Sea Foam users?

[onwardjames]

Used it for 10 years, always smokes, and yeah, always seems to make things run smoother. Pull your brake booster line, place a funnel in it, pour a little while a friend revs the engine to 2500 or so, and eventually make it stall out (careful not to fluid-lock the engine...just let it buck and die).

Wait a minute, grab a beer, whatever.

20 minutes later, start the vehicle, and get ready for a helluva cloud.

Then, idling nirvana.

Awesome stuff, although someone once told me it was nothing more than napthalene.

 

[OvenMaster]

I asked my mechanic about SeaFoam; he said it was overrated and overpriced. He recommended a bottle of Techron once a year in the fuel tank. He also used Techron to clear out a plugged-from-lack-of-use fuel injector in my mom's Crown Vic.

Tom

 

[Elfasto]

Heard of it, but never seen it for sale up here.
I sometimes use Methanol, Isopropyl Alcohol, and the STP FI cleaner.

BTW, Honda Lawnmowers love Premium fuel, a dash of Methanol.

 

[kretinus]

It's one of those things people either swear by or swear at and no amount of arguing is going to change either sides mind.

 

[hypertone]

I tried it once. I didn't notice a difference. I wonder if all that smoke is actual deposits burning off, or the seafoam itself burning. I'm not convinced, but I might try it again.

 

[Brett a]

It's one of those things people either swear by or swear at and no amount of arguing is going to change either sides mind.

Do you think it would dramatically improve the sound of my old console tube amp if I changed out the oil in the can capacitor with Sea Foam?:headscrat

 

[twitch54]

Heard of it, but never seen it for sale up here.
I sometimes use Methanol, Isopropyl Alcohol

BTW, Honda Lawnmowers love Premium fuel, a dash of Methanol.

FWIW you couldn't be more wrong....given the ethanol added to our fuel today adding more alcohol is nuts !!!

 

[TOO LOUD???]

Sea Foam is a high grade light mineral oil, the liquid and the aerosol spray's are the exact same product just in different form. They now have an intake manifold cleaner which comes with a LONG straw with holes in the side that you can fish through a vacuum port to clean the inside of the manifold, you'd be amazed at the gunk that builds up in there. A guy I used to work with every oil change 1/2 in the oil the other in the gas always ran his cars till they gave up or got wrecked or fell apart normally 300k+ miles on 318's in 5th Avenues.

 

[jocko_nc]

Sea Foam or equivalent is almost mandatory for a 2-stroke outboard. Once a year makes a huge difference.

It is a gawdawful scene doing it in the driveway on a hose and boot. Sounds like someone killing a sick motorcycle w/o a muffler. Smoke.

 

[GordonW]

Truthfully, from watching Dad (who was the regional "take it to him if nobody else can fix it" guy of southwest GA)... he never used "packaged" stuff like that.

For cleaning stuck lifters and such (oil treatment)... all he would do is drain a quart of oil, put in a quart of Dextron ATF, run the car for about 15 minutes, drain and change the oil... voila, many times they would be absolutely silent afterward.

As for deposits- he was also convinced that there was NOTHING in any of these cleaners, that couldn't be duplicated by slowly streaming plain water into the intake manifold, or through a vacuum line. Steam-cleaning is damn effective! You should have seen the brown clouds that would pour out of some cars exhausts when doing this! If that didn't work, he'd do the same thing with ATF, then follow it up with water... I don't remember that ever NOT working...

In many cases, though... especially in "little old lady owned" cars (that were never driven over 40mph or so)... the solution was to take the car somewhere the owner couldn't see, and simply FLOOR IT for a short while. It would sometimes look like a smoke bomb behind the car... but, for many of the older vehicles, you simply had to run them in their power band for a while, and things would clean themselves out!

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[electronjohn]

Shade-tree mechanic pal of my Dad's swore by mothballs. Yup. A generous handful of old-fashioned napthalene (not paradichlorobenzene) mothballs dumped in the gas tank. "Burns out the carbon!" he'd announce. I've done it a few times in older vehicles & it seems he was right.

 

[whoaru99]

Yes, I've used it, but didn't really see any good or bad come from it. I've used Berryman B-12 Chemtool as well and it seemed to help get some poor/rough idling cleaned up on a couple small engines for me. Don't breath too much vapor though, smells like a mix of wicked stuff like toluene, acetone, MEK, etc.

 

[Alaric]

I use Seafoam in the shop I work in. Good stuff. It has helped me dodge cleaning the carbs on a few V4 Hondas. Anything that spares me that nightmare is a "good thing". As for de-carboning the top end of a motor , a spray bottle full of water can be used to mist vapor in to the intake of a running engine. Steam does wonders for breaking up carbon. Just be slow and easy. Breaking big chunks of carbon loose can wreak havoc with valves and seats.

 

[Jim Eck]

I've been using it for a few years, boat, truck, 4-wheeler and both bikes, in the bikes I also add just a little Marvel Mystery oil.

