Have you done the Sea foam/ Mystery oil?

did it to two diff vehicles at the same time. sucked in 6 oz through a glass
measure cup, through the brake line. the smoke was incredible. then did a second treatment and waited 1 hr. again, lots of smoke, and tons of water, and even a little goo, out the back of the tailpipe.
now the yota starts when you just look at the key, and the caprice, if you are standing in front , with the hood open, and cannot see the fan turning, you cannot tell the car is on.
p.s., make sure you car is allready warmed up, and running, when you add, and when you have added it all, turn the car off immediately, as fast as possible.

okay, lemme add this;

Okay, I am putting this in two places, and on other sites, as I don't know where it should officially go, but i want as many peeps and homies as possible to read this. I got totally bugged out , becuase so much speculation was going on here, with the one thread being 23 pages long, and 4 years old. I couldn't stand it anymore, so i called Sea Foam.
I was transferred to Jim Davis, Technical Director/ Research, of Sea Foam. and we had quite a cordial conversation, a real easy going guy, he is college educated, with a degree in automotive technology, has 35 years experience in the automotive repair industry , and is an A.S.E. certified mechanic. He has been with Seafoam, I think, the last 5 years, as his doctor told him, his body was just too out of whack, to handle mech work anymore.
So I will try to write as much as I remember, from my chicken scratch.
First off, I asked all the questions I wanted, such as , will it hurt, is it damaging to any parts at all, can it be used as maintenance, what do you do after you use the product, does anything need to be changed out, etc., etc.
First, he stressed multiple times, that this was a 100% petroleum product, nothing else. He said this many times during our conversation. he said there is nothing added, no fillers, no astringents, no mulsifiers, cleaners, detergents, nothing at all.
so how exactly does it work? Well , as you know, there is more than just carbon in your engine, there is salt , sulfur, all kinds of vox, and nox materials, you name it. How does it get stuck in there, and not filtered out? Simple, alot of the stuff we normally add, including gas, has a certain amount of sludge, varnish, lacquer, and gums added to it. This is the stuff, that sticks to walls, pistons, etc., especially when cooling. then all the other stuff we talk about, including carbon, gets stuck to this stuff, carbon, small micron stuff, other nox and vox particles.
Seafoam attacks and disolves the varnish, gum, sludge, and lacquer in there primarily, and then begins to break up , the other stuff.
Once this happens, all the junk is now freefloated back into suspension, and can be filtered out, or burnt out, of your various systems.
Seafoam does 3 other things primarily; controls and locks up moisture, adds lubricity without viscoscity, and cleans without adding any chemicals at all.

Does it harm other materials? In a word, no. He told me that right now, around their research area, they have multiple glass , sealed jars of Seafoam, with various things in each jar. plastic, rubber, seals, o-rings, pencil pieces, paper clips, bits and pieces of everything. Some of the items, in some of the jars, have not been opened or disturbed for 3 plus years now. he said, these bottles and items are studied through mag glass, and items looked at closely through microscopes, with no apparent natural destruction, loss, or dispersal,or disfiguration, becuase the item was sitting in Seafoam.
So you do not have to worry about your gaskets , seals, o-rings, etc., from exposure to seafoam.
he also said as a former tech, he did this same cleaning job many, many times, to multiple autos, and only one time did he have a problem.
It was with a car, driven by an old dude, who never drove it over 45 miles per hour, never put it on the highway, never got it hot, allways in traffic/city driving, and never driven over 20 miles, in either direction. he said it was just so full of carbon and junk, that the gum/lacquer did get on his 02 sensor, and a chunk of carbon did stick to that. he replaced said o2 sensor, and did another cleaning job, and the car drove like new. he said the old dude was so
impressed , becuase it drove the way it did , when he bought it new.
Again, 1 problem encountered, in all the times he did this cleaning job.
I asked will it harm injectors over time, or will it harm or dirty up the spark plugs, again the answer was no. As a matter of fact, he said, it will do nothing to the injectors but clean them real well, and it will proly make your spark plugs look like new, after a 2 or maybe 3 cleaning jobs.
I asked if it was too much, becuase gas contains cleaners and detergents in it as well, plus using this as a cleaner. he said no, because seafoam will clean out the detergents and cleaners as well, plus he said, only the really big gas peeps put cleaners in their gas, such as BP, shell, Chevron, Exxon, and even they do not put it in all grades of their gas. So if you are buying gas at Bud's truck and beer stop, it proly does not have cleaners/detergents in it.

