Seafoaming, quick questions before I do it. (Pic)

[Nevalite]

Hey everyone,

I'm planning on seafoaming my engine and cleaning my throttle body later today or this weekend. I just wanted to make sure I've got the right idea.

I decided not to do add seafoam to the gas tank or crank case because I don't have to do an oil change yet.

What I decided to do is put most of the can through the brake booster line and I'll keep a little bit of it to help me clean the throttle body. I'm not going to buy the deep creep for the TB, I'm just going to use the same stuff.

Heres a pic, are these the right locations?





Thanks!

[Venom_5]

yup, those are the right places

[plbill]

Pas pire ton filage, tu run quoi comme système de son?

[Nevalite]

1 12" Alpine Type-R sur 1000W RMS (MRP-M1000) :P

[Nevalite]

Is there any risk of seafoaming my car when its cold?

I wanted to do it today but its only 2C (35F) today, is that ok?

[Typrus]

As long as the engine is hot its not an issue.
I personally prefer to take a length of hose the same diameter as the booster line and hook it up right to the manifold and go that route. Don't want to risk it pooling in the booster line itself and falling into the booster.

The liquid form will be near impossible to do anything with on the throttle body. A can of Deep Creep or Berryman's B-12 will work a WHOLE LOT better. That and an aerosol will help get the back of the throttle plate clean (hold it open and spray in)

Putting it in the tank has nothing to do with the oil change. That'd be the crank.

Sucking in SF will help to clean off valves, piston crown, ring lands, combustion chamber, and maybe a bi the intake manifold. It will not clean out the inside of your fuel system. Only by putting it in the tank can you get it to do that.
Both are very useful and both are recommended.

JUST BE CAREFUL sucking up the Seafoam. You CAN hydrolock your engine if you suck up too much too quick. Hydrolock= new engine. Or if you're just lucky new connection rods.

The idea is to suck a bit at a time, enough to bog the engine a little bit but not kill it, then when you have ingested maybe half the can get just enough more aggressive to bog out the engine so it stops running. Then turn the key off, go inside, have lunch, maybe take a nap, either way wait at least 30 minutes so the engine can cool a bit before going out to restart. An hour would be better. 2 would be great.
Then when you go to start it, it will struggle getting going, but feather the throttle to keep it alive. When the oil light goes off, wait about 5 more seconds then start to blip the throttle. Idea is to get it up to about 3500-4000 RPM's. Yoiu want to burn out the rest of the SF, knock loose remaining carbon, and blow it all out of the system. But you don't want to blow up the engine.

So exercise caution and common sense.

[Nevalite]

Hey,

Thanks for all that info!

I want it to clean the fuel system so I'm thinking maybe I'll add some to the gas tank, whats the exact procedure here?

Should I do the sucking one first, and then do the gas tank?

I currently have half a tank of gas, do I just pour the other half of the bottle in the tank and drive as I normally would? Will it be all gone by the next time I need to fill with gas?

[Nevalite]

Alright I just did some final reading, this is the plan:

1. I'll suck up half the bottle with the brake booster line, slowly not stalling it, not hydrolocking it (hopefully :P)

2. I'll shut the car off or bog it down, I'll wait like 30 minutes to an hour to let it do its job. In the meantime I'll pour the other half of the can into my gas tank.

3. Then I'll turn the car on, rev it some to burn out all the seafoam, go for a drive to clear it all up.

4. The seafoam in the gas tank will be mixed in for the rest of that tank, all the while cleaning my fuel system.

5. Also I'll clean the TB with deep creep/toothbrush and such.

Sound good? Any last words?

[Typrus]

You can get as concentrated as 1 can to 8 gallons. No matter what anyone says. I've done 2 cans in a full tank in my Camry. No ill effects. Don't usually NEED to get that strong, however it is very unlikely to hurt anything.
Heck, in diesel engines you can run straight Seafoam. I know this isn't diesel, but the point is you aren't going to blow your car up by running strong.

If I were you I'd use Shell gas if it's available to you. I consistently get better economy with Shell vs. cheaper stuff.

BG 44K is also awesome stuff for the tank. With it, I wouldn't go stronger than 1 can to 10 gallons of gas.
--------------------
BTW, I've driven 100 miles in several cars with a can of SeaFoam in the crankcase before changing oil. Again, yet to see any ill effects. But 40 miles seems to be a better time-frame.

Or better yet, use BG CPR 109. Follow it's directions. It's SUPER concentrated. For the oil that is... Will dissolve sludge like mad.

