Supercharger super busted
As I may or may not have ever mentioned, I missed the entire 2008 track season. I didn't really plan it that way; in fact I emailed Ramon the Mechanic in April asking about some stuff I wanted to have done. But then this and that came up, and Erin and Bryce bought my old car (making it more inconvenient to leave my other one at the mechanic) and I never got around to it.
Anyway, the events are just getting started for this year, so I signed up for Bonni's Miata club day at Thunderhill on April 3. About the same time, my car started to sound different. Different pretty much never means anything good, and I wanted to have everything looked at again before I went back to the track, so I started trying to get in to see Ramon the Mechanic.
It took a week to get a response, which isn't usually the case. In the meantime I went to change the oil last Sunday, and with the hood open even I could find the problem, which is in the picture here. The supercharger belt has slipped halfway off the pulley to the inside, where it grinds against the blower, which means that it is being slowly shredded into the tiny particles of rubber and metal that are now covering half the engine compartment. The blower pulley is also crooked, which is either the cause, or an effect.
Having tried and failed to figure out the belt tensioner, I finally got it to the mechanic this morning. So far he has told me that it's going to require pulling the supercharger off ($600) to find out what's wrong with it. Sucks, but if it can be put back together for a couple thousand dollars, I don't really have anything to complain about, considering that it's a ten year old car and this is the first repair bill since I bought it two years ago. I'm more annoyed that there's almost no chance I will have it back by next Friday.
#