No love for SeaFoam?

[Islandvic]

I dont see much talk about SeaFoam here...

Other forums rave about SeaFoam (usually for de-carbonization of cylinders).

I have performed 2 SeaFoam treatments through the PCV in a 4.6 modular with 140k + miles with excellent results.At the same time I ran it through the gas tank. This and some other PM proceedures reduced my pinging/knocking dramatically.

Used it once in the crankcase before OC, all I could tell is that it made the oil tar black when draining.

Any comments on SeaFoam, pro or con?

 

[427Z06]

You need to learn how to use the search feature. I believe there's a lot of SeaFoam users here.

 

[jorton]

I don't know exactly how he did it but my son bent a rod using water.

 

[TallPaul]

quote:

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Originally posted by jorton:
I don't know exactly how he did it but my son bent a rod using water.

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Maybe the container of water you dip the vaccum hose into should be limited to half the combustion chamber volume.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Their has been plenty of posts about Seafoam. It is not that popular becuase their are a number of better cleaner available. The vacum line cleaning tech. is used by some and does have a following. It really is not the safest method and is not needed. It is a lot of risk and does not offer any better performance then staticly soaking the cylinders down with a solvent like LC or B-12. IT would be much safer to mist the product into the engine. The solvents in Seafoam are also on the weak side from a solvent stand point.

much safer method of decarboning an engine with zero risk of hydrolock is as follows:

1) Over night piston soak with LC,B12 etc......
2) Fire it up and then change oil once hot use conventional oil.
3) Add a bottle of Auto-RX and drive it for 1500 miles.
4) Change oil again for rinse of 1500 miles also conventional oil.
5) Change back to your favorite oil and start useing LC at 1-2 onces per quart for intial fill and 1-2 onces per 1000 miles!
6) 3-4 times a year run a good fuel system cleaner like quick shot, S1,Techron etc.......

This will keep 90% of vechiles in top shape and will actualy clean out horrable sludge and carbon monester from the depths of automotive H E L L !

P.S. I almost forgot about power foam. Unless you plan on takeing you intake manifold apart PowerFoam will get it as clean as you are going to get it and it will also help to clean up the piston tops! You have to change you oil after you use it.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I have seen a big following on other forums as well. That doesn't make it the best. I bought a can and never used it on my vehicles. It is fun to play with in the lawn mower and edger engines though.

For my vehicles I am sticking with the LC and FP products. Best way to do it is avoid getting carbon in the first place.

 

[Rob Taggs]

Did two treatments on my car. Left carbon particles on the concrete right below the exhaust. For me it did work but, to what extent won't be known till I tear down the motor in the future. Don't notice any improvement when it comes to the engine.

 

[darkdan]

I used seafoam for years....now I have fuel power and have no need for it.

 

[T-Keith]

I see no need for vacuum line cleaning. IMO it's just a modernized version of an old technique used to clean old carbed engine. It's simply unnecessary when you have a good in-fuel cleaner.

-T

 

[Islandvic]

john Browning, how do I "piston soak with B-12" and what is Power Foam?

Do I let the PCV suck up some B-12 and let sit over night?

Power Foam before oil change? Is that the Amsoil product?

My '96 Vic has a warning label on the throttle body saying not to use cleaners because of special coating on the TB.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Piston soak is really safe and easy.

1) Remove you spark plugs.
2) Put 3-4 onces of B-12 into each spark plug hole.
3) Rotate crank by hand.
4) Let it sit over night.
5) Next morning put 1-2 onces in the spark plug holes and crank it over by hand again.
6)Let it sit 15 minute.
7) Pull the drain plug and drain out the oil and any B-12 that has drained down.
8) Hand crank one more time to make sure no fluid remains in the cylinders.
9) Put in fresh oil and filter.
10) Reinstall plugs.
11) Start car up and run it until it stops smokeing.

Power Foam is an Amsoil product. It is sprayed into the intake tract by way of the duct work on most vechiles. It has the foam like appearance of engine degreaser. It requires you to change the oil after you use it.

