Hi guys,

I'm a new SRT6 owner and new member to this forum! I bought by a 2005 SRT Roadster with 37K miles about a month ago off of my fiancés father. He has upgraded with the Eurochaged Code 3 and tune about 1k miles ago. About a week ago it started making a high pitched squeak from just behind the superchager pulley(I think). It begins on ignition and continues while idling, but will go away with just a touch of the throttle, only to return at idling. It does it about 50% of the time. It doesn't get worse with AC.

After reading on here I first thought my serpentine belt needed replaced. That has been done with no improvement. It does not sound like the idler pulley. It also doesn't sound like the clutch or bearing issues i've heard on other videos. There is no decrease in performance and the supercharger seems to function fine. Just noise! Im going to drive it back to him today to take another look. Anyone have this problem? Thanks!!!

Below is a youtube link. The video isn't the best, but it was the first(and loudest) one I was able to get.

 

Forgot to mention, all of the pulleys spin freely and smooth when the belt is off. No noticable damage.

 

The bearing in your supercharger pulley is going bad. When the car is idling, the supercharger clutch is disengaged and the bearing is working. When you rev up the engine the supercharger clutch engages and the bearing is no longer working. That's why the sound goes away when you rev up the engine and then comes back at idle.

Take off the serpentine belt and remove the supercharger pulley. Put a box wrench on the pulley bolt and hit it with a rubber mallet (to kind of loosen it in short bursts) while holding the supercharger pulley from turning (as best you can). When you remove that thick washer from behind the pulley bolt, make a note of it's position in relation to the painted stripe on it. You'll need to reinstall that washer in the same relative position so you can then properly re-attach and tighten the bolt to the right torque (by lining up the stripe on the bolt with the stripe on the washer).

When you get the pulley off . . . hold it with your fingers inside the bearing and spin it. You should be able to tell that the bearing is bad. Your local NAPA auto parts should be able to install a new bearing for you. If you buy the bearing from them they will probably install it at no charge. If you try to save a few bucks buying the new bearing elsewhere and then bring everything to them, they will likely charge you to change out the bearing and you'll probably end up spending more.

When you reassemble it tap the bolt tight until the painted stripe lines up with the painted stripe on the washer. That will be the correct torque for the bolt. DO NOT overtighten that bolt because it is hollow and it WILL break (giving you another problem to solve)!

I would also recommend changing the idler pulley (or eliminating it with a Needswings pulley saver kit OR a LateModel21 pulley wrap kit) because the idler pulley is a failure waiting to happen. I know you said it seemed OK but at 37K I'm sure that bearing is going bad too . . .

Report back and let us know what you find.

PS - I think you mean it has a code3 pulley and a Eurocharged tune. Eurocharged makes pulleys too but Code3 is a different brand of pulley.

 

Thanks Red Dog, I will give this a try when I get it back to his garage tonight. We thought this could be the problem but since there has only been 1000 miles since the pulley change we dismissed it.

 

Since Code3 has been out of business for quite a while, I presume your future father-in-law bought that pulley used. No telling how many miles were on it when he got it, right? Does your pulley look like this or does it NOT have those front to back grooves?

06c067cd_zps23f71c8b.jpg

 

Thinking about this a little more, it also could be that you need a different shim thickness. When the Code3 pulley was installed were the same shims installed that were on the stock pulley? As the newly installed pulley "seats in", the clutch may have started rubbing slightly when disengaged causing that squealing sound. Maybe another forum member can chime in on the likelyhood of problem being related to the shim thickness. The more I think about it I'm believing that could be your problem. If you have another shim ring you might try installing it to provide just a bit more shim thickness creating additional clearance between the clutch faces when the clutch is disengaged.

 

It does not have those grooves. I think I was wrong about the code 3. He is not sure what pulley it is and bought it 3 years ago. It was new. I know he bought it as part of a kit from eurocharged. I will find out in an hr or so when I get there

 

You were right. I think the shim thickness has slightly decreased since the pulley was changed. The clutch and pulley seem damage free. I have a number at eurocharged that can send replacements. I'll let you know if this solves the problem. Thanks again!

 

This is a confusing thread. I think a picture might show what pulley it is. Also what material is the pulley? I may have missed this point in the thread. If it is aluminum I would not put it on the car as the rivets come loose all the time.

The gap between the clutch plate and the magnetic clutch is around .012/.016 on the OEM clutch. But they were made with springs that worked, later pulleys did not have true springs and these stretched with use and the clutch plate did not return to the stops when released. This is a weakness of these pulleys and the springs will continue to get worse until the clutch plate is rubbing against the magnet.

What is the point of having springs and stops when nether does its job after a while.

It is explained that the springs will only stretch so far and then remain at a fixed dimension thereafter, if so why were the stops not made long enough to account for this ?
If a spring does not return to a fixed position on a stop after a hundred operations to my thinking it is not a spring. The after market pulleys were built with pre-load on the springs, after a while this pre-load has gone and the spring continues to relax until the clutch plate is under no spring pressure when released by the magnet. If the springs relax at different amounts then just one part of the clutch plate will rub. The gap should be even all around but we saw straight away that this did not occur and it was hard to get an even measurement of the gap.

I have heard of an after market SC pulley coming apart, I am waiting for the first one on this forum.

 

Sorry for not getting back to you. I am out of the country for a week. I have posted pics of the pulley and found some more info. Eurocharged was not able to tell me which one it is, but it was purchased 10-2011(so I am assuming the first version). After digging deeper I see that this pulley had problems with springs on other posts but did not see a definitive fix other than changing to a different pulley. My plan was to re-shim and keep a close eye on it, then if it gives me problems change to the stock or different pulley. Is shimming again worth my time or is it doomed to fail?

 

I'm not sure which pulley you have by looking at the photos but I THINK that's a Code3 Gen2 pulley (the Gen1 had those front to back grooves and the Gen2 looks like the one in your photos). IF that's what you have it has a good reputation of being a reliable pulley. Put in a bit more shim and you should be good to go with no worries.
I am still not clear on where that pulley was purchased. Did it come from Eurocharged? If so it is NOT a Code3 and it may be one of the Eurocharged original design / release pulleys which have a history of problems and failures (as detailed in onehundred80's post). Eurocharged SHOULD be able to determine what pulley they sent on your order. If it is from the original batch they should be willing to exchange it for you.