When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The way I read that it says that you don't need to change it unless for some reason you do have to change it.
If changing is required the interval may be short or fairly long.
Hey guys after gathering all the info from the XJR thread(thanks to Vector and Plums for their infos) about changing the SuperCharger oil, I finally completed it tonight. First let me tell you this is no walk in the park drain and fill I guess I'm the first to do a write up on the STR SC oil change because I looked all around and there was nothing I could find on the S type Forum for the info; I maybe wrong so don't take my word for it.
Tools required:
1) 3/16 hex bit
2) 1/4 wrench
3) 1/4 ratcheting wrench
4) 2 4oz Supercharger oi (SuperCharger capacity 7.3 oz) ( New bottle is made by ACDElCO no more GM written on bottle, has same part#refer to pic)(available at any dealership..GM or Chevy dealership for $10.89 per bottle)
5) 2oz Syringe (Very Handy!! Cardone Industries 100-105000MCB - A1 Cardone Master Cylinder Bench Bleeder Tools - Overview - SummitRacing.com)
6)1/4 plastic tube
7)1/8 plastic tube
***As an Alternative you can also purchase from ACE HARDWARE STORE one polyurethane tube with a inner diameter of 1/4 and another with a inner diameter of 1/8 (The Syringe will attach to the 1/4 tube). Tell the employee you want to have it joined together the two tubes, he will give you two small barb hose fittings connected.
***Please note what you see in the pic I made from a 1/4 rubber hose and brake line tube combined together from 1/4 to 1/8 with a round rubber connector in between and attached it to the syringe. I found the brake line tube to be the perfect fit and size might be less than 1/8(get it from Nappa store) SMALLER DIAMETER THE BETTER to fit downwards in the SC oil filler hole!!
Alrite now the fun part, man ohhh man was this a pain in the *** for me. My STR has 92k and I'm dead positive the SC oil never been changed. People at Jaguar say and its stated that our Supercharger oil is Sealed for life (BS ) Honestly in our STR we don't have much room to work with in that small area you'll see once you remove the Air Intake tube and the 3/16th black colored hex drain plug is very visible just behind the Thermostat housing. I really would have liked to squeeze a flex drive wrench with the hex bit but no go! Tried everything but that option didn't' work. Like I said you have to remove the Air Intake tube completely off no work around.**Make sure you pack the surrounding area under the SC drain plug completely with paper towels or a cloth, no spot should be left uncovered and also it will catch the overflow. Why? Because you will definitely drop the hex bit and it will save you from digging around looking for it. I dropped it many times just trying to turn the dam hex bit with the wrench luckily it was very easy to recover bc it was packed with paper towels. Then use the 3/16 hex bit with the 1/4 ratcheting wrench first, once loosened, then use the 1/4 wrench to remove it completely. LIke I said very tight spot to work with, it took me a good 15mins or soo trying to turn the hex bit little by little. Finally once off you should see the small drain plug with the washer on it.
Now comes the time to drain the fluid out. The **** smells horrible, I don't know why some ppl say it doesn't smell, but once that drain plug came undone my garage was stinking like something died! lolz..no joke. The new fluid doesn't smell at all which is weird; must be the SC burning the oil to produce the stink, I dunno. Anyways this is important, you can't just stick the dam end of the tube inside the hole and expect miracles of sucking it up! YOu have to go in a downward angle, b/c there's some kind of metal or gear I dunno right smack near the opening of the drain/fill hole, took me long and mutilple times to get it right(this is where the majority of time gets eaten up; so be patient Once you get lucky and feel you can't push the tube down further, start sucking up the fluid with the Syringe. It will take some effort and muscle by pumping and retracting slowly till you start sucking up air then stop. My first try I got around 2oz of fluid out. I had to keep poking the end of the tube in different areas of the hole, seriously its not that easy as the XJR people who done it. I thought it would be a walk in the park, but hell noooo!
Now this part I did on my own thinking and it actually worked. I was able to completely remove all the fluid from my Super Charger by jacking up the REAr Passenger side only till the wheel wasn't touching the ground(now the oil is tilted to the front drivers side, angle the tube in the drain/filler hole towards the drivers side to suck up the remaining oil). Then I was able to suck out the remaining fluid.In total I was able to get out 5.5oz, now I said in the beginning the recommended capacity is 7.3oz for the SuperCharger, what the **** happened to the remaining 1.8oz Seriously no clue. I ended up using close to 7.5oz in total refill.
Last Step, now after making sure you completely did your utmost to drain the fluid all out, you will start pumping her up with the fresh fluid,(ohhh I like the sound of that) It doesn't matter where you stick your tube, try to get it in as far as possible and start pumping it in. Keep doing it till it starts to over flow. Once you start seeing it over flow from the drain hole stop, and plug her up. Use your fingers to tighten it up firstly then start using the wrench then lastly tight her up as hard as possible using the 1/4 ratcheting wrench. Phewwww....I took my time and did this carefully making sure you don't put any hand pressure on the coolant tank or any hoses on the Intercoolers of the SC.
