My seafoam experience. . . . .

[Romer]

. . . . . . our maints regimen can be debatable till Jesus come's back

Why does everyone continue wasting their time with these types of things?

There is no replacement for doing things correctly, taking one's time, and understanding what is going on by cleaning your intake.

I am just waiting to see if Jesus is coming back. He owes me $20

 

[azcromntic]

What I'm wondering is why, if these kinds of treatments are "snake oil", would Toyota be selling a simular product at their parts store and recommend it when questioned about it?

It's the 44K stuff.

I tried Sea Foam once and it didn't do anything but smoke. Just wondering though...is it all _really_ snake oil?

 

[Polar Bear]

My initial experience with seafoam was through my motorcycle mechanic years ago. My trusty '85 Nighthawk S was having the carbs overhauled and a general going through. He ran a compression test and the number 1 & 3 cylinders were low by 25 and 40lbs respectively.

He said he seafoamed it several times and all the cylinders came back into spec. Seat of the pants edyno showed a big difference: ie the bike now power wheelied in first without dipping the clutch.

How much of that was an improved A/F mixture from a good Carb rebuild vs improved compression- I dunno. But the bike did run better. I have my doubts that this stuff will remove hardened carbon. Mine was probably the softer varnish and gunk built up on the valves and seats.

YMMV

 

[semlin]

sea foam most definitely works on cleaning up small engines especially two strokes. techron is also mostly naptha.

 

[Tools R Us]

... Just wondering though...is it all _really_ snake oil?

The answer would be yes, maybe. The correct answer will take some typing:

The motor is pretty much an air pump/compressor with a combustion cycle. If you have run a compressor, you know how much water they can squeeze out of the air, a motor does the same thing, on a larger scale, they are larger displacement than most air compressors. Moisture is the #1 contributor/enabler to engine sludge.

Modern motors are well setup to deal with it, if allowed to. In a hot motor, the moisture, excess fuel, etc, are rapidly vaporized and pulled off by the PVC system, as a vapor, burned and sent out through the exhaust. Motor oil, when hot and sprayed, slung at speed, is a very good solvent. Most contaminates, water, fuel, acids, etc, will quickly be distilled/evaporated out of oil. A motor that is run predominantly/often at operating temp will be clean, never have sludge/carbon problems.

The problem comes on motors that are run in the short trip cycle, predominantly run cool. When cool, the motor runs rich, it doesn’t deal with moisture as well, so a much higher percentage of moisture, fuel, etc, ends up in the crankcase. Just as the motor is warming, it is turned off, some/most of the contaminates vaporize, but there is no circulation, so the vapor rises in the motor and as the motor cools, it condenses on the valve cover, in the breather box, etc. It can often be seen on the oil cap as a tan goop. When the motor is restarted this goop is drawn into the intake and spattered around, on valves, pistons, etc. The motor is driven about the same time/distance and turned off, during heat soak the globs of goop are cooked onto the intake, valves, etc, and a fresh load of goop is made in the motor. Keep repeating and you have a sludge, carbon filled motor.

Velocity, circulation is also important. There are well meaning automotive “experts” that will preach that you should drive as little as possible and always like there is an egg on the accelerator. This is the best way to get good gas mileage, for a while, also a great plan for building sludge. Take some oil, pour some water into it, it will sink to the bottom, even if warmed, it is not coming out. Spray the warmed mixture in a warmed vertical surface and allow it to run back into the container, wow, the water is gone. Take some of the cool oil, try to clean with it, not a very good cleaner, warm it to ~200F and spray it with good velocity, good cleaner. The oil pump is a gear displacement unit, in other words; at idle, ~600 rpm it will pump X amount of oil, at 2400 rpm will pump x times 4, at 4800 rpm will pump X times 8. This is true of all flow in the motor, air intake, exhaust, oil, coolant, etc. Much less stuff sticks, more is broken loose, vapors, purging, etc, are much better handled when fluids are moving with velocity.

There are two old mechanics tails that have some truth: First, driven by a grandma, only to church. Yep, could spot them every time, motors full of sludge, did oil changes to the book, used only the “best” oil, fuel, etc, and they are a mess. Drive it like a rental to blow the carbon out. Yep, motors that are more often used somewhat harder, like they are designed to be used, are almost always much cleaner, even with less than “perfect” maintenance. If grandma’s rig had a load put on it once in a while, it wouldn’t have the problems.

So, IMHO advertising like: Our oil prevents sludge, our gas has magic in it, you need all of these $$$ additives, are BS, snake oil, period. If the fluids meet the latest spec, the rig is maintained and correctly used, they should never be needed and are a waste of $$$. If you have an abused motor, sometimes chemicals can make an improvement, but often water drawn into the intake is more effective and cheaper. Most times, simply pumping the tank full of gas and taking a nice, spirited, country/highway drive will do just as much good and is much more fun.

