Supercharger problems

[AndyCooperS]

Hi can anyone help, i have recently bought an 03 cooper s, its my first cooper s, so not sure if the supercharger is working, but a few weeks ago, i noticed some smoke or steam, not sure which cos it was raining, coming from the scoop or front of the car, were'nt very long, but i have noticed that the neck snapping performance seems to have dulled down, and seems to be running just on the engine alone, Can superchargers burnout? and the engine work ok, i really am confused as to what it could be wrong. i really want to put that grin back on my face, im really unsure as to who i should take it to, cos i dont wanna get ripped off.
SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE ME AN IDEA, OR SOME HELP

Thanks

p.s the car has done 67000 miles and had an engine rebuild about six months ago, cos the donut who owned it before had run the engine dry of oil and it seized up, im not sure if the belts have been changed as ive only had it since june 08

thanks again

[GreenV8S]

The smoke/steam was probably water evaporating off the radiator and recondensing, this is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.

These superchargers don't burn out. They will gradually wear the rotors resulting in less boost at low revs, but you wouldn't notice the symptoms at higher revs.

It's possible that the drive belt has simply fallen off. I don't know how the blower is driven in that installation but I would expect to find that it shares the ancillary drive belt, in which case you would certainly have noticed if it had failed.

If you think the engine is significantly down on power it may be that there's a failure in the engine management system. In that case it would be worth getting a specialist to check it for fault codes just to make sure its happy.

Is it possible that you're simply getting used to the power?

[*Kosta*]

Check the seals on the charger. These can perish, resulting in a lack of power.

[mr.ed]

I had a very similar problem. "Light steam" would appear. I had a hairline crack in the coolant tank. They spotted it after pressurising the coolant system. Common problem, replaced said item, all is well.