Trilogy S/C failure?

[carfixer]

I had the pleasure of seeing Rob (Ghost03) and his lovely wife (6 mos pregnant) Saturday to pick up his killer Marauder. Rob dropped his car off on Thursday because of the noise coming from his S/C.

From the diagnosis given to him by so many, I figured that I'd be stripping the Eaton off of the top of his motor. I listened to his car when he dropped it off and agreed there is noise from the S/C.

After leaving work early sick on Friday, I took a nap and felt refreshed enough to start working on the diagnosis and disassembly. First thing I noticed was the vacuum lines had been all re-routed. Turns out Rob had the car tuned and it ended up with a detonation issue. It ended up being a faulty PCV valve but in trying to find the issue, the vacuum lines were routed differently. As I started to disassemble the car, I found the vacuum line going to the S/C bypass actuator was "T"d into the vacuum line going to the boost gauge and the vacuum T it originally went to was plugged off. This meant the vacuum line had to be routed across the back of the engine. I removed the line and found it was melted completely shut on the EGR tube. This meant the S/C bypass was not going into bypass. The S/C was working all the time.

I re-routed the vacuum lines back to original Trilogy configuration and started the car and the growling was gone. Car fixed. Supercharger not faulty.

To explain the noise, when the S/C is in bypass mode, it is basically freewheeling and not working. When you disable the bypass, the S/C goes into working mode. When at idle, instead of getting the Eaton whine, you get more of a growl due to the low RPM. This noise will be amplified if you have an open filter like with a JLT or K&N cold air kit. As the RPM's pick up, it gets to be a whine. You can demonstrate this noise on your own by temporarily unplugging the black hose from your bypass and listening to the noise.

Rob, I'm glad your car was just a minor repair. Next time we plan to take off your S/C, it will be to put on the Twin Screw!! :burnout:

[rumble]

Great job! That's one lucky MM owner that he had the benifit of your wisdom.

Their's just no substitute for adult supervision.

[Pat]

I'm sure tact would prohibit identifying the party(s) involved in jury rigging the vacumn lines. A lesson to be learned here is make a copy or retain the installation instructions of the vacumn line hook-ups so that this won't occur on your Trilogy car or really any S/C'd Marauder.

Great diagnosis and repair Carfixer.

[ghost03]

I cant thank you enough for pin pointing the problem. I was stunned that out of 165 plus Trilogy Blowers out there that mine was the first to go south in a bad way,but thankfully that wasnt the case.

Most everyone that heard the noise agreed that it was a bad bearing or bad snout.I cant imagine what would have happened if you hadnt found the melted hose and took the blower off,then had it sent out to be rebuilt.Im sure they would have done something to it just to say it was damaged and charge a nice amount of $$$ to say they fixed something that wasnt even damaged.

All I can say is that Im glad you live just across the alley from me. I felt relieved once I got the car back and crossed the alley on the way home. The car feels great and runs like a bat out of hell.....

[MarauderTJA]

Great job Claude in figuring it all out and taking care of our buddy Rob:up:

[RoyLPita]

This is great news.

[Cobra25]

Rob your one lucky guy . Thanks too Claude not only did he fix the problem but we all learned something new.

[MM03MOK]

Thanks, Claude!! Good news for Rob!

[Merc-O-matic]

Claude, A great big THANK YOU ......from all of us!

Gotta Love It!:burnout:

[Raudermaster]

Congrats on the fix. I'm going to say it, do you all remember that thread that guy started who got banned telling all you Trilogy guys to pull OFF your bypass valve and you will have "instant power?" Turns out it is a BAD thing to do so! I'm glad that guy is gone, he could have damaged some of your blowers if you listened to him.

[RCSignals]

I had the pleasure of seeing Rob (Ghost03) and his lovely wife (6 mos pregnant) Saturday to pick up his killer Marauder. Rob dropped his car off on Thursday because of the noise coming from his S/C.

From the diagnosis given to him by so many, I figured that I'd be stripping the Eaton off of the top of his motor. I listened to his car when he dropped it off and agreed there is noise from the S/C.