Conclusion My fluid was like dark coffee color(see pic)(normally should be clear) and it smelled terrible. My STR has 92k at present, so it looks like its been in there since it rolled out of the production plant. Jaguar may not give any guidance other than just saying the SuperCharger oil is "Sealed for Life" but General Motors gives guidance in their scheduled maintenance - "check supercharger oil level every 25k miles or 3 years, whichever comes first". AFter putting all the **** back together I started her up and knock on wood, I heard her scream like never before , honestly I heard the smooth rich loud whine more than before on WOT; music to my ears
Hope this write up and the pics of the tools used help those to take the challenge and change the SC oil, I think its a must just like any fluid change, tranny, motor oil etc.....at the end you will be happy you did
Performed the SC oil change on both my STR and XJR today. Your write up and pictures were very helpful. If I may add one other bit of advice. It is a lot easier to access the oil plug if you first separate the thermostat housing. Only 3 bolts involved and a very good time to be checking/replacing the thermostat anyway. The one on my STR was completely shot.
I wondered if someone would think that, but luckily, there's no wife to report to or be disciplined by. I hope my next batch of chocolate chip cookies doesn't taste funny.
Well after 2 hours of trying to get an Allen wrench to work I have given up! I am no novice but for the life of me I cannot get the plug to turn more than a small amount then you cannot get the Allen to fit into the next movement over to continue the process. My hand just does not fit in between all the pipes so that is that unless I can find a ratchet with Allen head that will work this job will have to wait.
I use a ball socket or sometimes called a ball driver. That lets you get into it from an angle. I used a short one but they come in different lengths.
.
.
.
Once I got the plug loose, I used a very long Phillips screwdriver, I'm talking about a 2 footer, to thread through the plumbing from the front and turn the plug out.
Vector
Ok thanks guys, got the plug out, but could only get 4oz of oil out tried everything and had the described self made attachments. Got about 5 back in so I suppose some is better than none. So new expansion tank, Mina intake and the half oil change with only I socket and a hex head lost in the engine bay somewhere but no where that will cause a problem.,prob find them when I do the oil change in a couple of weeks. Thanks all for the help.
Performed the SC oil change on both my STR and XJR today. Your write up and pictures were very helpful. If I may add one other bit of advice. It is a lot easier to access the oil plug if you first separate the thermostat housing. Only 3 bolts involved and a very good time to be checking/replacing the thermostat anyway. The one on my STR was completely shot.
Thanks.
Free Syringe for SC oil removal.
Check out local markets pharmacy for a Syringe . Asked at At Krogers today where syringes were kept and was given one free {from large bag}.
Not the biggest but will do over 2 tablespoons .
SC oil changing by a "newbie"{ Sorry its long but what did you expect from a newbie
Soemboldened by the info from this forum Idecided to seek out the smelly coffee viscous fluid lurking in the depths of my 2001XJR's super charger . How hard could it be I had the recommended WD 40 straw , the 3/16" hex key and the paper towel to put in the gap to soak up the oil .
Located the plug on left side of the SC unit was easy but inserting the hex key in the limited space not so easy. Turning the key a 1/64" turn at a time followed by a period of time trying to re insert the key back in for another 1/64 turn proved frustrating . Ha ! where was H2O's wobbly ?
THe plug had a small blue dot painted on it allowing me to see the fractional turns and limited progress until the plug was loose enough to remove with fingers.
Now came the easy part {or so I thought} take my small syringe cleverly modified to receive the WD40 straw , insert in drain hole , pull back the plunger and suck up all that oil.. Your kidding right !!! After much probing the straw finally found oil and sucked uo a few drops of oil. Repeated attempts resulted in 10 drops of oil ,a collapsed syringe,wife complaining of disgusting smell emanating from garage garage and me being amazed at retrieving 0.03 oz of oil in the past 45mins and only 7 oz more to go.
Time to get serious!
Getting a larger syringe [ from Amazon @$2.33} I made the Wd 40 connection and started over.. Same result very little oil being removed.l I realizes th WD 0 straw was too small for the job, and too rigid?
Finding a piece of double wire sheaved in blue plastic tubing about 1/4" dia I used the sheaving pushing it into syringe { sealed it w JB plastic weld} .Inserted the flexible tubing into the right side of plug hole and sucked up in 2 pulls about 5 oz of oil. Repeated pulls only nettedabout .05 z more. Decided not to spend rest of day futilely sucking up the missing 2 oz. Used the syringe to add new oil.
To avoid repeat use of the hex wrench I shortened a 3/16" bit to approx 1" grinding down both ends . The 3/16" end ground to fit flush with plug face when inserted. Grinding th ends made for a tighter fits. Used the small bit in plug to re insert plug .
Using a thin 1/4" flat wrench {open end and punched out six sided opening} it was easy to tighten up the plugin minutes
Findings , WD40 straw not very effectve , Removing oil requires a more flexible tube with larger opening. Large syringe a must.
