Magnuson Supercharger installed. Any questions?

[DvR2019JLUR]

It definitely sounds like a tuning issue. You can locate Magnuson certified dealers/installers on the Magnuson website. They should be able to verify the tuning. As far as the actual drivability, I like the SC for towing (and merging into traffic) but it's a bit rough as a commuter. Living in Colorado, its cold more than its not, especially in the mornings. Before the SC even has time to warm up I'm at my destination. Taking that into consideration, along with the current state of gas prices and having to use premium with the SC, I'm not sure the pros outweigh the cons. Furthermore, it's difficult to find a warranty company that will cover a vehicle with an aftermarket supercharger. My dealership would not offer an extended factory warranty due to the SC. A bit scary considering all the bells and whistles my rig has. Anyway, just food for thought. Good luck with the tuning - hope you get 'er figured out!

Thanks for the input. I appreciate that.

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[DvR2019JLUR]

20k savings?

It’s hard to say, I believe the previous owner put over $45k into the Jeep but you never know what those parts are worth when you sell something. I paid maybe $6k-$8k over stock used retail for the Jeep so definitely got a deal on the build.
I typically always buy built Jeeps that someone else had built because you will never get the return on building it yourself. Some people really love the building process however I don’t care for it so much. Whenever I build on something like a Jeep or off-road trailer I just want it done when I start building. I haven’t learned how to love the process of building. I spend many hrs a week working and building other things so when it comes to play time I just want to go hit the trails and off-road, I don’t want to be swinging wrenches.

long answer…

 

[Montanabound]

It’s hard to say, I believe the previous owner put over $45k into the Jeep but you never know what those parts are worth when you sell something. I paid maybe $6k-$8k over stock used retail for the Jeep so definitely got a deal on the build.
I typically always buy built Jeeps that someone else had built because you will never get the return on building it yourself. Some people really love the building process however I don’t care for it so much. Whenever I build on something like a Jeep or off-road trailer I just want it done when I start building. I haven’t learned how to love the process of building. I spend many hrs a week working and building other things so when it comes to play time I just want to go hit the trails and off-road, I don’t want to be swinging wrenches.

long answer…

Probably takes the initial sting away using pre owned parts in your build vs buying new, therefore the same as buying a prebuilt. I agree with you though. I just wanted to know what everything cost on OP’s nicely built rig.

 

[Shibadog]

How heavy is your camper? My 2.0T tows a 1,600 lb. motorcycle trailer (loaded weight) so easily that I barely know it's there. It's difficult to imagine the pre-supercharged Pentastar struggling with a 2,000 lb. trailer weight. Or does your elevation affect things that much? Just curious.

I’m sure the altitude in Colorado hurts the naturally aspirated3.6. Son’s Gladiator sure loses power in the mountains.

 

[azjl#3]

On yours with rich gas smell, could be tune, could be one of many bad sensors.

Can't use this on ESS because that ESS generator motor is huge, about 4 times the size of an alternator.

BTW I'm researching power adders, and the Magnuson seems to be best bang for buck on the 3.6

 

[rayzjeep]

How does it drive/shift compared to before? As in was it hard to tune or did you just use the canned tune provided or look into Daves tune? There's one for sale on the JT page that's tempting me. Told myself I was going to wait until after the power train warranty ran out but I'm impatient for more power.

 

[Mathami]

I’m going to the shop now to ask for supercharger, I have JLUS 2020 with 315 wheels 4.56 ratio D44 rear& D30 front(enforced truss) , will the supercharger cause major issues even though the car isn’t meant for hard driving and installing will be just a bonus( TBH my brother offered the SC for free as a gift)

 

[Bigdave18629]

I just picked up a 2020 JLU Willys and am thinking of putting a Maggie on it. I have put them on camaros and vettes in the past. I am probably not going of 33"s and plan on keeping stock gearing. I will probably be 80% pavement or better and then fire roads or basic trails beyond that. I live in Nor-Cal so there aren't any trails close, and rock crawling really isn't my thing. Opinions on how the Maggie fits into this way of thinking, anything to watch out for?

 

[ColoradoJeepGuy]

Soooo.....no more supercharger. At approximately 22,000 my engine blew. Specifically, cylinder # 6 exploded and engine parts were sitting in my oil pan. I replaced the engine with a brand new crate (never installed) factor V6 from Mopar. My local dealership installed it and it came with a 3-year 100,000 mile warranty. After about a 6 week battle, my 3rd party warranty company agreed to pay 2/3 of the engine cost, including install. I did not have the SC re-installed on the new engine.

Long story short, I can't recommend the Magnuson supercharger. Although it is nearly impossible to prove the SC caused the engine failure, all signs point to the extra HP creating the issue. Not sure if it was ultimately a result of bad tuning at altitude or something else.

The new engine gets better gas mileage and I no longer have to buy premium, so all-in-all, over the span of it's life I'll undoubtedly recoup the cost of the new engine, or at least the portion I had to pay out of pocket (about $3k). Furthermore, I'm actually surprised at how much power the factory V6 has without the SC. Full disclosure - my opinion is based on my Jeep being a daily driver.

