

 

I run premium (93/94) but I am in Alberta currently and the winter gas can get pretty sketchy. This started immediately after a recent fillup which had me suspicious that the fuel system clog is causing a lean-out.

I use the OEM Denso or NGK plugs. I just changed the plugs with no effect.

I'm not actually sure I can hear a ping except of course when the error code is on and the truck is in limp mode. Then the truck balks and stumbles on uphill grades like as if the spark plug gap is too large.

I can reset the code while I'm driving using the Torque app and as soon as I do that the truck runs much better until the code throws a few minutes later. When the code is off I'm not sure I've detected actual pinging which would point to the sensor itself being bad.