seafoam

[Hockey4mnhs]

anyone heard of it? I ran it threw my vacume hose and gastank and a little in the oil 2. do you think i will se some fe form it?

[cfg83]

Hockey4mnhs -

anyone heard of it? I ran it threw my vacume hose and gastank and a little in the oil 2. do you think i will se some fe form it?

I have heard of it but haven't used it. I heard it's legendary for cleaning gunky engines.

Is your engine clean or gunky?

CarloSW2

[Raccoonjoe]

Don't know if you'll see FE from it, but I've used it with great success. It's always made my engine run/start smoother.....

[psyshack]

Ive used it on the Rangealturd before. Gas tank and induction system. I think its also used as a fuel stabilizer. Ive never put it in the crank case.

psy

[VetteOwner]

i just started using it. did wonderson my truck that has 137,000 miles on it. i dumped some in the crank case, took a "spirited" drive for about 5 miles then brought it back drove on the ramps and changed it . seemed to make some of my usually morning valve chatter go away, but that could have just been the new oil/filter. but i also dumped it down the brake booster line and let it sit for 5 minutes and went for another spirited drive with my awesome smoke cloud following me.

i dumped it down the carb in my chevette and it seemed to help a bit.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r59/Sea_Slugs/Chevette/100_0137.jpg

hehe it blew a perfect smoke ring and you can see each cylynder puff

[Hockey4mnhs]

lol mine wasent to dirty but i was hopen it would help

[lca13]

almost all I have read is positive. After I used it, the engine was much more responsive.... but I also added three beefed up ground wires to improve the ignition and injection (and the perf guys told me the better grounds would make the [positive change that I saw)..... So one or the other or both, but there was a big responsiveness difference in my engine.

[brucepick]

For a good procedure go to turbobricks.com and do a search in Forums for "Chinese water torture".

I did it about a month ago. Oil looked pretty nasty when I changed it after a very spirited drive. Don't know that it helped the FE any but cleaning out old bad stuff is generally a good thing

[cfg83]

lca13 -

almost all I have read is positive. After I used it, the engine was much more responsive.... but I also added three beefed up ground wires to improve the ignition and injection (and the perf guys told me the better grounds would make the [positive change that I saw)..... So one or the other or both, but there was a big responsiveness difference in my engine.

Where did you attach the ground wires? Do you have a picture?

CarloSW2

[Dust]

I have used it several times with good results. I have also used B-12 Chemtool, and even just plain water. The Seafoam will smoke because of an ingredient it contains, but just about any fluid will clean up. Last weekend I had a session with water, acetone, and some cheap gas cleaner fluid I found at the Costco last time I was there. (This is in Japan) The water and acetone caused an emulsion, and the cleaner floated at the top. The car sucked through the acetone/water without smoke, but when it got to the cleaner it started smoking like Seafoam does. Let it suck most of the cleaner out of the glass jar. Shut off the engine, but the hose I used was long enough that because it was above the vacuum port I used, it kept sucking the fluid and dieseling for over a minute after I turned off the ignition. If you are gonna try it, make sure your hose is short, and that you keep the container lower than the vacuum port if possible. After I was finished, it was almost impossible to get the car to ping. It took a big hill, low rpms, and a lot of throttle.

[McPatrick]

I am going to Seafoam my Civic VX tomorrow. Hope all goes well. I'll make some pics :)

[Bill in Houston]

What is the lowest total miles that you would use this kind of stuff at? 40,000? 100,000? 150,000?

[rh77]

I've performed 2 treatments on the 'Teg and one on the old TL. Clouds of white smoke is normal -- supposed to get rid of the carbon buildup.

From what I understand, if you put it in the crankcase, you're supposed to change the oil after running it a few miles.

RH77

[Wazabi Owner]

I use it for cleaning the injector pumps on my diesels. Tractor & cars.

[thisisntjared]

i <3 seafoam.

[slogfilet]

Hate to necropost, and seafoam has been beaten to death, so i won't start a new thread... BUT!

I purchased my VX yesterday, and it's the first Honda I've had. I'll be trying a seafoam treatment, and was wondering which line is "best" to run it through (i.e., a relatively even distribution across all cylinders.) Through the brake booster line? Passenger side air vent? CD player slot? :D

[93dagsr]

booster line is best!

[thisisntjared]

booster line is best!

:thumbup: :thumbup:

[aych]

alot of people dont recommend the brake booster cuz of its large size. if you're not careful you can hydro lock. choose a small vaccum line in front of the throttle body, but before any cylinder. then it'll go through the whole thing safely.

[JV-Tuga]

Does anyone know how that works?

