I've been watching oil start to accumulate on the supercharger. Any idea what's causing this and how to fix it?

TIA!

 

 

 

I'm going to concur with Tgriffithjr on this one and go with improper installation or shifting of the poorly designed aftermarket intercooler boot.
There's really nowhere else in the area which would produce the oil you see on the intake manifold.

The left edge of your pictured intercooler boot should protrude from under the clamp (actually centered between the left & right clamp), thus providing the seal which would thwart oil blow-by. Yours does not, and the whole boot seems to be shifted to the right, therefore, no seal at left clamp. I've attached a pic of mine to illustrate my point.

Remove, clean up area, properly center boot, re-tighten clamps and observe over the coming days/weeks for new leaks.
I'd suggest you change to the OE boots, they really are the best option.

 

Aftremarket intercooler boots are a great way of wasting boost pressure. Take them off, degrease that mess and install oem boots.

 

Yeah! But the OE boots are the boring black and the AM boots are bling neon colors and made of silicone (like the products for breast augmentation ) . I contemplated buying a set of low mileage OE boots as spares but so far I haven't found any, as the average mileage of gen 1 Mini's are around 100k (mileage not value in the mighty USD).

 

 

The boots were on the car when I bought it. I did like the color though. I did take the IC off when I did some maintenance a while ago. Perhaps I didn't get it back on correctly or the boots are due for replacement. I'll take a look. Is there that much oil going through the IC? The car does have high mileage (210K+). Thanks

 

 

Oil vapor makes its way from the engine interior through the PCV valve (on valve cover) and into the supercharger, where it is compressed and forced at high volume to the intake manifold, then reintroduced into the engine along with fuel, and burned in the cylinders. If there's a leak in the pipeline along the way, such as a displaced or faulty intercooler boot, then yes, it will easily be forced out, creating the mess you see on your engine.

You are most likely deficient on boost pressure -- i.e., performance as well.

 

So, before you buy any parts, clean up the mess and arranged your intercooler boots and clamps correctly. They both look incorrectly placed, and the silicone boot looks to be distorting/stretching on the right side. Then see if the oil comes back.