[Nevalite]

Yeah I usually buy shell gas already, airmiles


Well I just completed my seafoaming, everything went very smoothly. I used half a can thru the vacuum line and I put the other half in my gas tank (about 25 Litres left).

I also cleaned as much of the TB that I could, I couldnt get anything in aerosol format so I did what I could with a toothbrush and some regular seafoam.

After letting it soak it in smoked white smoke quite a bit, but not as much as I had expected... The car has 294 000 Km on it and this is the first time this has been done...Honestly I think some of the carbon is locked in there so good that it just stayed there. Only way to truely clean it would be to take apart the engine and scrub it down...

None the less there was quite a bit of smoke, it probably did some good. When the gas tank empties, I'll recalculate my MPG see if it gets any better.

Thanks for all the help.

[cruisn76]

Originally Posted by Nevalite

After letting it soak it in smoked white smoke quite a bit, but not as much as I had expected... The car has 294 000 Km on it and this is the first time this has been done...Honestly I think some of the carbon is locked in there so good that it just stayed there. Only way to truely clean it would be to take apart the engine and scrub it down...

Or the engine is running really good, and there is alot of carbon to be burnt off. I did seafoam on my Camry and got medium amount of smoke, but on my Honda with half the mileage smoked like cheech and chong!

[Typrus]

My Camry has AWESOME compression numbers for its miles... Smokes so-so

The smoke is really mostly the oily SeaFoam burning up. And how much comes out depends on how much liquid deposit there was on the piston crown and soaked into the carbon deposits.

Wouldn't hurt to SF it 2 or 3 times.

You can do a similar treatment with distilled water also. Have to be more careful with it though, SF can lube a cylinder wall a bit, water can't. But the steam helps to blast things clean.


If you really want to get your engine Primo, I'd recommend putting BG44k in a tank maybe 1/2-3/4 full, suck a full can of SF through in 2 treatments, and do a good sludge-purge.

First, if you are willing, pop off the valve cover, check how much sludge you have. If a lot, it gets a bit more complicated and expensive.

Not a lot of sludge-
Empty the oil you have and remove the filter. Pop on a cheapo filter (FRAM comes to mind) and a full-helping of cheapo oil (SUPERTECH!) and a can of BG Compression Restoration (I believe its CPR 109) and follow the directions carefully. I like to get the oil hot before putting the CPR 109 in. Helps bust gunk loose.
After the persribed period, drain the oilpan. Leave the filter. Put in another round of cheap oil and run till hot, then another 5 miles or so. Be reletively gentle. Then, while the oil is still hot (you have been draining while the oil is hot haven't you? if not... you need to) drain and pop off the filter.
I like to use the V-6's filter. A bit bigger than the I-4's, and still fits. Bigger filter=better.
Now, do a good filter (NAPA Gold or a Purolator PureONE<not the regular Purolator> comes to mind) and your favorite oil. I like either Valvoline MaxLife Full Synthetic (yes it exists) or Schaeffer's Supreme 7000. If using the Valvoline, I like to add a can of LubroMoly MOS2 or a can of STP Oil Treatment. You should be good.

If really sludged out....
Cheap oil filter and oil + a can of NAPA Engine Oil Flush. Get current oil hot, drain. Put in oil and filter. Get warm. Add Engine flush. Run 5 minutes. Stop. Drain oil. Put in a new charge of oil. Get warm. Engine Flush. 5 minutes. Drain and pop off filter.
Put in a charge of reasonable oil and a reasonable filter (FRAM Tough Guard would be alright) and drive for up to 400 miles.
With oil hot, drain and drop filter.
(the reason for these extra steps is that with heavy sludge, filters can plug up WHILE flushing, and sludge knocked loose can plug up filters in the short time frame after flushing)
Put in some cheap oil and a cheap filter. Get hot. Put in BG 109 CPR. Follow directions.
While hot, drain. Cheap oil again. Same filter.
Run for up to 5 miles, then drain hot.

New filter and oil. Again, reasonable quality. Drive up to 400 miles again.

Drain while hot. Now for the good filter (again, NAPA Gold or Purolator PureONE of the V-6 size) and your favorite oil. Be sure to watch your oil light and oil level hardcore.
MAKE SURE TO CHANGE AT 3000 EVEN IF SYNTHETIC WAS USED.


I understand thats a lot of oil and a lot of time, but a lot of sludge is an issue you have to be careful with.


Be warned! If there is sludge or gunk blocking existing leaks, removing said gunk or sludge will open up the existing leak. Also, already very weak seals or gaskets can be compromised by the solvents involved, so keep a wary eye out.



If you do the full engine flush and fuel system flush, you should be in good shape.