Not so super-charger

[Duncan]

My B5 suddenly developed a nasty whine followed by a burning smell on the A13 on friday on the way home from work.

I was kicking myself I hadnt taken up an offer of sale the week before but to be fair I had no idea this was about to happen and if I had sold it to someone and a fault developed so soon I'd have been mortified. Im going to keep my B5 for a while longer as i couldnt bring myself to sell it!

I stopped immediately so I dont think any internal engine damage has been done but the supercharger has digested itself.

Fingers crossed that Alpina may be able to help me on this one ASAP. My car has had the up to date supercharger before I bought it so its not good news. I wondered if it had an intermittent supercharger problem last year (like heuer had a while back) and it spent more than a few weeks at harold wood being checked out and everything has been fine since.

Many thanks for Neil for lots of help on this one already. Its good to know there is so much support from people when you need it!

[John_C]

Sorry to hear that, hope it gets sorted quickly

[mac]

Sorry to hear that Duncan, hope you get it sorted quickly.
Mac

[Richy_Boy]

One things for sure.. Alpina don't seem to be able to make reliable superchargers!

Hope it gets fixed swiftly - I wonder if they've tweaked the SC again since your one?

Rich

[Peter&Janet]

Really sorry to hear this news, there will be a lot of worried owners reading this post so hope the outcome is favourable and gets sorted quickly.

[ALPB1033]

Duncan sorry to hear about the news and hope it can be back on the road soon.

[jiggy123]

Sorry to hear this - keep us posted as to your news.

[Heuer]

Not good news there Duncan. How many miles have you got on the car? Mine is up to 59,000 and has been (touch wood) trouble free since they last tweaked it. Last problem (couple of years ago) I had was the car losing power and running rough.

[Ikule]

Sorry to hear of the 'charger woes Duncan,
hope you get it sorted quickly, hopefully with assistance from Alpina as well,
keep us posted on any developments and good luck.

[Steve A]

One things for sure.. Alpina don't seem to be able to make reliable superchargers!

Hope it gets fixed swiftly - I wonder if they've tweaked the SC again since your one?

Rich

ALPINA dont make the supercharger, ASA makes them and in general they are reliable, i think Duncan cant drive properly

[Duncan]

thanks steve, pour salt on my wounds!

Im still waiting for more info from sytner. Commuting on the bus/ train took me 2 and a half hours to get to work this am. Wont be doing that again!

The idea of driving style/ conditions has actually been mentioned before with regard to the supercharger. As I understand it the problem is with the B5 and doesnt seem to be the case with the B6 and B7, (although they are sold in such small numbers its hard to know). The problem also seems to be in the uk rather than mainland europe.

If I drove in low speed start -stop traffic all day i could imagine this being different from the long distance continental cruise style driving however my miles in the B5 are in fact long cruises down the A2 and A13. I travel at times when the roads are quite empty and in the opposite direction to the main traffic. The car always warms up properly and has never been on a track.

ASA are part owned by Alpina and this type of supercharger has been used by RUF in 911's I think.

I'll keep you all posted

Fingers crossed that Alpina will cover this work for me.

[Richy_Boy]

ALPINA dont make the supercharger, ASA makes them and in general they are reliable, i think Duncan cant drive properly

My apologies, I thought it was designed to Alpina specs and they had even patented the clutch design? Maybe this was a different model...

If it's making horribly noises than this would suggest a bearing problem, which is likely to be brought on by oil starvation, overheating or a balancing issue. Unless of course the clutch has been blown to pieces!

I'd be interested to find out...

Rich

[Guy]

ALPINA dont make the supercharger, ASA makes them and in general they are reliable, i think Duncan cant drive properly

They are so reliable that my B5 had two fail in only 25,000 miles!

There's no way I'd run a B5 without warranty, just to cover the supercharger alone.....

There is obviously a design/manufacturing defect with the Supercharger and as such they should really cover them even if out of warranty.

[Toby]

Sorry to hear your bad luck Duncan. Sounds pretty expensive. Running Alpinas can be an expensive hobby for some us unlucky ones. Fingers crossed someone else will pick up the tab for this one.

[Duncan]

I have to agree with everyone.

The oil was at a good level. I had checked it 2 days before and my car doesnt have a tendency to drink any oil. half a litre in 10000 miles last time- and i check it!!
It then has an oil change whether the car "asks" for it or not

There was no pre failure sounds, vibrations or problems with the car running, it just whined, made a grinding noise with a burning smell and I pulled over! I was in a queue of traffic doing about 60 whan it happened. The car had been running for about 20 mins and the temp was normal, but it had had time to warm up. Outside temp was about 10 degrees and dry. Even with the failure no error messages came up in the cabin.

If anyone from alpina or sytner is reading this thread please put in a good word for me. This is a well looked after car that is driven on good roads well within the tolerances any car is expected to tolerate, especially one which is capable of such speed and is sold as a continent crossing cruiser.

If this gives me a big bill I will find it very hard to justify buying another alpina to my wife!!!