MR2'sDay DIY: Changing MR2 Supercharger Oil

"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW) 01/27/2015 at 10:55 • Filed to: MR2'sDay, MR2, AW11, Supercharger, DIY

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In honor of MR2'sDay, here's a how-to article on changing the supercharger oil on a SC MR2 4A-GZE. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

This is what you are trying to get to. The barely-visible yellow wingnut looking thing is the SC dipstick.

1. Undo the bolts holding the brake booster hose bracket and the VSV bracket, and disconnect the coolant overflow hose and move it out of the way. This should give you enough room to (barely) fit your hand down in there to remove the SC dipstick. This will let the oil drain out the bottom easier.

2. Remove the SC dipstick

3. Jack up the back end of the car. Make sure to put bricks at the front wheels so the car doesn't roll away, and to use jack stands to hold the car securely.

4. Locate the 17mm SC oil drain bolt, on the back of the SC, just above the passenger-side axle.

Using some extensions and a u-joint makes it easier to get to.

Make sure you have a funnel and a container for the old oil. Since it's a bit cramped I used this

5. Drain the old oil out.

6. Replace the drain bolt.

7. Lower the car back to the ground.

8. Now you have to put the new oil in. The SC12 takes 130mL of oil. You can use Toyota oil if you are made of money and want to buy three 50mL bottles at $50 EACH. However, most SC owners buy GM supercharger oil (GM part #12345982), which comes in 118mL bottles at around $10 each.

The hardest part of this whole process is putting the new oil in. You will want a plastic syringe with volume measurements on it and some small aquarium tubing, like so:

Put one end of the tubing in the dipstick hole, and connect the other end to the syringe

Then pour some oil in the syringe…..

…..And use the plunger to flow it into the SC

Repeat until you have put in 130mL. Check the level with the dipstick (make sure you tighten it all the way, then remove it in order to get an accurate reading). If it's all good, you can replace the dipstick, replace the bolts for the brake booster/VSV brackets and the coolant hose.

Now you're done! Go celebrate with a cold beverage of your choice since you don't need to do it for another 50-60k miles.

desertdog5051 > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig 01/27/2015 at 14:13

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Holy crap!!. And I thought rotating the air in my tires was hard.

RatMR2 > desertdog5051 02/05/2015 at 21:46

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Rotating the air in my tyres is a real pain - I always end up with less than I started with, and a half-flat right front. What's the best way to capture your tyre air to minimise losses?

desertdog5051 > RatMR2 02/05/2015 at 21:56

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I have friend who is a quadruple marathon participant. He can hold a lot of air in his lungs. He usually can get the deflation/inflation very close. :)

RatMR2 > desertdog5051 02/05/2015 at 22:25

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Ahhh... that explains it. I'll have to start quadruple marathoning. :)