It is never a good idea to let an engine suck in fluid through a vacum hose under it's own vacum. You should always slowly meter what goes in to prevent Hydrolock. Puting a small funnel in the vacum line and then trickeling the fluid is far better then just letting it suck it all in!!!!

Water works just as well as Seafoam but it too can be dangerious if you do not do it right.

P.S. I recently did this on an old two cylinder John Deere with cutting fluid becasue it is all we had on hand. When we took the head off the carbon wiped right off the pistons and so did the rust.

 

[Bror Jace]

Yes, I think the consensus here is that Seafoam will work ... but is generally over-priced when you look at its composition.

Try using this forum's search feature to find more detail on this.

--- Bror Jace

 

[Islandvic]

quote:

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It is never a good idea to let an engine suck in fluid through a vacum hose under it's own vacum. You should always slowly meter what goes in to prevent Hydrolock. Puting a small funnel in the vacum line and then trickeling the fluid is far better then just letting it suck it all in!!!!

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I ran tubing from the vac line to a small cup I had poured the Seafoam in. I would only allow a little at a time to be sucked up. I would rev the motor via throttle cable slightly. I never stalled the engine.

Good advice though. I did not know about the hydrolocking. It was my intuition I guess to limit how much was being sucked in.

I heard about the water once. I had dismissed though thinking it was too old school.

Thanks for all the posts.

SeaFoam is SeaFoam, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[aldive]

I find Sea Foam very useful.

 

[Bror Jace]

I just thought I'd add that the danger of hydrolocking (with any fluid) is greater with today's cars than it was a decade or more ago.

Engines are tighter, and I'd guess there's less room to spare in combustion chambers. So, be very careful what you introduce into the motor by vacuum line or gravity ... whether it be a light oil, a cleaner or water.

He can correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think when JohnBrowning says to add 3-4 ounces of cleaner to each sparkplug hole and then turn over by hand, he is recommending that the sparkplugs be left out during this time. Any excessive fluid will harmlessly squeeze out through the sparkplug hole.

--- Bror Jace

 

[kang]

I broke an engine myself with the water treatment. This was over a decade ago, so I don’t know if the above comment about newer engines applies.

I was following the standard water treatment procedure. I was just trickling the water into the throat of the carb. I was introducing much less water than I’ve heard others mention on this board. All of a sudden there was a loud knock from the bottom end. From then on, there was an audible bottom end knock on that engine.

While that car is long gone, I’ve never had the courage to try this again, with water, sea foam, ATF, or any other fluid. FP, Redline SI-1, Gumout Regane, etc, all do the trick with zero risk of hydrolock. Using those regularly, I’ve never had an engine get so bad that a piston soak would be indicated.

 

[darkdan]

You'd have to suck up the seafoam really quickly to hydrolock it. Maybe on a 4 cylinder it's more of a possibility.

The fact that it's combustable helps too.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Bro Jace, you are correct. It also allows the rings to move a bit to get the solvent into the ring pack!

Kang, Youare correct their are so many safer ways to keep a system clean that I would never recomend to anyone to introduce water newtonian fluid into an engines combustion chamber.

I found out early on that as an ex-tech. I would sometimes recomend things that were easy for me to do but dangerious for the regular joe to do. I try not to do that and often find that I try to talk people out of trying things like this. It is not that water does not work only that it is very risky!

I always lean towards maximum reward for a managleable amount of risk! Maximum reward at all cost usualy incurs to much risk for me to recomend to someone with unknown mechanical abilitys!!!

 

[427Z06]

quote:

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For my vehicles I am sticking with the LC and FP products. Best way to do it is avoid getting carbon in the first place.

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Unfortunately, we have no proof that those products actually prevent deposits from forming on the pistons, combustion chambers and valves.

 

[tweeker43]

seafoam has worked really well for me in the past. as a one-shot thing every 3000 miles or so it's great. it did fabulous things for my last motorcycle.

now i use fuel power as it's more cost effective, and what it did for my last motorcycle was amazing.

if you're looking for the periodic product, seafoam is good. there are other good products as well, like techron or b12.