Any SEAFOAM users here?

I have a friend that has a Motorvac machine at his home, and I visit him every so often for a motorvac service. I can definitely tell a difference in how smooth the engine idles after the service.
 
I ran it through my 2000 Cougar at 90k miles. Put some in the gas, some in the oil and drove it until it was empty (~320mi). Just before the oil change I ran it through the UIM booster lines and let it soak and then blew it out and change the oil.



I recommend you change or remove & clean the spark plugs as they will have a lot of residue on them. I never ran into problems with the O2 sensors and I had my test pipe in place of my CAT at the time.
 
Seafoam is great, I use it about twice a year on my 01 GMC sierra. It works best if you pull a vacuum line(brake booster works nice) and let it suck about half the can down while running the engine at 3-4k, shut the engine off and let sit for an hour, start it up and smoke the neighborhood out.

Also it is good to run quality branded fuel, ie shell, mobil, Amoco, Chevron.
 
gnahc79 said:
I plan on trying out auto-rx Auto-Rx Engine Cleaner . Recommended by BITOG and no cloud of white smoke to scare the neighbors :P.
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This thread is a bit old but I was wondering if you ever used auto-rx?

I'm using it now in both my 97 Satrun and 92 325I. Compression is up (at last check) 10-15 psi in the Saturn and gas mileage is back to the original 32mpg up from 27.

I'm doing a before and after comp test on both vehicles just to make sure its not a "seat in the pants" improvement and so far its both. Performance has definetly improved in both vehicles. The BMW's #'s have not been rechecked but definetly will recheck after I get done with the rinse phase. Both vehicles have high mileage of 170K.
 
Iused SF in my 96 C-Silverado and worked great. Now in my 07 GP Cheveron is what goes in. I guess you use whatever works for you.
 
TigerMike said:
I used it a long long time ago. So long, that I really can't recall how it worked. I don't recall anything negative from it though, so it must have been decent.



Here is a neat vid: Sea Foam Usage Video



And others: seafoam - Google Video





Mike :)
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Thanks for the links!

Very interesting.

On another forum that I belong to, the members swear by this stuff. But......they also say that it can foul the spark plugs. So the plugs need to be changed after use of Seafoam.



I have used it in my gas tank and have had no problems so far.
 
Alot of people swear by SF doing all kinds of great things in the fuel system. But from what I've read over at Bob Is The Oil Guy theres no documented proof of it doing anything in the crankcase besides thin out your oil. Its a solvent and not good for your seals.



On a Saturn forum I belong to they all recommend doing a MMO soak (marvel mystery oil) by pouring MMO into the cylinders and letting it sit to help break up the ring coking. Others have had success I wasn't so lucky. I did the same with SF same results. White smoke. :(

Auto-rx on the other hand has helped immensly.
 
I used seafoam in a couple of my vehicles and smoothed out the idle and acceleration. You completely smoke out the neighborhood, so much smoke, you'd almost think the car was on fire.
 
G35stilez said:
It is the funnest damn stuff to use, ever...



I'd be interested to hear other's experiences with it.
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Not sure how good SeaFoam is, but I agree it's some fun stuff. The first time I used it I was about 18 years old and was driving a '79 Buick Estate Wagon with a 403 CID V-8. My friend and I pretty much disregarded the instructions. He poured it in the carburetor as fast as he could and I pushed the throttle pedal most of the way to the floor. That engine choked down a pint of SeaFoam in about ten seconds! There were HUGE clouds of white smoke that drifted down the street. We laughed so hard that we were crying and nearly wet our pants! To this day I get a smile on my face when I think about it.
 
Eh, I've never heard of driving or putting any load on the engine with SF in the oil being a good idea. I always added it to the crankcase let it idle for 15 mins or less then changed the oil
 
Yes I use that regularly in my Subaru's. I let it suck it in slowly through a vacuum line atop the intake manifold. It seems to work very well. Yes but be ready for some serious smoke to eminate after use!
 
Works excellent! You may get a CEL after though. Not to worry, just get it cleared.



I put 1/3 in the gas tank, 1/3 in the crank case and 1/3 through a vacuum line. After that's done I change the oil, fresh gas and good to go.



I did this before I sold my Altima and it changed the performance so much that I didn't want to sell it for at least another few weeks! lol



By the way, you CAN get this stuff in Canada. Try any marine engine store, Carquest, PartSource, Canadian Tire sometimes has it. Some performance shops carry it now as well.
 
I used it and wasn't 'thrilled' with the results, like a lot of other members. I did the 1/3 in gas tank, 1/3 in crankcase (50-60 miles before my oil change), and 1/3 through carb(in my dad's car) and pcv line(sister's car). I'm sure there were other issues with the cars, but I was hoping to see more of a difference. I e-mailed Seafoam before using it because I had a lot of concerns so here is the response from a while back. It's a little more descriptive for the guys considering using it or have concerns. I still plan on using it on my car around 60k miles just for a 'general cleaning' when I perform other tune up services.



