Question for owners of supercharged Previa: Supercharger Oil?

Hello all,

I just bought a 1997 Previa S/C with 107,000 miles on it. I have 2 questions for members who have maintained and serviced their supercharger unit.

1) Have you used NON-Toyota oil? GM? Ford? I'd rather not spend $50 for 50ml of oil from Toyota.
2) I have located the dipstick, but I have not found the drain plug. Does it exist? Where is it? Pictures?

Thank you in advance for your help.
Sam

$50 for 107000 miles...
That's not even 4 millionth of a cent a mile, if my math is right

or more understandably, that's less than $3 a year

why nickel and dime this when you can chance blowing it up with the wrong stuff? Then you're out hundreds if not thousands to replace it

I am not chancing anything. I'm asking for info from owners who actually have experience with the Previa supercharger oil. Logic tells me this is just a roots type supercharger. Toyota can and is selling this oil at $1/ml because of ignorance which results in perpetual fear.

Sorry, your math is also incorrect, by a factor of more than 10,000!

4 millionth of a cent = 0.000004 cents (5 zeros after the decimal point)

50 x 100 / 107000 = 0.047 cents / mile

There's a guy on-line who sells Klubersynth oil for Ogura TX superchargers @ $36 per liter (that's 20 x the volume of a 50 milliliter bottle). If purchased in the 50 milliliter bottles (that Toyota sells for $50 each), this same volume would be $1,000.00. I believe this is the same stuff sold by Toyota. Here's a quote from his website:

"Ogura Clutch is the manufacturer for the Toyota SC12 and SC14 superchargers.
Aside from the housing casting the SC12 and SC14 are virtually identical to the TX12 and TX15



This is the reccomended oil for the Ogura TX series chargers.

In conversations with Ogura clutch it was brought to my attention that the type of oil you use is very important. Using the wrong oil can shorten life due to added gear and bearing wear. The wrong oil can react with various metals in the gear box and cause rapid erosion. It can also react with the seals and cause them to break down and fail much more quickly."

Here's a link: http://www.matrixgarage.com/products...argers-1-liter

Thank you timsrv.

His claim sounds legitimate. Has anyone tried his oil? Please respond if you have.

FYI, apples to apples, the Klubersynth oil, when purchased through that guy (above), works out to $1.80 per each 50 ML bottle :lol:. Toyota's price reflects the labor of their executives. At board meetings they spend their time pouring 1 liter bottles into (20) 50 ML bottles :rol:. Needless to say, their executives are very well paid. :LOL2:

Normally, I agree with the only use Toyota fluids statement. I use Toyota antifreeze, Toyota transmission fluid, Toyota oil filters, etc. We have owned our 1997 Previa since Feb 2003. For the first few years, I took the Previa to the dealer for engine oil changes. The dealer would send me coupons for oil changes for little more than I could do it myself. Then around 2008, I decided to change the engine oil myself. After changing the engine oil, I checked fluid levels. When I checked the supercharger, the oil level was below the dipstick. This made me wonder if the dealer had been checking the supercharger oil level when doing oil changes even though they claim they check and top off all fluid levels when doing the oil changes. At that time, I drained and refilled with Toyota supercharger oil. The next time I changed my oil (I change oil at 3750 miles), I checked the supercharger oil level, and it was below the dipstick. I figured the supercharger was on its way out. Rather than buy Toyota supercharger oil, I started using GM supercharger oil. Every time since, the supercharger oil is below the dipstick when I change the engine oil. I top it off. After going through four 4 oz. bottles of GM supercharger oil, I quite putting in supercharger oil and started putting in 0W-20 or 0W-30 motor oil. I don't remember the weight because as of the last oil change, I have gone through a quart of motor oil and no longer have the container, but the s/c is still spinning. That being said, if the supercharger was not consuming oil at the rate mine is, I would likely have continued to top off with Toyota supercharger oil, but, I wanted to share my experience with alternatives.

BTW, the drain plug is on the rear of the supercharger. Get a new crush washer if you drain it.

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Originally Posted by wil13577

BTW, the drain plug is on the rear of the supercharger.

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Thanks. I will try to find the drain plug again. What do you mean by rear? Shouldn't it be bottom?
Also, what is the approximate oil capacity of the supercharger? Is it 1300ml? I thought I read that somewhere but could not find the link.

timsrv: I agree, Toyota's supercharger oil price is ridiculous.

Re: drain plug location: The drain plug is on the end of the supercharger facing the rear of the vehicle on the bottom center. If one crawls under the vehicle just aft of the front wheel from the driver's side and looks towards the front of the van, one can see the plug slightly behind the front axle. You don't actually need to crawl under, the drain plug can be seen be looking up and towards the front of the van from behind the left front wheel. (At least on my '97 one can.)

Re: approximate oil capacity of the supercharger? 130 ml (Approximately 30 ml = 1 oz)

Thank you wil13577.

