Cost: Seafoam VS Shell / Chevron Premium

[Cubey]

I was planning on running Seafoam on a regular basis until I did the math.

They come in 16oz cans for about $8-10. 1oz per gallon is what they suggest for autos.

My van's tank is 36 gallons, so it would take two cans of Seafoam at a fill-up assuming it has 4 gallons left in the tank. This equates to $16-20 extra cost, plus having to keep it on hand and remembering to add it due to it being on my way to and from town and being easy in and out with a 20ft van.

Premium runs about 15-20 cents higher than regular. So 20 cents times 32 gallons.. $6.04 more for premium over regular. Compare that to $16-20 for two cans of Seafoam. Pretty considerable price difference.

Seafoam is good.. but pretty darn expensive when you get right down to it if you try to use it in vehicle with a large fuel tank and low mpg.

My only issue is that higher octane = more heat. An old 70's V8 carb engine running 91 or 93 octane gas? Not sure how well that would run.

I found a page that claims:

Quote:
What will happen if I use higher octane gas than I’m supposed to?

A few things. For one, you will be wasting a huge amount of money paying for high octane gasoline. Second, your car will not run correctly, whether you notice it or not. Higher octane fuel requires more heat and more precision to burn correctly. If your car is designed to burn 87, it will not burn 93 correctly. Third, your gas mileage will suffer. The inability of your engine to burn the higher octane gas correctly will cause your engine to produce less power and thus will require more fuel to perform at the same level.

Source: http://www.whatcouldbegreener.com/142/fuel-octane-choosing-the-wrong-octane-will-cost-you/


Is there any truth to that statement? I don't notice any pinging (I've driven on the highway with the engine cover off) and the van seems to run well with 87 Shell which is mostly what I put in it.

Would I just be better off paying the extra cost for Seafoam and sticking with 87 octane fuel? I want the best MPG possible, needless to say. Keeping the fuel system as clean as possible is one of the best ways to do this. I have not had the carb cleaned or added any sort of cleaners to it since I got the van over a year ago. I have not put even 500 miles on it since I got it, due to repairs being done and just not needing it as a daily driver. Who knows how gunky the carb may be, but the engine runs good so I guess it can't be too bad off.

 

[Boomer]

You do waste your money using a higher octane than your engine needs. Octane equates to resistance to catching fire, in a simple sense. It is able to withstand higher compression without self igniting and is based on the prevalence of materials that have higher octane ratings like aromatics and highly branched hydrocarbons.

Running very strong cleaners like Seafoam can dislodge gunk in the fuel system and this can cause clogging of jets, etc in your carb. I'd stick to a cleaner with PEA, used once before each oil change.

 

[Clevy]

Since you actually have a carb and its not fuel injected I highly recommend using a tc-w3 oil mixed into your fuel. Mix 1 ounce per 5 gallons of fuel.
Tc-w3 has a level of detergency which will clean and maintain the fuel system. The tc-w3 will also slow or stop rubber parts in the carb and in the fuel delivery system supple and prevent the ethanol from drying them out.
I use tc-w3 in every drop of gasoline that is consumed by our compressors and generators as well as every vehicle in the company's fleet as well as my personal vehicles.
I notice that all the engines start easier,which is noticeable when temps dip below -20c. The compressors and generators are pull starts,so even a couple less pulls are significant and the pull cords seem easier to pull.
My vehicles get better mileage when the fuel is treated as well. I've also noticed that tc-w3 seems to quiet noisy/whiny fuel pumps within a few tanks usage and comes back when the fuel isn't treated.
Try it. No more that 1 ounce per 5 gallons and you can use any brand since to meet tc-w3 specs the product has to meet criteria so there isn't much difference between all the brands out there. I've been using the castrol stuff for years. I use the snowmobile tc-w3 in winter and the marine in summer.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Seafoam and Premium gas accomplish two very different things ...

Seafoam is marketed as a cleaner.

Premium gas is for high compression engines.

 

[JLDJ]

High octain fuels DO NOT INCREASE HEAT, they burn slower.

 

[Spazdog]

he's right.