On their website it says: "Make sure exhaust is well ventilated when using Sea Foam in these various ways as fumes will be extreme for a short time." That leaves me a bit worried that this will blow gunk down the pipe that will clog up the catalytic converter, which is a pretty expensive part, from what I hear.

[thisisntjared]

alot of people dont recommend the brake booster cuz of its large size.the bottle recommends the brake booster. i have never ever heard of a car hydro locking from seafoam.

ive never had problems with the cat, and you are supposed to have the car warmed up before the treatment, so the cat should be piping hot. i bet the seafoam would clean the cat, too.

[Improbcat]

Does anyone know how that works?

On their website it says: "Make sure exhaust is well ventilated when using Sea Foam in these various ways as fumes will be extreme for a short time." That leaves me a bit worried that this will blow gunk down the pipe that will clog up the catalytic converter, which is a pretty expensive part, from what I hear.

I've used seafoam on several cars. The smoke is the seafoam itself burning off, there is no solid component to it. As such I don't see how it could clog the cat.

[93dagsr]

I've used seafoam on several cars. The smoke is the seafoam itself burning off, there is no solid component to it. As such I don't see how it could clog the cat.

the carbon falling off?

i heard on clubcivic.com that you really shouldn't use seafoam if your car is over 150,000 miles? what do you guys think? (i did it to mine not too long ago with 180miles on the tach)

[Danronian]

the carbon falling off?

i heard on clubcivic.com that you really shouldn't use seafoam if your car is over 150,000 miles? what do you guys think? (i did it to mine not too long ago with 180miles on the tach)

I think there is no justified reasoning to that. I've always heard of dealers doing intake manifold steam treatments (basically the same thing as seafoam, but by using water) on high mile cars to get them to run smoother.

It's just using the steam produced from the seafoam liquid that cleans out the intake and the combustion chambers. I used it on my civic with 120k mi on it, and I have a friend who has been using it for years without an issue.

Using it on my VX made the idle go lower than it every was. Must have cleaned out the IACV a bit better!

I would use the brake booster "nipple" that protrudes from the back of the intake manifold. I stuck a funnel on there and poured it very slowly into there so the idle would dip but not 100% stall. If you pour it all in there at once you can hydrolock the motor. No motor is designed to injest a large amount of liquid without damaging/stalling the motor. Just think, the motor compresses what is in the cylinders. It can't compress a liquid, so something will "give."

[JV-Tuga]

I've used seafoam on several cars. The smoke is the seafoam itself burning off, there is no solid component to it. As such I don't see how it could clog the cat.

Right, however, with my limited knowledge of this stuff I figure the catalytic converter to be a sort of scrubber that either traps or converts noxious gases into less noxious forms or reduces their presence in the exhaust that actually exits your muffler. If residue accumulated over time gets released all at once into the exhaust will the cat be able to handle it or might it become somehow clogged or at least less efficient at what it does? The way I picture it it seems like there is some likelihood of that happening, maybe not as a general rule, but at least in some cases.

It's like if you break a beaver dam and it floats downstream. Won't it potentially cause problems if and when it gets deposited somewhere else?

Sorry if it is a totally ignorant concern but, like I said, my knowledge is very limited. Bear with me.

[theCase]

I personally don't get SeaFoam, just because it makes you exhaust smoke doesn't mean it's "cleaning" the engine.

After all, SeaFoam is just Isopropyl Alcohol, Naphtha, and Pale Oil, that's it.

Link to the MSDS:

http://www.seafoamsales.com/pdf/MSDS_SFTT_US.pdf

Sounds to me like a lot of the "Placebo" effect is working here, but then again I've never used it. Lots of people swear by it, I may even try it some day.

[ihatemybike]

I seafoamed Green about a month ago. It was setting code for random cylinder mis-fire. Common prob for high mileage Astro vans from the late nineties, caused by sticky fuel injector poppets. GM has a FSB regarding this in which the solution is to run a solvent through the fuel system. This will easily cost over $100 for them to perform. A $7 can of Seafoam cleared up the problem with one treatment and the van runs great.

[VetteOwner]

I personally don't get SeaFoam, just because it makes you exhaust smoke doesn't mean it's "cleaning" the engine.

After all, SeaFoam is just Isopropyl Alcohol, Naphtha, and Pale Oil, that's it.

Link to the MSDS:

http://www.seafoamsales.com/pdf/MSDS_SFTT_US.pdf

Sounds to me like a lot of the "Placebo" effect is working here, but then again I've never used it. Lots of people swear by it, I may even try it some day.

lol 2 of those 3 ingredients you listed ARE solvents...:p

i could say the same claim about steam cleaners "just because it makes steam doesn't mean its cleaning anything" statement but it doesn't make it true cuz we all know that statements false lol.:D