Anyway, hopefully my feedback and situation provides some insight for those looking at adding a SC, especially at altitude. Definitely not bad-mouthing Magnuson, as it was possibly user-error associated with tuning, but a blown cylinder? Not sure the factory components can take the extra HP over time.

 

[Bigdave18629]

I think you answered the question that has been nagging at me. "can the 3.6 handle the hp" I am a horsepower junkie, and that really isn't what the jeep is about. I had a Camaro motor grenade with a Maggie installed, got it covered under warranty, but it makes me wonder about the 3.6. I admittedly abused the camaro, but still think it should have held up better with the proper tune. I was on the fence, your experience probably saved me some money, thanks for sharing. Good luck wiht that new motor.

 

[five9dak]

Thanks for the share and being open to questions.
I just purchased a 19’ JLUR with a Magnuson SC. I drove it from Houston to Amarillo the day I bought it and have several questions due to not knowing the way it’s really supposed to act with the SC.
1) At low speed and low gears the super charger seems to act more linear and smooth, at higher speed 65/75/85/95 and higher gears it’s very abrupt. It seems to either be full on or nothing. Around 80 you can have the throttle slightly compressed and it will climb to 5k rpm but then just stop climbing, if you really give it gas the SC kicks in and it goes really well but as soon as you let off a bit it kicks off. - is this normal?
....

I have no specfic experience with your magnuson kit. I have designed positive displacement supercharger kits in the past.

I suspect what you are experiencing is feeling the supercharger bypass valve closing. This valve is normally closed (when the engine is off), manifold vacuum applied to open, and lets air around the supercharger to reduce its power to drive on cruise conditions. In order for this valve to close, and the supercharger to make its rated boost, it needs to raise the pressure in the intake enough to such that the vacuum actuator on the bypass valve allows it to snap shut.

The throttle is ahead of the compressor. The faster the motor (and blower) spin, the more throttle opening will be required to supply enough mass flow into the blower for it to out pump the motor, and reduce the intake manifold vacuum (or create some boost) such that this bypass valve closes, and the supercharger can pump against the motor without the bypass valve's leakage around it. When this happens, you get a surge of torque.

This is normal operation, and the relationship between your foot, the throttle body, the compressor vs motor flow rates, the resultant manifold pressure and the bypass valve's position is further complicated by the drive by wire throttle body. The curves for the throttle position under various driver demands and vehicle conditions are controlled by the tune. What all has been changed, and how that all plays nice together is hard for an outsider to comment on.

 

[SmartStopStart.com]

I am sorry to hear about your experience, Colorado. Were you running the latest Magnuson tune or some other tune?

 

[azjl#3]

Sorry man.

So were you running a stock magnuson tune?

I am interested if you had any data logging just prior to grenade, and or did they replace engine computer with new when it was replaced?

My humble engineering opinion, a properly installed and tuned SC will not cause a 3.6 to grenade unless some other factor occured: bad sensor, bad tune, bad gas, etc. Do you really think Magnuson wants to scare away 50% of future sales, nope.

You noted some notchy throttle issues at speed, my opinion again, there should not be any, meaning, tune issue, part issue, etc.

 

[azjl#3]

Soooo.....no more supercharger. At approximately 22,000 my engine blew. Specifically, cylinder # 6 exploded and engine parts were sitting in my oil pan. I replaced the engine with a brand new crate (never installed) factor V6 from Mopar. My local dealership installed it and it came with a 3-year 100,000 mile warranty. After about a 6 week battle, my 3rd party warranty company agreed to pay 2/3 of the engine cost, including install. I did not have the SC re-installed on the new engine.

Long story short, I can't recommend the Magnuson supercharger. Although it is nearly impossible to prove the SC caused the engine failure, all signs point to the extra HP creating the issue. Not sure if it was ultimately a result of bad tuning at altitude or something else.

The new engine gets better gas mileage and I no longer have to buy premium, so all-in-all, over the span of it's life I'll undoubtedly recoup the cost of the new engine, or at least the portion I had to pay out of pocket (about $3k). Furthermore, I'm actually surprised at how much power the factory V6 has without the SC. Full disclosure - my opinion is based on my Jeep being a daily driver.

Anyway, hopefully my feedback and situation provides some insight for those looking at adding a SC, especially at altitude. Definitely not bad-mouthing Magnuson, as it was possibly user-error associated with tuning, but a blown cylinder? Not sure the factory components can take the extra HP over time.

What did magnuson says?

 

[XtremeRetard]

IMO the 3.6 is a pretty well tuned NA setup. If you take off the intake manifold to fit a blower you are detuning the intake side. You are relying on the extra mass of air from the compressor to take care of any inefficiency here. In fact a forced induction engine is around 50% less fuel efficient at generating horsepower than a naturally aspirated one due to parasitic losses. Blower drive, hotter intake air etc. So yes you get more net horsepower, but it takes you approx 40-50% more fuel to gain each BHP.. Of course offload its not too bad, with the bypass mentioned above to bypass the compressor you are relying on the blowers intake to feed the cylinders and they are not as optimised either.

Blah, blah, get a V8 in there Or an engine built for boost. Cast pistons and high compression are not friends of forced induction.

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