Jim

 

[JDaniel]

I run it thru my Yamaha 115 outboard about every 2-3 fill ups. And I really decarb/treat the engine with it at least once/season.

Here's the procedure:

http://www.catfish1.com/forums/f156/decarbing-your-outboard-6236.html

 

[mikethebike]

Just heard about this product,given the alcohol content in gas these days this seems to be a good idea to me.Any users out there?

You've had alcohol in your fuel for decades. Gas companies use it to absorb water in the fuel so if the tanks get condensation or small leaks the water is absorbed by the alcohol and carried through the combustion process without harming your fuel system. The fiberglass tanks have reduced the amount of water that gets in the gas while at the station but a 10% mix will not harm your car.

Also, if a station advertises 'no ethanol' and you want to verify this is what you do:

1. Buy a quart of gas.
2. Take a sealed glass container and fill 1/2 full with gas.
3. Mark the level with tape.
4. Pour in 4 or 5 oz of water.
5. Mark that level.
6. Close container.
7. Emulsify the mixture.
8. Check the levels after 24 hours.

If they are the same...no alcohol. If they have dropped that difference in volume represents the amount of alcohol in the gas.

P.S.

This Seafoam stuff is another of those products I NEVER use. If you use quality gas I see no need. The only 'after market' product I WILL use is STABIL.

 

[mrfajita]

Put 3/4 of a can in my Jeep's gas tank, and the other 1/4 in the crankcase (I need to change my oil this weekend anyway). It idles smoother, has more power, and is more efficient. Before adding it to the oil, my 2500 mile old oil was perfectly clean. Now it looks like liquid death. The stuff definitely cleans nasty deposits out.

 

[Jim Eck]

Works for me to, I find it works better tha Stabil for over the winter also.

Jim

 

[piece-it pete]

That's one of the described treatments, but I think these days they suggest some sort of vacuum line. The directions are right on the can.

I use it three to four times a year. I always pull it into the engine via a main vacuum tube; the one I use connects to the brake booster. It feeds the entire manifold.

Yes, it produces insane amounts of smoke, but the engine always idles and performs better afterward. I've never noticed an appreciable improvement in fuel mileage, but I suppose it could be there.

This. :yes:

Truthfully, from watching Dad (who was the regional "take it to him if nobody else can fix it" guy of southwest GA)... he never used "packaged" stuff like that.

For cleaning stuck lifters and such (oil treatment)... all he would do is drain a quart of oil, put in a quart of Dextron ATF, run the car for about 15 minutes, drain and change the oil... voila, many times they would be absolutely silent afterward.

As for deposits- he was also convinced that there was NOTHING in any of these cleaners, that couldn't be duplicated by slowly streaming plain water into the intake manifold, or through a vacuum line. Steam-cleaning is damn effective! You should have seen the brown clouds that would pour out of some cars exhausts when doing this! If that didn't work, he'd do the same thing with ATF, then follow it up with water... I don't remember that ever NOT working...

In many cases, though... especially in "little old lady owned" cars (that were never driven over 40mph or so)... the solution was to take the car somewhere the owner couldn't see, and simply FLOOR IT for a short while. It would sometimes look like a smoke bomb behind the car... but, for many of the older vehicles, you simply had to run them in their power band for a while, and things would clean themselves out!

Regards,
Gordon.

I used to use the water in the carb, I wasn't daring enough to try it on a FI engine but perhaps this weekend then.

My dad used to 'clean out the carburator' on a certain onramp, as kids we really looked forward to it

Yes, I've used it, but didn't really see any good or bad come from it. I've used Berryman B-12 Chemtool as well and it seemed to help get some poor/rough idling cleaned up on a couple small engines for me. Don't breath too much vapor though, smells like a mix of wicked stuff like toluene, acetone, MEK, etc.

I use B12 instead of Seafoam too, it's a LOT cheaper!

Pete

 

[toxcrusadr]

Came across this thread looking for opinions on Marvel Mystery Oil, and just thought I'd chime in on the composition of Sea Foam.

It's MSDS shows:
Pale oil 40-60%
Naptha 20-30%
IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) 10-20%

I had to look up Pale Oil, it's a distillate high in naphthenes rather than paraffins, I would guess in the diesel range because naphthalene is in that range. Posters above who mentioned putting moth balls in the gas tank...same idea. Not sure exactly what its function is here, i.e. why an aromatic is superior to aliphatic hydrocarbons in the same boiling point range. But anyway that's what it is.

Naptha is not naphthalene but a very light distillate similar to gasoline as far as volatility but without the aromatics (benzene, toluene etc.). You can buy it in a quart at the hardware store.

IPA is probably there as a drying agent.

I imagine you could make this stuff up if you had a replacement for the pale oil. I would guess diesel might do it.

Looky here, a guy did some experimentation and came up with the same idea. In the end he settled in 'iso-HEET' fuel dryer, diesel fuel and VM&P Naptha solvent.

http://hildstrom.com/projects/seafoam/