Small paint dot on plug prior to removal a great help. Try wobbly , but IMOH the modified hex bit/ wrench will save a lot of time and frustration.
SC oil available at Chevy deler , 4oz @ $10.89 .
JB Plastic weld useless and a waste of money.
i bought the power house eaton m112 oil change kit comes with a 100ml seringe and a clear flexible pipe ,47euros on ebay. thay prescribe 225mls of synthetic aviation turbine oil produced buy BP to meet or better the oem requirements for eaton super chargers!
it also states the standards no#s of the oil and also thay say on the bottle to change the S/C oil every 50k miles . mine has done 150,000km and was disscusting colored crap!
i got 224ml out and it took 224ml to fill and was really fiddly ! my converter says that = 7.883697 fluid ounces , ill bet the oily residue sitting in my bearings is the rest of what would have been 8oz , real pleased its done it was very tainted , this O/P was worth gold thanks for the wicked info ,helped no end
Some serious thread necro here, but hey, I'm still driving an STR so maybe someone else is too
Can highly recommend finding a racheting 1/4in closed-end wrench, slip a short 3/16 hex bit through it so protrudes out the back of the wrench a little, (assuming the shaft on your bits is 1/4, as mine are) wrap a strip of duct tape around the bit on both sides of the wrench and you have a racheting bit that will fit in the space and not have the bit fall out. To completely follow my procedure you should try and fail with other ideas for a least 30 minutes first...
Oil was still full to just below the plug hole, I extracted about 180 ml of very dark but not smelly oil from my 140,000mi '03 (didn't realize until ~90K that the supercharger oil probably should be replaced, and then took a while to get to it and got about 190ml of new clean in, so I'll feel better even if the sc doesn't. Clearly SOMETHING had happened to the original oil.
Pretty normal? Looks like all the other SC oil I have changed.
.
.
.
Does seem consistent, must be a thermal effect, doubt shearing alone would alter the color that much. Wonder if it is a change that only goes so far then stabilizes, color seems similar to others changed at earlier mileages.
So ... you used olive oil ... hope it was extra virgin ...
Originally Posted by CatFive
Some serious thread necro here, but hey, I'm still driving an STR so maybe someone else is too
Can highly recommend finding a racheting 1/4in closed-end wrench, slip a short 3/16 hex bit through it so protrudes out the back of the wrench a little, (assuming the shaft on your bits is 1/4, as mine are) wrap a strip of duct tape around the bit on both sides of the wrench and you have a racheting bit that will fit in the space and not have the bit fall out. To completely follow my procedure you should try and fail with other ideas for a least 30 minutes first...
Oil was still full to just below the plug hole, I extracted about 180 ml of very dark but not smelly oil from my 140,000mi '03 (didn't realize until ~90K that the supercharger oil probably should be replaced, and then took a while to get to it and got about 190ml of new clean in, so I'll feel better even if the sc doesn't. Clearly SOMETHING had happened to the original oil.
So ... you used olive oil ... hope it was extra virgin ...
If you're gonna go virgin, might as well be extra...
In this case though, Mt. Olive pickles ftw.
I do wonder if the color change correlates much to the oil losing performance.
06-29-2012, 03:09 PM
I guess I'm the first to do a write up on the STR SC oil change because I looked all around and there was nothing I could find on the S type Forum for the info; I maybe wrong so don't take my word for it.
) Honestly in our STR we don't have much room to work with in that small area you'll see once you remove the Air Intake tube and the 3/16th black colored hex drain plug is very visible just behind the Thermostat housing. I really would have liked to squeeze a flex drive wrench with the hex bit but no go! Tried everything but that option didn't' work. Like I said you have to remove the Air Intake tube completely off no work around.**Make sure you pack the surrounding area under the SC drain plug completely with paper towels or a cloth, no spot should be left uncovered and also it will catch the overflow. Why? Because you will definitely drop the hex bit and it will save you from digging around looking for it. I dropped it many times just trying to turn the dam hex bit with the wrench luckily it was very easy to recover bc it was packed with paper towels. Then use the 3/16 hex bit with the 1/4 ratcheting wrench first, once loosened, then use the 1/4 wrench to remove it completely. LIke I said very tight spot to work with, it took me a good 15mins or soo trying to turn the hex bit little by little. Finally once off you should see the small drain plug with the washer on it.
Once you get lucky and feel you can't push the tube down further, start sucking up the fluid with the Syringe. It will take some effort and muscle by pumping and retracting slowly till you start sucking up air then stop. My first try I got around 2oz of fluid out. I had to keep poking the end of the tube in different areas of the hole, seriously its not that easy as the XJR people who done it. I thought it would be a walk in the park, but hell noooo!
Seriously no clue. I ended up using close to 7.5oz in total refill.
, honestly I heard the smooth rich loud whine more than before on WOT; music to my ears 
I use a ball socket or sometimes called a ball driver. That lets you get into it from an angle. I used a short one but they come in different lengths.
SC oil changing by a "newbie"{ Sorry its long but what did you expect from a newbie