Found it, right where you said it would be. It's a 17mm plug. Drained it and filled it up with AC Delco Supercharger Oil, 130ml.

Draining is easy. Refilling is a pain in the neck. Checking the oil level is a waste of time. The new oil is colorless, there is simply no way to tell, especially when you are under the van working upward. So I just filled it to the top.

I'm in the same place as WIL. The seals in my SC have been shot for some time. For the last 150k or so I crawl underneath every other week and put in about 2.5 oz of 10-40W motor oil. Originally, I used 10-50w synthetic. Then I tried to add some seal conditioner. Then viscosity enhancer. Nothing changed the usage rate. Still runs like a top, though. I bought a used SC on eBay, but it seems to be quite the chore to change it out. So I just keep refilling, waiting for it to fail. I don't know where the leaking-by oil is going, but I hope it is just lubing my top end. Still passes CA smog every other year. Lots of power, 25 mpg highway, 22 mpg mixed.

mike h
'97 DX, 330k miles -- never been to the shop!

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Originally Posted by sited faith

..., 25 mpg highway, 22 mpg mixed.

mike h
'97 DX, 330k miles -- never been to the shop!

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Very impressive gas mileage mike! What speed do you do on the highway?

My best is 24mpg highway at 70mph on flat road. 97 DX, 107Kmiles.

Well, I drive it like my grandmother stole it. :-) I keep up with traffic and very rarely find the need to achieve zero throttling loss. Smooth is my goal and I try avoid braking. I'm not a hypermiler, but I will confess to putting it in neutral and coasting downhill, on occasion. On the freeway I generally go just above 70mph. I have seen 28 mpg on a tank, but that was an A to B trip, mostly downhill. I have a Scangage II and I keep an eye on it. It has helped me drive more efficiently, especially on hills. Note that the Scangage is extremely precise since you can calibrate the distance (via GPS, a one time affair) and input the gas pumped on every fill up. It calculates how much gas I will need within .1 gal every time. One interesting thing I discovered is that pedal control throttle is more efficient than cruise control. I think that is because one tends to let the car slow on small inclines, but the cruise does not. Another thing I did was to take off the crossbars from the factory rack. I run stock sized T rated tires, instead of H, which I think also makes a difference. I do my own alignments which helps my 65k mile warranty tires last beyond 100K miles so I'm not wasting energy scrubbing off my tire surfaces.

This is my second Previa. I drove a '93 DX 2wd for 6 years before the last 7 years with the '97. The '93 got similar mileage. Previas are in my blood.

mike h. '97 DX 2wd

coasting downhill in neutral is far worse than coasting downhill in gear... coasting downhill in neutral is no different than idling your engine in traffic, whereas coasting downhill in gear, the ECU shuts off the fuel injectors until around 1500rpm on most cars

Take most of what you learned from saving gas in a carburetted engine and throw them out the window, because fuel injection is much different... if you want better gas mileage, STAY IN GEAR!

MAN. You may be correct about the fuel injectors, but the Scangage does not lie. You are not taking into account engine braking. Freewheeling will always be more efficient.

mike: Does your Scangage display the engine RPM? If so, can you tell me the engine RPM at 70mph? Thanks.

Shutting off the injectors does NOT necessarily result in energy saving. The engine is still running, but it is now running on the energy provided by the car momentum. When that momentum energy is not consumed by the engine, the car would coast at a faster speed and thus covering a longer distance.

I had a 1986 Corolla, NO power steering, NO power brake, manual transmission. I coasted with the engine OFF, ignition ON. I just popped the clutch with the transmission in 5th to bring the engine back to life. NOT recommended for safety reasons, but it sure was fun and the gas saving is indisputable.

shutting off the engine will always be more efficient
engine efficiency will always be better at 2000-3000rpm compared to 800rpm, therefore fuel consumption differences between them will be better than at 800rpm

Sam. The Scangage shows 4 real time values simultaneously from amongst any parameter the OBDII offers and its own calculated values. I typically view avg MPG, instantaneous MPG, RPM, and a miscellaneous one. I rotate that last one to get a feel for what it should read while everything is tip top so that if things should go south, I might get a clue from the readings. I look at fuel trims, water temperature, TPS, advance, etc. At 70 she's turning a tad over 2400 RPM. The value bounces around as is typical with a digital gage. Analog would be better.

mike

Thanks mike. 2400RPM at 70mph is excellent for the small 2.4L engine. Great!

I'm guessing around 3000RPM for your normally aspirated 93 Previa, right?

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Originally Posted by SamPrevia

Thanks mike. 2400RPM at 70mph is excellent for the small 2.4L engine. Great!

I'm guessing around 3000RPM for your normally aspirated 93 Previa, right?

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On my '91 AWD 5 speed I'm about 3400 rpm at 70 mph. I coast frequently in city as well, and get about 23 mpg combined. I'm going to look for an analog scan gauge however.