SeaFoam said:
Please Stop and re-read the product container, then I will walk you through the 3 systems Sea Foam is designed to treat.



It's really simple, so don't get all revved up and think this is too technical. All this info is really on the CD, DVD or VHS.





FUEL

1st, put one ounce per gallon of fuel into the tank. Sea Foam mixes instantly with your fuel BECAUSE SEA FOAM is OIL! This is for cleaning the fuel system, carb and injectors included, AS YOU DRIVE! This is also for cleaning carbon out of your upper cylinders the simple way, AS YOU DRIVE! This is also for getting rid of any fuel system moisture, adding a MI-NUTE amount of lubrication to your fuel for fuel pumps, injectors and valve stem/upper cylinders, and stabilizing your fuel.





OIL

2nd, how long till your next oil change? About 30 to 100 miles before your next LOF service, put 1/3 can of product (about 1 1/2 ounces for each quart of engine oil capacity) into the crankcase oil of your vehicle and DRIVE IT THAT LAST 30 to 100 MILES, then do your oil change service. Why? Because Sea Foam is a HIGH DETERGENT OIL for residue cleaning. Sea Foam will make your oil get dirty as it cleans old oil residue back into liquid, allowing that now contaminated with dirt old oil to be filtered, BUT IT IS GOING TO MAKE YOUR OIL GET DIRTY!

Should you decide to use Sea Foam in your oil as an after service additive, please set up a schedule by either time or mileage to check your oil color and clarity, so you can determine WHEN an oil service is necessary. Chances are it WILL be before your normal scheduled oil change! Any thing you read that tells you "NOT TO DRIVE" is INCORRECT, Sea Foam is OIL!! Sea Foam is also used as an after service additive in the crankcase oil to clean and keep residue from building up. NEVER DO THAT WITH ANY CHEMICAL PRODUCT as most (but not Sea Foam) CHEMICALS will affect the way the oil lubricates.



UPPER CYLINDERS (on the can "when used through Injection or...... ")

This is the TRAINED PROFESSIONAL MECHANIC way. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CLEAN THE UPPER CYLINDERS THIS WAY IF YOU FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS UNDER "FUEL", the cylinders will get clean as you drive a tank or two of fuel with one ounce Sea Foam to each gallon of gasoline. This is assuming you have any carbon that needs cleaning, MOST DO!

So, if you are NOT mechanically inclined, or misunderstood the can instructions, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS IF YOU PUT SEA FOAM IN THE FUEL TANK!

However, if you feel you can choose a vacuum source to your intake manifold which will FEED ALL CYLINDERS, we list the PCV and Brake Booster lines only as "POSSIBLE sources", they are not correct on all engines. If you choose the wrong vacuum source to introduce carbon cleaning liquid, ( that being one that doesn't feed the engine at all, some Fords, one that may only feed a few cylinders Honda, Toyota, Nissan, most V-6 Foreign engines and some 4 cylinder engines of all makes, or anything with an "exotic" induction system, turbo, super, vortec, others), you could wind up not cleaning, cleaning only a couple cylinders, or hydrolocking the engine, that's breaking stuff!



If you decide, after I've warned you that you should be a "NINJA MASTER" of your induction system, get the engine to operating temperature, at idle, choose your "Picked" vacuum source, hold that source VERTICAL, with sucking air pointed up, use your thumb or finger to block part of the suck to bring the RPM's down to as low an idle as possible, open the product container and SLOWLY POUR Sea Foam into that pointing-up sucking line SLOWLY.



After you get 1/3 can (about 5 1/2 ounces) into your engine at IDLE, by POURING IT, and you have LOTS of SMOKE rolling out your exhaust, DO NOT REV IT UP TO CLEAR THE SMOKE instead have someone KEY OFF the vehicle, let it sit 5 to 10 minutes minimum, then re-start the engine (it may be a hard start because you just doused the cylinders/spark plugs with oil based carbon cleaner) Take the vehicle out for an aggressive drive (do not break any vehicle laws for your community). When the smoke is gone, so is the majority of your carbon, assuming you did things right.



If the check engine light comes on, it is because your computer picked up a mis-fire or does not understand what you just did. Normal key cycles, heating/cooling cycles or check engine lite re-setting procedures will shut off the light.



If you want to use one can to "DO IT ALL", 1/3 in the oil will do about 4 1/2 quarts of oil, 1/3 in the fuel will do about 6 to 8 gallons of fuel, 1/3 into the induction system will clean most carbon out of most engines 4 - 6 - or 8 cylinders, if done correctly.



Hope this helps!
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Johnny-



Interesting read. So according to the SeaFoam guys, you don't necessarily need to suck the stuff through vacuum lines if you put it in the fuel? That makes the procedure seem more foolproof because I always feared the vacuum procedure could result in a hydrolock.



I'm still not sure about using it though. Seems like a product that would work really well on an older (up to mid 90s) vehicle, but might be tricky on newer vehicles with more technology.
 
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