2001 SLK230 Supercharger
 

Please help ...I was recently told by my mechanic that the supercharger is "going out" and it will cost me approx $1200 to replace. I currently have approx 149,000 miles on my car. For the past 3 months or so, there's a loud whinding sound from the engine that gets louder as I accelerate/decrease as I slow down. No engine light. I found in my car manual that there is a supercharger oil I can buy. This tends to make me think I should first check the oil level in the unit first (or is the unit self contained?) If possible, I'd like to troubleshoot first and hope for a simple fix before I just hand over that amount of cash to my mechanic for a replacement. Not a lot of info on a supercharger for my car and what the symptoms would be if the unit breaks down. Please post any info regarding this issue. I will be extremely greatful.

I am in the process of installing a rebuilt one for my slk which had 131k on it. Mine was blowing oil through the intake and coating the mass airflow sensor causing it to stumble and run poorly. The oil in the supercharger is self contained and can be changed with some sort of bottle and tube to suck it out. When looking at the supercharger from the left side of the car, the lower right hand corner has a bolt or allen wrench screw to access the oil.(On top side) I have not looked to see if it has a drainplug or not. From what the instructions on my new supercharger state, I need to change every 30k miles, and if you have a rebuilt one they recomend changing after the first 500 miles. I think the superchargers for SLK's are made by Eaton and they make them for a variety of other vehicles such as GM. The guy who rebuilt mine suggests I can purchase a GM supercharger oil kit to change mine with. I paid about $440 for a rebuilt one not incuding the shipping so if you look around you can find a deal. If yours is making noise I suspect the bearings are going out. I thought changing it out would be easy but I had to fight getting the old one out with the long supercharger bolts hitting the frame rail but I have heard some people have had no problems replacing theirs in an afternoon. I believe the name of the place I got mine from was Canadian Superchargers (in USA). I will have to confirm that though.

GM part number for the supercharger oil kit is 12345982 from what my paperwork states. Maybe a Benz mechanic can comment on this if they are reading on this forum?? Hope this helps.

You can (usually) have it rebuilt for much less than a replacement. It's an Eaton SC, there are plenty of people out there that rebuild them.

Thank you gentlemen :)
 

I appreciate your guidance and insight.