I Killed My Motor W/Seafoam! (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 1, 2007
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26
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115
Location
Palmer, Alaska
So I thought it would be a good idea to put a can of Seafoam in the engine of my daughters' 83 to clean the insides out. Unfortunately I horribly underestimated how far she would drive while I was away at work for two weeks. I figured 50 to 100 miles max, I've read that you need to run the truck about that far with the Seafoam in it before you change the oil. Turns out she put over 300 miles on the truck and when I went to change the oil there was less than a quart in the pan! The truck smokes horribly now, blue smoke, and oil filling up the air cleaner through the crankcase vent. I suspect the rings are gone. I don't mind rebuilding the engine myself, I am a heavy equipment mechanic by trade, but I was looking suggestions on what brand of replacement parts to use. I'd like to go w/ a master rebuild kit that comes w/ pistons, rings and all the gaskets, like the one SOR sells but I am not sure of the quality. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Where did you put the can of seafoam? The entire thing in the oil? The entire thing in the tank? Divide it up?

Seafoam does not burn oil, nor increase how much it is consumed. It only helps burn off the carbon deposits and that causes all the smoke. Losing 6+ quarts over 300+ miles is definitely something much worse than seafoam.

Either way, buy all your parts directly from toyota. The majority of gaskets out there are inferior to toyota's original designs. For example, the flash rings are smaller in the headgasket, etc.
 
I put almost the whole can in the oil. It didn't smoke at all before. I think I dilluted the oil too much. Toyota parts would be great but there so expensive! Plus everything has to mailed to me because of where I live so the dealer would have to order it in and then mail to me, pay twice for shipping? Still, I agree that OEM is the way to go if you can make it work. Thanks for the info.
 
I put almost the whole can in the oil. It didn't smoke at all before. I think I dilluted the oil too much. Toyota parts would be great but there so expensive! Plus everything has to mailed to me because of where I live so the dealer would have to order it in and then mail to me, pay twice for shipping? Still, I agree that OEM is the way to go if you can make it work. Thanks for the info.

Yeah, I don't think you're supposed to put the whole big can in the oil, but whatever. Now you have an excuse to rebuild it.

If you buy a part from the dealer, you don't have to pay for shipping from the warehouse to their location, do you? That's not how it works up here! I order a part, they tell me it's coming in at x day and I get it. I am 90% sure I don't have to pay shipping, but I've been wrong before.
 
Did the pressed-in oil galley plug on the PS of the head give out by chance? I wouldn't want to run anything in the oil under load, but I can't imagine sea foam doing this that quick. :confused:
 
My Toyota dealer is 300 miles away from me and we are 3000 miles from the nearest warehouse. I think if I let them stock order the items in I don't pay for it to get to the dealer, it just takes a long time. I'd still have to pay to get it to my place. I am going to pay one way or another so I guess it doesn't really matter. I probably have to haul the block to Anchorage to have it machined and the head done. So does Toyota sell a master rebuild kit or do I order a gasket kit and then the pistons and rings seperately? I'll pull the motor this weekend and find out more about what I need, bearings, cam, etc. I checked the oil galley plug, it's good. The oil appears to be all be going out the tail pipe or the air cleaner.
 
I could not agree more.

Seafoam does not burn oil, nor increase how much it is consumed. It only helps burn off the carbon deposits and that causes all the smoke.


Losing 6+ quarts over 300+ miles is definitely something much worse than seafoam.


Teach your daughter how to check her oil.
 
Is CDan direct to you an option?
 
The oil appears to be all be going out the tail pipe or the air cleaner.


Although they are close, that is really two different ends of the motor.


My guess is that you decarboned the engine. Cabon fell into the combustion chamber and broke a ring. Just a guess.

Have you checked the compression yet?
 
What exactly does sea foam do to the oil when you add it? I know it's supposed to cut the sludge and I've used it before with excellent results, but if too much is added, how does the oil change?

Valdezhilander, when I got my truck, I added half a can to my oil and ran it for 4k miles until I changed the oil, and the truck seemed to run a bit smoother.
 
Although they are close, that is really two different ends of the motor.


My guess is that you decarboned the engine. Cabon fell into the combustion chamber and broke a ring. Just a guess.

Have you checked the compression yet?

He said that he put the whole can in the oil, and none in the gas, so virtually no compression chamber carbon would be affected I would think.
 
My daughter does now how to check her oil and if I had thought there was an oil consumption problem I would have made sure she checked it. The engine oil was full before I put the Seafoam in and it wasn't burning oil. I think I would have noticed if it was using 7 qts in three hundred miles! I've been a mechanic for twenty years I have some idea how engines work.
 
He said that he put the whole can in the oil, and none in the gas, so virtually no compression chamber carbon would be affected I would think.

I have done that on every vehicle I own. I add a can of Sea foam to the oil and drive it a few 100 miles adn then change oil. No harm.


If he had sludge on the pistons it may have cleaned it off, creating blowby.

He is going to be really pissed if it is something like his PCV valve is bad.
 
I had thought about the PCV valve so I pulled it out and checked, it was good, I had just replaced it a few months ago when I did a tune up. When you disconnect the crackcase vent line from the air cleaner and rev the engine blue smoke pours out the tube and oil drips from it. Don't get me wrong I am not blaming the Seafoam, I figured I didn't use it right but it sounds like you guys have done similar with out any problems.
 
My daughter does now how to check her oil and if I had thought there was an oil consumption problem I would have made sure she checked it. The engine oil was full before I put the Seafoam in and it wasn't burning oil. I think I would have noticed if it was using 7 qts in three hundred miles! I've been a mechanic for twenty years I have some idea how engines work.
Howdy! I would think that a gallon of oil in 300 miles would have killed every mosquito in the great state of Alaska! Seriously, I would think that would smoke worse than a really bad diesel. I once made the mistake of running an "engine oil cleaner" thru an old Nissan. Similar to yours, it pretty much trashed the engine. I sold it to a young fella that wanted it to be his "shop project", so I never got to see the actual damage on the inside. Anyway, I would go with OEM only, especially if your going to keep the rig around. Lots of horror stories about the aftermarket stuff always missing "some little detail". John
 
why not pour the seafoam into the carb, while a friend makes sure the engine doesn't cut out? worked for me every time.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. Inkpot, my first vehicle ever was a 74 FJ55, there so ugly but man I wish I'd kept it, it was almost rust free then. I got to think the Seafoam made an already existing condition terminal. Last time I contacted my Toyota dealer the parts department wasn't very interested in dealing with anything older than five years. Maybe I'll try one of the ones mentioned here on the forum and just have it all mailed up from the lower 48.
 
By the way, we never run out of mosquitos!
 
running seafoam in your engine oil breaks down all the deposits and sludge in the oil but also breaks down the oil and thins it out. i have done similar to vehicle before but never driven them more than around the block a couple times i usually just let them idle then drain them i would personally NEVER drive any distance over a mile with seafoam in my crankcase.

but on the positive side... the inside of the engine is clean.
 

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