Octane has nothing to do with heat. It does not have more "energy" than regular. It just resists detonation more than regular.

SeaFoam is a good product, but not at the price it goes for.

I used to get it for $2.99 a can.(like $1.99 when I first started buying it...it was stuffed into the back corner of the Marine stuff at the store I worked at) About the same price as B12 Chemtool. Then YouTube product fame came in a cloud of smoke and my beloved SeaFoam shot up to nearly $10 and out of what I am willing to pay for it.

I don't blame the makers for jacking up the price. I would do the same if I had a product that got YouTube/Car Forum hype. They just priced out their loyal following.

 

[Doog]

I have had great results using 87 octane in everything and doing a fuel systems clean every 20,000 miles with Techron or Redline SI1 or Gumout Regane. If I get a used car then it gets a double cleanup right away. Then every 20k.

I have one vehicle now at 175000 miles (Lexus) that has been on 87 for all of it. No ping, no rough idle, great mpg. At 100,000 I remove the throttle body for cleaning and it was very clean with few deposits.

 

[147_Grain]

Use 87 octane fuel with TC-W3 on a regular basis during each fill-up. Seafoam can be added once per month or more often if you can afford it.

 

[Cubey]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Seafoam and Premium gas accomplish two very different things ...

Seafoam is marketed as a cleaner.

Premium gas is for high compression engines.


You wouldn't know it the way Shell and Chevron market their premium fuels as being to use due to their cleaning agents.


Originally Posted By: Spazdog
he's right.

Octane has nothing to do with heat. It does not have more "energy" than regular. It just resists detonation more than regular.


I see, I had it backwards. I thought higher octane meant it burned hotter/faster.

Perhaps Seafoam or Techron once a year will be enough. I notice that Techron has BOGO sales from time to time which makes it about $6.50 a bottle. It would end up costing a little less than Seafoam since the it has a 1oz per gallon dosage, but comes in 20oz bottles. With BOGO, you get 40oz for $13 plus tax.

I can't justify Seafoam/Techron every fill up at 13-$20 a pop (Since a fill up is over $100) and I'm not sure it would provide much benefit after the system is already clean. I guess it might ensure it stays clean but that's what the fuel filter is for. I have a brand fuel filter installed so I should be good to go.

using TC-W3 oil sounds odd but makes sense I guess. Having run 2 cycle scooters for several years, I understand that 2 cycle oil is mixed with the gasoline to provide lubrication to the engine in place of an oil sump like in a 4 cycle. Since it passes through carburetors on 2 cycles, I don't see how it could do any harm on a 4 cycle.

I'll have to do a bit more some research on it before I decide. The concept makes sense but I need to understand all possible the effects that may occur from doing so.

I dug up a page that says to use 1oz per 5 gallons. That seems like harmless amount and probably isn't enough to cause noticeable smoking. I would imagine most of it would get burned off in the cylinders. 1oz per 5 gallons.. so about 0.20 ounce of oil per gallon, or 0.0015625 ounce of oil per ounce of fuel. So less than 1/500 percent oil per 1 gallon of gas. Is that even enough to bother with?

I realize it's a matter of conditioning carburetor seals against ethanol but even so.. I am having a hard time convincing myself that 1/500 percent oil per gallon of gas would do anything beneficial.

It may not be feasible most of the time, but finding non-ethanol fuel might be my best line of defense when possible. I just found this site which has a handy map feature: http://pure-gas.org

I knew of one of the two ethanol-free stations on the map for around here but now I know of two. The one I knew of is a tiny old service station and it's hard to get in and out of, especially since there seems to always be someone at the pump. I either have to kill the engine and hope they aren't ready to leave in 15 seconds, or leave it running and hope they don't take 5 minutes.

The other one is far across town and is a truck stop. Both are selling unbranded fuels.

I actually have a brand new complete set of gaskets for my carburetor which I'll keep handy in case I need to do stop and fix something on it in an emergency. And hopefully RockAuto sold me the right thing... the dist. rotor I got from RA was wrong, too small. Everything else has been fine except that one odd thing.