Many times, a supercharger will arrive here for service, where the concern or diagnostic is that the supercharger is leaking oil inside the manifold. While this is a real situation that can occur, there are a few times the diagnostic is incorrect of where that oil came from. Below is a few simple steps, that you can take as a technician to narrow down the cause possibly being related to the supercharger.
Grab a piece of white copy paper. With your index finger, dip your finger in the manifold/intercooler oil contaminate and wipe across the copy paper. Take oil from the gear case side or self contained side of the supercharger. Use a plastic zip tie to reach inside the oil fill plug and pull some oil up with the zip tie. Smear it across the same piece of paper. Do the same with the engine oil.
If the supercharger oil appears to be a different tint, you have now eliminated the supercharger oil as the cause of the oil in the manifold. If the are similar to the supercharger oil, well, now you have more diagnostic work to do. You will now need to perform a dye test of the supercharger oil, to better access where the issue is.
Now you know, why we use tinted indigo blue oil. It helps technicians determine where this oil is coming from.
If you are getting oil inside your manifold, intercooler, rotors, or impeller, and it is not the supercharger, there can be many external causes such as engine oil blow by, PCV issues, or even detonation. This is a topic we will cover more in another article.