sea foam treatment to pass smog. (1 Viewer)

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I have been a bit worried about passing smog this year since two years ago I barely passed the low speed dyno portion with a HC reading of 95 ppm (with a max of 95 allowed). This was despite having new plugs, wires, rotor, cap, valve adjustment, timing adjusted, new air filter, oil change and tested and cleaned egr valve. On the advice of wristy (via his hotline) I decided to clean my valves with some sea foam. I was a bit reluctant to use a "snake oil product". The method I used was to start the motor and then disconnect the vacuum line that goes to the brake booster (at the manifold end). You need to hold the throttle open a bit or the motor will stall. I dumped in a whole bottle of sea foam through a funnel attached to a piece of hose and a bunch of white smoke billowed out the tail pipe. I then shut off the motor with the ignition but it proceeded to diesel for about 10 seconds along with jetting black crap and white smoke (out the vacuum port that was still open). After about 10 minutes I started the motor up and idled and then drove it until it stopped smoking.
The amazing thing is that the motor is now idling better, seems to have more power and the low speed dyno HC reading on the smog machine is reduced from 95 ppm down to 74 ppm. This was on a original, stock 22re motor with about 180,000 miles that burns about a quart every 1,000 miles. Did the sea foam do its job or is it just coincidence?
 
SEAFOAM = THE SH!T

id bet on the sea-foam

thats sweet how much it did help
 
Snake oil... pure water introduced this way will do as much.

95 to 74... lots of variable can cause a change like that BTW.


Mark...
 
Snake oil... pure water introduced this way will do as much.

95 to 74... lots of variable can cause a change like that BTW.


Mark...

My late uncle did that to my other uncle's high-school car. I think it was a Potiac that was running poorly, anyway he pops the air cleaner off, and looks at the carb, opens the throttle, and dumps a glass of water in, holding the throttle open. Then car ran like crap for about ten minutes, but better than before once it finished steam-cleaning the insides.
 
Maybe it doesn't matter if it was water, alcohol, seafoam or some sort of carb cleaner. It appears that at least I did not bend any valves/hyrolock the motor. It seems that it was "cleaned up" somewhat. It really is idling and running better. Honestly, the most important thing to me is that I am now able to register and keep the truck on the road. I certainly was not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars with a carb approved smog fix shop to get my motor "fixed" in order to pass smog when I plan on refreshing/building the motor in a few months any way.
 
I always add a can of the stuff in my Integra's gas tank prior to doing an oil change and it always raises my MPG by almost 2 mpg. Tried using it on the Cruisers hoping for the same result but sadly no change.:frown::) My local parts store had 'em on sale yesterday for 7.99 so I stocked up.:D
 
Maybe it doesn't matter if it was water, alcohol, seafoam or some sort of carb cleaner. It appears that at least I did not bend any valves/hyrolock the motor. It seems that it was "cleaned up" somewhat. It really is idling and running better. Honestly, the most important thing to me is that I am now able to register and keep the truck on the road. I certainly was not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars with a carb approved smog fix shop to get my motor "fixed" in order to pass smog when I plan on refreshing/building the motor in a few months any way.

water works the same way too, but the bonus is with the sea foam, when you let it sit, on the valves it breaks up the carbon even more.

who ever told you about this is pure genius and i would highly recommended him! LOL
 
I've always heard Sea Foam was good stuff. Will have to try.
 
I've always heard Sea Foam was good stuff. Will have to try.
ask 10 people about it, 5 will swear by it, 5 will say it's snake oil.
Looking at the results, I'd say it would depend on the application. A bottle in the fuel tank likely wouldn't do much, but concentrated and introduced directly to the engine seems to yield results.
Personally, I'm open-minded to it.
 
I ran 2 cans through my 87 22re, about 4 oz at a time, I was driving it after the first can and one of my stuck valves turned loose, a big pop. It runs good, but I plan on taking it a step further soon by taking off the intake manifold and cleaning everything up really good.
 
Most don't call it snake oil because it doesn't work, it does. If your motor is gunked from poor driving habits, etc, and need this type of treatment it can somewhat help, but so will lots of other things. I have successfully used water, diesel, alcohol, etc.

