So the kids and I are running around Death Valley on Wednesday of last week as part of our crazy spring break road trip. The gravel road to Race Track, and the one up towards the Eureka Dunes are AWFUL by the way, really washboarded badly to where either I can choose to do 5MPH or 45MPH but anything in between threatens to shake my teeth out....
So we do Race Track and then get to the Eureka Dunes, have a field dinner on the sand as the sun sets, and then head out to the north planning to jump over the mountain to Big Pine and then up to Bishop for the night.
Soon as we get out of the valley the road becomes paved and begins a very long and steep straight climb, and I'm minding my own business cruising at 45PMH with the engine purring at barely 1800RPM. Suddenly the cruise shuts off, check-engine light starts flashing, I try to give it gas but I get an painful metallic rattling noise with no power, and I coast to a stop. Oh sweet Jesus...
I turn the truck off and think for a while, trying to explain to my kids what's going on without totally freaking them out. Then restart and put it in first gear and am able to go along at 2K RPM for 5 minutes or so before again it looses power with a bad rattle and I stumble to a stop with the motor sounding like it's chugging on 4 cylinders.
I try taking the supercharger belt off, in case the bad metallic rattle is coming from it, and while it's great for the first 10 minutes (meaning I can do 2000RPM in 1st gear, not trying more), again I have to stop.
This time I just let it cool down for a while...thinking that if the belt didn't actually help, maybe it was the cool down time while I took it off. Try again and sure enough, I'm able to run for 10 minutes or so and finally reach the high plateau. I stop, let the truck cool off, put the SC belt back on (don't want to run out of juice without the alternator), and proceed to gradually work my way all the way out to Big Pine, coasting down-hill almost all the way, at around midnight.
The following morning I check the engine coolant level and it's1/3rd of a gallon low, hmmm.... I start it up and it seems fine, but it did seem fine when cold, so I don't push it at all and get a tow all the way home to the bay area (don't ask me how much that cost!!!).
So...talked to Stillen and confirmed, ouch, I'm 10K miles out of warranty for their after-market drive line warranty. Super Doh
Stillen also mention however that they've heard of around 200 cases of Pathfinder/Frontier/XTerras who've had their catalytic converters fail and plug up the exhaust, causing a very lean burn condition which causes detonation. On supercharged motors the detonation can cause the supercharger intercooler to fail and leak coolant into the engine and cause serious damage. Super double doh
However, I haven't lost any intercooler coolant...so WTF? The truck is currently sitting at my buddy's shop awaiting a chance to do some debugging, starting with compression test and somehow checking the cats (maybe we'll make test pipes and drive around and see if it's okay).
Let the wild speculation ensue...