 

[e9999]

I've read plenty about the water trickling in the intake bit, but as much as I can see that it might possibly do something to deposits inside the combustion chamber if turned to steam etc, it is less obvious to me how water might clean up carbon-based deposits, varnish, sludges and the like in the intake. Or does it? Interesting topic.

FWIW there was a recent thread on Seafoam in the 100 section too.

 

[Tools R Us]

I've read plenty about the water trickling in the intake bit, but as much as I can see that it might possibly do something to deposits inside the combustion chamber if turned to steam etc, it is less obvious to me how water might clean up carbon-based deposits, varnish, sludges and the like in the intake. Or does it? Interesting topic.

FWIW there was a recent thread on Seafoam in the 100 section too.

Correct, water and most brand name stuff works best on the hotter stuff (like valves) close to or in the combustion chamber. For stuff closer to the butterfly, carb cleaner type solvents are much more effective.

 

[mikedamageinc]

Water can clean hot metal well, like on a flat top grill. Just pour some water on it when hot and it sizzles up and the junk comes right off. The thing I dont understand is when does water become a bad thing, like hydrolock?

Also I came across this thread searching for why I have water dripping from my tail pipe and multiple pinhole exhaust leaks. Also my PCV oil catch can has chocolate milk in it! (milky, water/oil mixture) I havent been able to find anything so I'll probably start a new thread but just thought I'd ask here. I have done the seafoam and it seemed to increase smoothness/acceleration but no effect on water.

 

[Tools R Us]

Water can clean hot metal well, like on a flat top grill. Just pour some water on it when hot and it sizzles up and the junk comes right off. The thing I dont understand is when does water become a bad thing, like hydrolock?

Also I came across this thread searching for why I have water dripping from my tail pipe and multiple pinhole exhaust leaks. Also my PCV oil catch can has chocolate milk in it! (milky, water/oil mixture) I havent been able to find anything so I'll probably start a new thread but just thought I'd ask here. I have done the seafoam and it seemed to increase smoothness/acceleration but no effect on water.

Water is a normal component of breather gas/exhaust, one of the prime reasons for the breather system, how much depends on weather and how the rig is driven. If often driven with the motor cool, not allowed to fully warm, there will alway be more water. If you have ever run a compressor, water builds up in the tank and has to be drained. A motor is a large (~300cfm) compressor with a combustion cycle, so will squeeze a lot of water out of the air.

 

[mikedamageinc]

Water is a normal component of breather gas/exhaust, one of the prime reasons for the breather system, how much depends on weather and how the rig is driven. If often driven with the motor cool, not allowed to fully warm, there will alway be more water. If you have ever run a compressor, water builds up in the tank and has to be drained. A motor is a large (~300cfm) compressor with a combustion cycle, so will squeeze a lot of water out of the air.

Yea, speaking of which, I need to drain my compressor! But why the cruiser more than other vehicles? I have a catch can on my other two vehicles and straight oil in both, no water, plus no apparent water from the exhaust.

 

[Tools R Us]

Yea, speaking of which, I need to drain my compressor! But why the cruiser more than other vehicles? I have a catch can on my other two vehicles and straight oil in both, no water, plus no apparent water from the exhaust.

Hard to tell from here? It could be a motor problem, or differing motor designs or differing drive profiles, etc?

 

[mikedamageinc]

Oddly enough, now the Camaro is the one with the chocolate milk mix and the Cruiser and G both straight oil, and the Camaro is all highway, go figure!

 

[pnolanIH8MUD]

My experience with Seafoam was on my Expedition. After paying the mechanic $600 two times to supposedly acid bath the intake (which another mechanic says was NEVER removed), I began to run Seafoam through it whenever the pinging started and it helped stop it. I usually did this 3x per year. I also had a sticky lifter. I ran a can of Seafoam in the engine oil on the way over to the jiffy lube and each time the lifter quieted. I've just become a member here and have run one can through my 97 LC with 220,000 in the hope of clearing the injectors. So far, it runs quietly and smoothly.

 

[Toyota47L]

. . . . . . . I found a little technique to get the hose off the PCV valve. Used a panel removing tool and using a pair of hose pliars as leverage, pried the hose off (pic below). Then I poured the seafoam into a disposable cup. Started the engine, submerged the end of the hose into the cup of seafoam. The motor would bog down when you would completely submerge the hose, so pulling it out and allowing it to slowly skim the seafoam from the cup proved to be most successful. Shut the truck off and let it rest for about 3 minutes, cranked it and it smoked (pic below). Shut it off again and waited over an hour. Started the truck again and is continued to smoke for approximately 10 minutes. Then the smoke cleared away. Changed the oil using M1 syn. and I took it for a test drive.

Seat of the pants impressions are a smoother pull during acceleration, and for some reason, smoother shifts. Not a real power difference, but the truck does seem to perform smoother through it’s operations.
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Hi, reviving this thread since i'm thinking aobut doing this, was this on an 80 series?