1991 Geo Prizm Seafoam Treatment

[elbringit]

Hey guys just got a 91 Prizm Hatch that I want to clean up. New fuel pump/strainer/filter,air filter,plugs/wires. Gonna change my oil but waiting to do a seafoam treatment before that. However i have heard 33% in the fuel tank,33% added trough oil cap, and how do I add the other 33%?

[RobMilkshakes]

there are a lot of guides all around the net for it, even a few in this section of the board.

Usually the easiest way is to idle the engine, put about 1/3 of the bottle into a small cup, dissconnect the vacuum hose that leads to the brake booster from the valve cover and let the engine vacuum suck the seafoam in slowly, as soon as its all in stop the engine and let it sit for a few min. then go for a spirited drive to blow all the stuff out the exhaust.

A friend of mine's how-to:

You Tube

You Tube

on a 4AC engine, but essentially the same idea.

[elbringit]

Originally Posted by RobMilkshakes

there are a lot of guides all around the net for it, even a few in this section of the board.

Usually the easiest way is to idle the engine, put about 1/3 of the bottle into a small cup, dissconnect the vacuum hose that leads to the brake booster from the valve cover and let the engine vacuum suck the seafoam in slowly, as soon as its all in stop the engine and let it sit for a few min. then go for a spirited drive to blow all the stuff out the exhaust.

A friend of mine's how-to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd4IRjGdDzg

on a 4AC engine, but essentially the same idea.

Sweet! thanks man I appreciate that. Is there any other preventative maintenance that I should know about for these cars?

[jmaz87]

change ur trans fluid

[sonoronos]

Originally Posted by elbringit

33% added trough oil cap

Never, ever, ever, ever put seafoam in your oil.

Never, ever, ever, ever.

You are putting a solvent into a lubricant that depends solely on its viscosity for function. Very, very bad idea.

IMHO, the best use for seafoam is into the intake through a vacuum hose. Then again, windshield washer fluid will have virtually the same effect.

Otherwise, it's a waste of money.

[jmaz87]

windshield washer fluid??? expound

[sonoronos]

Windshield washer fluid is a variable combination of methanol, ethanol, and water. Mostly the methanol or ethanol are there to lower the freezing point of the windshield washer fluid.

Regardless, the point is that when methanol/ethanol and water is introduced into the intake, it is pulled into the combustion chamber. During combustion, the water is converted to steam which rapidly increases in volume. This rapid increase in volume is used to kick loose carbon deposits.

Methanol injection is pretty much the same idea, although it is usually implemented using injectors over each fuel injector to provide a known quantity of methanol/water mixture into the combustion chamber to slow down the ignition flame front (for forced induction.)

Windshield washer fluid is just one way of doing this. Distilled or deionized water has the same effect (and is cheaper than windshield washer fluid.)

[canadianae92]

seafoam is basically a mixture of kerosene and oil, there are better things to clean your combustion chamber with, and there are also better things to clean your fuel system with

I agree that it wouldn't be a great idea to dump it into your crankcase because it doesn't have proper detergents

as mentioned above for cleaning the combustion chamber, some old guys say to use water to clean carbon from your combustion chamber

for crank case I would use atf, as it is great for cleaning, contains a lot of detergents that help with cleaning

most fuel contains some amount of toluene xylene or ethanol and that all does wonders in cleaning your fuel system