That's a darn shame Frank. I sure hope Magnacharger turns out to be one of the few companies left that stands behind their product and their customers.

Yep - it's now scrap metal.

Frank

Amen Brother.

Those pics make me sick to my stomach man. I know that kind of heartache. How about the motor. It ingested those needle bearings for sure??


<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />

I sent them the link to this thread..... we'll see what they think after they review the pictures.



Look at the first picture of the inside of the discharge plenum..... the grayish coating is pure powdered metal..... you can even see it coated on the inside of the inlet ports.... some of it had to get on the valve stems and some had to go down into the cylinders.

Frank

Aluminum is soft... If that went down I'd not be worried.

If the blower chewed the needle bearings up enough to pass through the motor, then I think you SHOULD be alright. Only a tear down will tell for sure.

Very sorry to see this Frank. I question using a stamped cage needle bearing with no lubrication source in a high speed app.
The stamped cage is very sensitive to the bore dimension in the housing. They are also sensitive to the hardness of the housing they are in.
Yours beat it's way out in the housing, either due to an error in the housing bore and maybe to an imbalance of the rotor. Either way the failure is due to improper manufacture of the blower. I truly doubt the bearing failed from it's own cause.

I will again remain a turbocharger guy.

The aluminum passing through will melt during combustion becoming a coating. In this case I expect it will be of minor consequence. You probably have aluminum coated exhaust manifolds, on the inside.

Gee, Frank, that sux big time, but I was afraid you'd find that when you took it apart.

Before I gave up on the motor, I'd do a cylinder leakage and run a borescope in the plug hole to check for broken upper ring lands and big whackie scars from the needles, and run a magnet down there for luck. I don't think the metal dust can make it into the oil pressure path since it didn't originate there, and the aluminum scrap will be soft stuff anyway. You won't have ground the needles into dust...

One final word. Turbo. I have the exhaust manifold all mind engineered...

Charlie, I think you're probably spot on. I count 13 rollers on the remaining good bearing - 12 rollers on the bad one, plus what's left of the 13th. The inner part of the bearing cage is missing and has gone through the rotors along with what's missing from the 13th roller. The remaining outer bearing shell appears to be cocked in the bore and not fully seated - or the bore misaligned..... can't tell for sure.

Either the bearing was flawed, damaged on installation or was destroyed by inadequate clearance or improper bore dimensions...... whatever... you're correct it's a manufacturing issue.

Those bearings apparently hold up in superchargers, but not this time. It's probably rare for this to happen - but it did.

Eddy, it's not just the one needle roller and bearing cage that were ground into powder, but also the metal removed from the rotors.... and it's quite a bit. There's no way I would run that engine as is unless I had no choice.

I'll let you guys know what the Magnacharger folks have to say about it. They have a good reputation for making a quality product and no manufacturer is perfect every time, so we'll see what they think. It may be the only one in 10,000, but I do know that what I told them happened is not only possible, but certainly did happen.... the pictures tell the story. What I don't want to hear from them is a repeat of "I don't see how that's possible". What I'd like to hear is an acknowledgement of the facts in evidence and the recognition of where the fault lies.

Frank

I feel really bummed about this. I'm really sorry Frank. After all your hard work and careful planning/research. I can't imagine how you feel about it.

Turbo? Well OK, but the sound of a whining charger is one of the best sounds out there. I'm sorry I didn't get the hear this one <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />