My seafoam experience. . . . .

[tiorio]

Sometimes this snake-oil stuff amazes me. On one hand we have a member saying his rig SHIFTS BETTER after seafoam treatment and on the other those arguing there is no placebo effect. I can't say what the magical seafoam does or does not do, because there's no DATA except for one brave soul who inspected a motor before and after multiple treatments and saw no change.

To me that points to the following conclusions:

Seafoam is innefective at removing carbon
Seafoam may be BENEFICIAL OR DETRIMENTAL to the state of your fuel
Seafoam MAY or MAY NOT assist in cleaning 'varnish' out of the fuel system

And don't forget, there are A LOT of unknowns, like Seafoam may reduce the life of the seals in your fuel system and Seafoam may cause premature injector failure!

I'm of the school that teaches not to go adding unknowns to an equation unless you're testing for the unknown. Basically, if your rig isn't idling correctly, fix it! Throwing some stuff concocted in the 1930's (for 1930's gas in 1930's engines) to stabilze fuel in pleasureboat/small marine applications when the gas would sit for months at a time isn't a solution.

At least thats my $.02

 

[Doug_S]

This stuff sounds like Marvel's Mystery Oil to me.

 

[semlin]

just to throw another monkey in the wrench, my understanding from when I got my 2 stroke outboard was not to use seafoam or anything else on a 2 stroke unless you do it is early and often in the motor's life. I got that advice from more than once source and for some reason I thought the advice was 2 stroke specific. I have heard that once it is established no engine treatment will remove carbon buildup in a 2 stroke. I do not know whether there are differences in the engine environment that might make it behave differently froma 4 stroke motor.

 

[concretejungle]

Well I SeaFoamed my engine today. I think I got about +10 HP, and 2 1/2" of lift in back! But seriously. I didn't even get any smoke. I rev'd it up to about 2000-2500 RPMs and got a little puff, but that's about it. Sitll drives like a 3-ton truck, acceleration-wise. Do I want my money back? Nah, it does seem to idle a little better. I had two cans, so I threw one in the tank with a fillup. We'll see if anything noticeable happens.

Did you let it sit for at least 15 minutes?

 

[re_guderian]

Did you let it sit for at least 15 minutes?

5-10 min per instructions on can.

 

[alaskacruiser]

tiorio- I agree completely. Something I find among many people anal about maintenance is the "if it ain't broke, fix it until it is" mentality, which I do not agree with. Seafoam has not been proven to do anything. Much like Slick50 or a car wash, many people believe their rigs run better or shift more smoothly afterward. MiniPigg has shown the product is ineffective at carbon deposit removal, and yet people still go by seat-of-the-pants results. I guess I would feel my rig ran (and even shifted) more smoothly, too, if I had gone through the application process and seen a lot of smoke (it must be doing something, right?) Problem is some of these additives may do more harm than good, and a lot of people do not consider that. Just my .02.

 

[firetruck41]

...I guess I would feel my rig ran (and even shifted) more smoothly, too, if I had gone through the application process and seen a lot of smoke (it must be doing something, right?) Problem is some of these additives may do more harm than good, and a lot of people do not consider that. Just my .02.

Or maybe it actually does run better for those people who claim it runs better... alot of people do not consider that.

 

[e9999]

Or maybe it actually does run better for those people who claim it runs better... alot of people do not consider that.

well, when I did Seafoam after cleaning by TB, it didn's smoke much at all. I was hoping for a lot. And it didn't make the engine run any smoother. (Neither did a tune up btw.) So I probably won't do it again.

 

[alaskacruiser]

Or maybe it actually does run better for those people who claim it runs better... alot of people do not consider that.

I guess it boils down to this: are you willing to risk your vehicle on a product with absolutely no objectively proven results? A product which may, in fact, harm your engine? And, if so, to what end? MiniPigg (and others) have shown that this product doesn't clean carbon deposits. What benefit do you think it provides and what do you think the product does in your engine? The fact that few users are willing to explore these questions leads me to believe that many are drawn to the product with the mindset of "I don't know what it does or how it works, but I have faith in snake oil". That's why Marvel Mystery Oil and Slick50 are still on the shelves.

 

[FirstToy]

Much like Slick50 or a car wash, many people believe their rigs run better or shift more smoothly afterward.

Hey, hey now. After I wash my car it ALWAYS runs better! It also balances the tires and makes the sun brighter

 

[hkeller]

OK. Maybe I shouldn't revive this old thread, but I did a Seaform treatment in my 1996 Grand Cherokee and it worked wonders. I had it scheduled for a tune-up as it was idling rough, had poor acceleration and was pinging. I ran 1/3 of a can through the intake and all, seriously, all those problems are gone. The engine has more power and runs smooth and quite. Also, I must have more vacuum, as the brakes are better. The engine is a V-8 with about 165K miles on it.

I agree that many of the addatives you see on store shelves are snake oil, but my experience is that this stuff worked.

 

[ranma21]

I run seafoam on all my vehicle, so far it has been good. Idle is smoother. I pour half can down the pcv hose and let it sucks in slowly, then shut off the engine and let it sit for overnight and the car smoke like crazy the next day. Then I did the same thing again wih the remaining half bottle.

 

[toylndcrusr]

As shown in the picture of the piston with the HG failure, water will remove carbon build up from a piston, if the piston is hot when the water hits it. If water will remove carbon from a piston, it stands to reason that - if nothing else -, SF will at least do as well as water at removing carbon from a piston at normal operating temp.

 

[jfz80]

This stuff sounds like Marvel's Mystery Oil to me.

HA HA, concrete used that the week before after his HG scare

And ill add i used the product as well at the same time and got no smoking from my 80. I was so disappointed i foamed the taco and it more than made up for it!!!! as in traffic slowed and the neighbors disappeared.

The 80 had a new HG and clean and rebuild 25k miles ago, and the tacoma has a 120k and never been opened.

if anything the 80 caught a stumble but the taco idles much smoother (as visible by the no longer vibrating shift column), so id say mixed feelings here but i dont regret it.

 

[concretejungle]

and the tacoma has a 120k and never been opened.

.

I thought it had a new intake? or was that exhaust manifold, i don't remember.

 

[jfz80]

I thought it had a new intake? or was that exhaust manifold, i don't remember.

that would be an exhaust manifold, and technically that did not involve cracking open the engine now if you really wanted to harass me you would have given me crap for replying to a 3 yr. old thread of yours........mr. tour guide

 

[deputy630]

Just do what I do it works very well. I give my 94 a drink of JACK DANIELS BLACK LABEL every oil change. The first 30 miles it dosent want to stay between the lines but after that it runs very strong. And the exhaust fumes are wonderful..... Cheers

 

[rlabair]

Autozone also carrys Seafoam. I believe it's original use was for marine engines wasn't it?

I've used it in my Lx450 with no problems other than creating a fog bank in the neighborhood!

 

[OGBeno]

I'll be honest with you all, but my seafoam experience didn't pan out very well.

I used it a bunch of times during oil changes through the PCV valve and had the smoke and thought it did wonders.

But when I dug into my engine during the recent rebuild the carbon build up in the intake was phenomenal--it was caked on and could not be easily cleaned or chipped off. It took a vat visit and a beadblast at a machine shop before it looked anywhere close to being clean.

Personally, I think that the seafoam merely burns off a light layer off the top of the massive amounts of carbon buildup that accumulates in the intake. Other than going in and having it professionally done, I doubt that seafoam makes that much of a difference in the long run.

Just my unprofessional .02.

-o-

 

[NaterGator]

I'm with beno. The smoke show is naptha oil burning off and nothing else.

FI cleaner may help with crappy injectors, but seafoam doesn't do anything appreciable.