After leaving work early sick on Friday, I took a nap and felt refreshed enough to start working on the diagnosis and disassembly. First thing I noticed was the vacuum lines had been all re-routed. Turns out Rob had the car tuned and it ended up with a detonation issue. It ended up being a faulty PCV valve but in trying to find the issue, the vacuum lines were routed differently. As I started to disassemble the car, I found the vacuum line going to the S/C bypass actuator was "T"d into the vacuum line going to the boost gauge and the vacuum T it originally went to was plugged off. This meant the vacuum line had to be routed across the back of the engine. I removed the line and found it was melted completely shut on the EGR tube. This meant the S/C bypass was not going into bypass. The S/C was working all the time.

I re-routed the vacuum lines back to original Trilogy configuration and started the car and the growling was gone. Car fixed. Supercharger not faulty.

To explain the noise, when the S/C is in bypass mode, it is basically freewheeling and not working. When you disable the bypass, the S/C goes into working mode. When at idle, instead of getting the Eaton whine, you get more of a growl due to the low RPM. This noise will be amplified if you have an open filter like with a JLT or K&N cold air kit. As the RPM's pick up, it gets to be a whine. You can demonstrate this noise on your own by temporarily unplugging the black hose from your bypass and listening to the noise.

Rob, I'm glad your car was just a minor repair. Next time we plan to take off your S/C, it will be to put on the Twin Screw!! :burnout:

The Master Mech at work. Good job Claude!

It's amasing what people will do when they think they are fixing something. The previous 'tech' I guess either hadn't paid any attention to the routing before he started 'playing', or thought he had a "better idea"

[RCSignals]

I'm sure tact would prohibit identifying the party(s) involved in jury rigging the vacumn lines. A lesson to be learned here is make a copy or retain the installation instructions of the vacumn line hook-ups so that this won't occur on your Trilogy car or really any S/C'd Marauder.

Great diagnosis and repair Carfixer.

The installation instructions come in the form of a large three-ring binder. I can't imagine anyone throwing that away, but I guess it happens.

[RCSignals]

Claude or ghost03, just wondering who messed up the vacuum lines like that?

[ghost03]

Back about 8 months ago I had my car retuned and a few weeks later I noticed detonation. At first I thought it was a bad batch of gas.Took it back to Diablosport to have them check it out and the tune was changed around to try and see what was causing the detonation...

The line that was melted off was done by them and I never had a problem with it until 3 weeks ago.Im amazed it took soo long for it to melt being that it was sitting on the EGR tube for so long....That will be the last time I let anyone else touch my car. Lesson learned.

[carfixer]

Rob, it was my pleasure.

Guys, the whole purpose of this thread was not to point any fingers or discredit anyone. We all make mistakes and to point a finger at anyone is unfair.

The purpose was to educate everyone that it applies to. I learn something on every install and every time I work on one. Today I learned what a melted bypass hose sounds like and wanted to pass it on. That's all.

[Bigdogjim]

Rob, it was my pleasure.

Guys, the whole purpose of this thread was not to point any fingers or discredit anyone. We all make mistakes and to point a finger at anyone is unfair.

The purpose was to educate everyone that it applies to. I learn something on every install and every time I work on one. Today I learned what a melted bypass hose sounds like and wanted to pass it on. That's all.


Very well said Sir!!

Thanks for the info:up:

[Hotrauder]

Claude :2thumbs::2thumbs::2thumbs: No surprise you found the problem. Glad that it worked out well for Rob. Seems to me that the proper stickey post would be...If you have a problem go the the expert who can fix it for you or at least trouble shoot the situation and give a proper approach to a fix... I don't plan on doing my own by pass..and as much as I love you I won't be coming to the Stooges for that either:D That is what this forum is for. Keeping track of our friends and learning who and where for info. Not for petty jealousy, stupid political BS and numb skull grabs for money. JMHO. Dennis

[RCSignals]

Claude and Rob, understand I didn't ask 'who' to point fingers.
There isn't much space around the EGR tube, and it's not necessarily easy to keep all the pieces from contacting it, especially when you add an extra vacuum tube to the mix.

Claude, you did a proper evaluation and diagnosis, hopefully word will get back to the other person, and a lesson will be learnt. The 'easy' and seemingly most obvious answer isn't always the right one in cases like this. Replacing the S/C unit wouldn't have been the most economical either.

[magindat]

That's the 2nd time that car has melted a vac tube on the EGR. Of all the dumb luck, Rob.....

Glad it's fixed, and all the the best to you and C. Good to see you guys last week.