might have damaged my engine? helppp

[94cylcamry]

Well..I did two things today. One, I cleaned the engine with some Autozone degreaser, and two, poured a bit of Seafoam into the oil.

Now ok...with the degreaser...I sprayed it on, let it sit, hosed it off. It seems like some of this is still burning off or something....like maybe I didn't hose it off as well as I should have.

Two...yeah, poured a bit of Seafoam into the oil. Now..honestly...when they say add it to the crankcase...they really do mean...just pull off the oil cap and pour some in right? That's all I did. I probably didn't even use 1/3 of the bottle, more like 1/6 because I know the guy who changes the oil usually overfills it anyway. But yeah...I did that right...right?

So this all took about 30 minutes, started it up afterwards, seemed fine. Let it sit for a bit, started it up a few hours later, and it sounds and feels like it wants to die, the lights are pulsing the whole car is rocking. And it's smoking. So ok, I think, the distributor cap must have gotten a little wet(saw the "engine bay cleaning" thread), let it idle for a bit and drove it around a bit, eventually it got better. Then I pulled in and noticed that it was still steaming...let it idle for a bit, eventually that cleared up.

However, when I was waiting for the steaming to stop, I noticed something weird. When you are looking at where the spark plug wires connect to the block, there are little..........spouts? These seem to be spritzing out little jets of clear liquid. All four spark plugs but mainly the center two. Any idea what this is?

It seems weird that that should be hapenning. Should I be worried? Did I overfill on Seafoam? The car seems to drive fine now....hopefully when I start it up cold tomorrow morning it will run ok then. I'm kind of half afraid to drive it now though...what are the spark plugs shooting out??

And wow. That engine degreaser. Didn't even do anything. Psh.

Thanks guys.

[EEngineer]

well, u gotta do an oil change real soon

[94cylcamry]

So then...it's overfilled? I just did the Seafoam today because it's due for an oil change...well 100 miles ago. So we were going to take it soon anyway.

Shouldn't be driven then?

Ahh dangit.

[EEngineer]

well, they say when u add seafoam to oil, u should drive till the smoking stops and then get an oil change immediately

so yea...dont drive ur car too much with oil mixed with leftover seafoam.

[94cylcamry]

......................

I thought I saw a couple threads where people just poured some in like 100 miles or so before they were due, then got it changed awhile later? I didn't think it was an urgent thing otherwise I wouldn't have done it...

I'm confused now. I didn't know the Seafoam in oil made any smoke at all...thought it just lubricated and stuff? I know the Seafoam through the brake booster made enough smoke, but I didn't think crankcase made any. I was under the impression that the smoke was just burning off some of the degreaser that I hadn't been able to reach with the hose.

Are you saying that Seafoam is causing the spark plug spritz, or is that another problem entirely?

[EEngineer]

well, usually they do 1/3 in gas tank 1/3 in brake booster, 1/3 in oil

and then oil change ...so yea..i guess if u just do oil...drive a lil bit...until u have to fill up again...and then do oil change

[94cylcamry]

Hmm...I'm getting such mixed opinions on this haha. On this forum people seem to change oil right afterwards, or soon afterwards..this other forum I'm reading...the guy puts the Seafoam in the crankcase right AFTER he gets his oil changed, drives for 3k miles, then changes the oil like normal. Other people do that also and post only good results.

So I guess that quells my fears a bit.

I'm just a little...leery of what the heck the spark plugs are doing.

[CamBOT]

I dont know If I would drive with sea foam in the oil. Sea foam like other engine sludge treatments is very corrosive. It even warns on the label (not seafoam other engine sludge treatments you add to the crank case) that the car should not be driven with the treatment in the oil.


It makes sense. If its corrosive enough to clean off sludge then any seals/gaskets will be affected too.

[94cylcamry]

Ok...I'll get my car scheduled for an oil change pronto.

Anyyyyyy idea what is hapenning at the spark plugs?

[94cylcamry]

Mmm alright well...because of the mixed reviews...I feel better about driving it sparingly, but only sparingly. Thanks guys...

[groovemasterodi]

i was going to do all this, this weekend provided i get my car back from the shop, but damn, now i am moderately apprehensive.

[94cylcamry]

Lol. Well I can tell you that the brake booster line is super easy and gives good results. I would def recommend doing that. We'll see how this oil part goes though...

[ghettosled]

going back to the funky idle, is there water in the spark plug tubes from when you washed the engine. i think this could cause a strange idle due to water on the spark plug. pull off the wires and take a look. just dont yank by the wire, pull gently from the center part.

[94cylcamry]

Well the funky idle went away last night, and luckily didn't return this morning. The spark plugs are no longer spritzing either. I haven't checked the spark plugs yet, but when I pressed lightly on the surrounding rubber parts last night, a liquid rose up. It's not doing that now. I wonder if it really was just moist? Would that cause the wires to spritz liquid at the top?

I'll go check the spark plugs now just in case. If they are moist, what should I do?

Come to think of it...how hard is it to replace spark plugs? It's probably due for that anyway, and spark plugs aren't that expensive. More of a preventative maintenance sort of thing?

Thanks.

[ghettosled]

that was water that you were seeing. spritzing water could was probably caused from the water in the tubes being shaken around while the engine was running. if there is still water, siphon out standing water and leave the plug wires off for a bit to air dry. you can speed this up with a hair dryer.

plugs are easy to change if you want to change them, but the water wouldnt have done any damage.

plugs are maintenance, but so are some other parts typically changed when the plugs are (wires, distributor cap, rotor...).