Seafoam is what ~$8 for 16oz, so ~$64 a gallon? IIRC it is just alcohol, naptha, and light oil, not exactly exotic or expensive. IMHO the snake oil tag is for being way over priced/hyped. Take some diesel/marvel mystery oil/etc, add some alcohol, shake and pour into the motor and will have exactly the same result, at a fraction of the cost.:hillbilly:

If you are worried about passing emissions, my first trick is to add some alcohol to the tank. Alcohol mixed with the fuel will make the motor burn cleaner and will often make a motor pass that otherwise would fail.
 
If you are worried about passing emissions, my first trick is to add some alcohol to the tank. Alcohol mixed with the fuel will make the motor burn cleaner and will often make a motor pass that otherwise would fail.
Use ethanol as the type of alcohol. Before I started using ethanol gas I'd expect to clean the carb one to two times a year. After using ethanol gas all the time I soon forgot that it needed cleaning. Note, methanol, a different type of alcohol, does not have this advantage. It actually gums things up worse than plain gas. Yes, methanol has been, and may still be, used as a gas additive:eek:. The drawback of ethanol is at concentrations over 10% it can clean all the rust out of the tank. That may cause the need for a fuel filter change.
 
Use ethanol as the type of alcohol. Before I started using ethanol gas I'd expect to clean the carb one to two times a year. After using ethanol gas all the time I soon forgot that it needed cleaning. Note, methanol, a different type of alcohol, does not have this advantage. It actually gums things up worse than plain gas. Yes, methanol has been, and may still be, used as a gas additive:eek:. The drawback of ethanol is at concentrations over 10% it can clean all the rust out of the tank. That may cause the need for a fuel filter change.

Alcohols are very good solvents and good oxygenates, so make motors burn more efficiently/cleaner. There are slight differences, but it doesn't really matter, ethanol, methanol, isopropyl, etc, all will work.

Methanol got a bad rap from political pressure, it is cheaper to produce and for the most part doesn't involve farmers, both bad for the agenda. There is a bit of truth to it, it is slightly more corrosive to some metals and more likely to attack some plastics/rubbers. But those components have been changed to more durable long ago in automotive systems, so no longer an issue.:meh:

When looking for alcohol, I shop by price and availability, drug, hardware, parts store, etc, don't care. One source is gas line antifreeze, in the "HEET" brand, the yellow bottle is methanol, the red is isopropyl, often easily available and cheap.
 
where does one source ethanol for your tank?
 
This thread is wandering all over, but as to the Seafoam, I was curious about it as well, but just can't see what's so great about it. The presence of a half block of white smoke may seem impressive and scare the neighbors, but doesn't mean anything is getting cleaned. It only means the stuff you poured in is burning off. My brake booster gave out and started sucking fluid (thru the same vac hose) and made for a smokey mess. Didn't mean squat.

I don't know and won't claim that the seafoam HURTS anything, but it sure seems like bunk to me. I'd far prefer to disassemble, clean, reseal and re-install ailing parts to be sure of the effectiveness... I guess if it's on it's way out, why not gamble? But I ain't sold.
 
I often use SeaFoam in my bike when it has been setting for awhile and ethonal has gummed up my carbs (alcohol attracts water and creates film in the carbs). 7/10 times the SeaFoam does the trick, the other 3 times I have to clean them by hand. It is also good as an injector cleaner when mixed heavy with gas and introduced directly to the rail.

I would say that of all of the fuel additives, SeaFoam is the best. I have noticed small differences when using it buy no miracles. It works wonders in the bike when concentration is high. I also mix the 4runners tank with a high concentration when I use it (ie almost empty). Other additives have never made a different from what I have seen.

They also have an intake cleaner that works well. They seem to be the same buy come in aerosol form so you can spray it into the intake. If you can keep the AFM cracked open to the right point, you can pull the intake tube and introduce the product while the engine is running....just do it slowley. I would be afraid of breaking something by just smothering cylinders/valves with it.
 
I have used Sea Foam a couple times a year and will continue to use it on my junk. So I figured why try it on the John Deere lawn tractor. I replaced the spark plugs, air filter and clean the carb by hand and still would not idle correctly. After putting it in the gas tank it somehow cleaned itself after 20 minutes of running the engine. Snake oil....don't think so....just needed some dire cleaning and Sea Foam got what I missed.
 
So I tried the seafoam treatment today after giving the truck new Cap, rotor, plugs, wires, t-stat. I the truck seenms to run a little better, and in a week I will try and get it to pass smog. Keeping fingers crossed.
 
Keep us posted. I don't have to deal with those laws, but it would still be good to know!
 

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