Seafoam in crankcase? answered: NO! Annnd ...

[Perfect Tommy]

Recently acquired a pretty nice 2000 SR5 w/190,000 miles. Not a lot of history on maintenance, but Carfax shows that all the big items have been addressed within the last 12,000 miles (timing belt, water pump, thermostat, brakes).

Will change all fluids and will replace the lower ball joints as precautions. Intending to keep this a long while.

question: have heard a lot of positives about using Seafoam in the crankcase to clean out carbon deposits (as well as in the gas tank and through the intake). Have also heard that if there is a lot of carbon, the crankcase treatment can actually cause problems by 'freeing' too much carbon debris at once. Does anyone have any experience with this in a Gen3? Is this a prudent thing to do?

EDIT. Resolution: discovered a wealth of knowledge on BobIsTheOilGuy. not much enthusiasm for Seafoam (though some find it works it through the intake). The preferred alternatives are Rislone cleaner and HDL cleaner and motor oil. if anyone else is in the same boat, hope this helps.

EDIT #2. The new hotness is either of two 'restoration/cleaning' motor oils. HDL and Valvoline make restorative oils. Valvoline's "Restore and Protect" has been getting the good reviews due to the fact that, like predecessor HDL, it is less aggressive and cleans over time (i.e. over several oil changes, thereby less risk of dumping chunks of debris into the filter, etc). The vids and accounts show that it actually cleans piston rings of deposits.

Of course, that may all have been faked ...

Thanks.

 

[Rednexus]

I would never run Seafoam in the crankcase, but it does do a good job when ran through the intake. Seafoam is a solvent and will dilute your oil, which is not a good thing.

If you do run something in the crankcase, I'd use a engine cleaner like Liqui Moly. Typically you use the cleaner just before an oil change, and then change the oil. Then, follow up with short-duration oil changes, and maybe a Seafoam treatment or two in there as well.

 

[Mark W]

There are no miracles in a can. Only snake oil. You could not pay me to dump that junk in my engine, my gas tank or even my driveway.

Mark...

 

[Perfect Tommy]

not even for $100?


@Rednexus: plan to run some Seafoam through the plenum and see how it goes.


anyway, I changed the oil and used the Valvoline. will report on my shiny, like-new piston rings at some later date.



I hope.

 

[Mark W]

not even for $100?


@Rednexus: plan to run some Seafoam through the plenum and see how it goes.


anyway, I changed the oil and used the Valvoline. will report on my shiny, like-new piston rings at some later date.



I hope.

I guess you could talk me into pouring it onto the gravel out front for $100 cash. So long as someone else cleaned it up before DNR noticed.

Mark...

 

[Perfect Tommy]

I guess you could talk me into pouring it onto the gravel out front for $100 cash. So long as someone else cleaned it up before DNR noticed.

Mark...

 

[Weedhopper]

Drive it. Get it hot.

 

[jvincig01]

I put seafoam in the gas tank, cleaned the intake, and then ran it through the engine oil for 200 miles before an oil change.

The engine is noticeably quieter, and I don’t have regrets…… so far. lol

 

[alia176]

since i have old cars with old engines, they all burn oil so i put a quart of ATF right before an oil change.

 

[Mark W]

I put seafoam in the gas tank, cleaned the intake, and then ran it through the engine oil for 200 miles before an oil change.

The engine is noticeably quieter, and I don’t have regrets…… so far. lol

Why did this make your engine quieter?

Mark...

 

[Grayscale]

Oil is too engineered for the consumer to be using more additives. The proportion of oil additives in a typical off-the-shelf-oil was ten-percent in 1965, but in 1995, oil additives accounted for twenty-percent, iirc. Eventually, you'll dilute your engine dry, or just have incompatible chemistries, by adding even more additives (seafoam) to the crankcase.

I just installed Valvoline Restore and Protect in my engines. An FJ40 with a 2F, and a Nissan 720 with a Z24 inline-four. Maybe the oil formula is a scam, but, what is the risk? Somewhere the, "it just needs oil" debate comes in. But, oil needs changing, and you have to decide what currently available oil to put in it. Does it really seem improbable that the Valvoline R&P oil chemistries tipped the balance, from a general trend of slowing down the formation of deposits, to a slow process of deposit (varnish, and sludge) removal? And, that the marketing was entirely based on shaky data? Maybe, but, it still meets all the standards for API-SP, which is a better oil than we had available to us in 2020.

 

[jvincig01]

Why did this make your engine quieter?

Mark...

Maybe it’s quieter because it’s cleaner, and therefore more efficient? Not sure.

 

[Wildcat Walker]

Just inherited a 92 4Runner that sat for 22+ years and hadn't had an oil change in even longer. I went ahead and changed the old oil replacing it with the Valvoline Restore and Protect (and a Wix XP filter). I'll have the valve covers off this weekend, I should get some before pics. I haven't driven the truck much yet due to other maintenance but plan on running the Valvoline for several oil changes at least. From what I have seen and heard the stuff really works.

 

[Malleus]

Oh, just run it full of diesel fuel until it quits working...

 

[Grayscale]

I think that my Nissan 720 experiences piston slap. Or, the sound is somewhat like a clicking rocker arm. The first ride out with Restore and Protect, it was almost gone except for idling at one intersection. The idea is that when the rings get partially frozen in their landings, the ring is making the piston travel somewhat biased in the cylinder. It could be from wear on the rod, pin, or crank bearing surface. But, remove the varnish from the ring landings, and your piston is now centering itself, compression goes up, blow-by slows down, and maybe the piston slap stops?

 

[Wildcat Walker]

I think that my Nissan 720 experiences piston slap. Or, the sound is somewhat like a clicking rocker arm. The first ride out with Restore and Protect, it was almost gone except for idling at one intersection. The idea is that when the rings get partially frozen in their landings, the ring is making the piston travel somewhat biased in the cylinder. It could be from wear on the rod, pin, or crank bearing surface. But, remove the varnish from the ring landings, and your piston is now centering itself, compression goes up, blow-by slows down, and maybe the piston slap stops?

Z24? best thing I ever did to a 720 with a Z24 is swap in a KA24DE and and manual. Totally different machine.

 

[Jeepster09]

As a former master tech, I have used sea foam in the crankcase with no negative issues. Generally I would add a can to gas tank and a second can to the crankcase. Adding to crankcase generally was done about a hundred miles before oil change, it really cleaned it out. Also years ago on older vehicles I would dump old oil and put in straight ATF to do a cleansing. I would then take vehicle out and drive it around at LOW SPEEDS being careful not to high rev engine, for 20-30 miles. I would take back to shop and change oil and filter to fresh oil. I never had any problems doing this and vehicles seemed to run better. ATF has a lot of additives that seems to SUPER CLEAN; it also lubricates gears, pumps and clutches in transmissions so I figured using care it would not harm engine.