Using Seafoam before I change oil.

[LeakySeals]

Originally Posted by HowAboutThis
If you change your oil regularly and use Top Tier fuel, Seafoam and other products like it will remove deposits from your bank account, and that's about it. I've used it in small engines as a fuel stabilizer and never had issues but in reality, I doubt most fuel system cleaners do all that much if you've kept up on maintenance. Probably won't hurt much either. So if you sleep better at night, go for it.

Just my $0.02

For kicks last summer I added a bottle of gumout multi-system tune-up to my 6.0 Escalade running top-tier premium gas. That lifter tick was actually the injectors. Gone! So it was money well spent. Now I use a bottle before every oil change.

 

[DGXR]

All motor oils are engineered to allow for a certain amount of fuel dilution and still provide the required engine protection. So adding a few ounces of SeaFoam to the crankcase is not going to hurt anything. If you maintain your equipment properly then there isn't much need for these products... although that does not stop many of us from using them anyway, including myself. I use fuel additives more often than necessary but I'm not completely OCD about it, only a little

Modern fuels and lubricants *must* have good detergents and additives, just to meet minimum requirements (especially here in CA with the fuels). Using an engine flush or injector cleaner before every oil & filter service isn't going to hurt anything. And for those taking good care of their stuff, it might not help much either.
These are not black/white statements -- different driving styles and different maintenance schedules with different vehicles will yield different results. So you may very well need an engine flush or injector cleaning, or not.

 

[sweezy722]

I would not leave it in for a full oil change duration. I have a 20 hp Kohler that lives on Mobil 1. This engine has almost a 1000 hours and never used any oil. I put in Saefoam for a full oil change interval as the Seafoam website said I could do. That engine started using oil after 25 hours and still uses oil. The engine was fine I just thought it would help it live longer. I wish I had left the Seafoam off.

 

[LeakySeals]

Is isopropanol or IPA bad for seals?