OIL. I then asked about adding it to your oil and gas tanks; he said follow
the amounts on the directions, and you will be fine. Again, it adds lubricity and removes moisture, from you various systems, even the exaust system.
this is good , as i noticed, several drops of not only water, from using this on both my cars, but noticed a bit of goo coming from the 4runner pipe.
Specifically, in oil, it breaks up, and cleans up, all the junk in your oil system.
the longer you leave it in, the more it breaks up this crap, it should then be able to be filtered out of your system, and will turn your oil dark.
He said, how long you leave it in is up to you, the longer you leave it in, the more cleaning it does, then you can change your oil. then you can put more in, and clean again. You can keep doing this, until your oil system is clean, then do this for maintenance. the stuff that it breaks up and loosens up,
should not damage your system anyway, it should get filtered out, your pistons, and stuff will continue to smash this stuff up, and is stronger than the junk. Until it gets filtered out, or you keep changing your oil, until it starts to run clean for at least a couple thousand miles.
MAINTENANCE. I asked about maintenance, and changing out stuff; except for your filters, and the one bad example from above, you should not need to change anything else out. for using as regular maintenance, he said, not only is it fine, but he has been doing it for years. once his oil is clean to the way he likes it, and he thinks his intake system/injectors are clean the way he likes, then he just addes to his crank case, about every 6k or every other oil change, before he does the oil change a day or two, and adds for gas, to the recommended amt on the back of the bottle, so it keeps everything clean, lubed, and keeps out moisture.
i again asked specifically if it would harm injectors over time, he then went into a long story about injectors, and how you can balance them, and how they work, etc., etc., and then finally he said, no, it will not harm injectors, maybe cleaners or detergents in gas will , over a long time, but seafoam will clean out that stuff anyway, and again he said, only some of the big gas companies use cleaners, in all their diff levels of gas anyway as well.
Also when it comes to maint, it does such a good job of lubricity, he says it keeps the lacquer/gum , etc., from hanging on in the first place, which is what allows all the other stuff to hang onto, along the way. So he did recommend as maintenance, but not a lot, just after you have it cleaned the way you like, and you certainly need to do no more, than recommended maintenance that is described on the bottle. He said it really matter as to what you do, and how you are satisfied, some may find, that half or less the recommendation maintenance, works fine for them.
I am sure we talked about other stuff, and for longer, but this is as much as my scratchings have allowed me to remember right now.
As anectdotal evidence, besides doing my88 4runner, which it also got out the goo and water from the gas system/CAT/muffler/pipe( oh yeah, he did say it will also help clean out your CAT as well, he did 2 cleanings on one that smelt like Eggfarts, and after the second treatment, the stench was gone) I also did simultaneously a 92 chevy caprice, old school, with a 5 liter motor, with police interceptor package. i did two clean jobs with it, and if you saw my motor with the hood open, you cannot either hear, or see that it is running, it is that quiet now.
So today i actually drove it to work, and I also drive it for work, as I am a sevice tech, that has to drive to sites, to get certain work done.
One of the things that used to bother me a lot, was from a dead start, or red light, if i pressed on the gas a bit hard, i would for a second or two, get the 'clatter, rattle ' sound, as it first excelerated, like a diesel engine sound, and then it would go away. I would allways hear it, all the time, and every time. After the cleaning today, if I was not looking for it, I would not hear it, and when i was looking for the sound, i would just barely hear it, and that was only sometimes. i am looking for this sound to completely disappear soon.
Secondly , exceleration. This car is fast, and has allways been fast, but it was never what I considered quick, it was okay, but nothing special. Once it got up a little momentum, then it would giddyup.
Now, today, several times, I hit it up, at a stop light, or sign, or if i was allready on the highway, would hit the accelerator, as I was allready doing highway speeds. What throttle response!!!! WOW!!!! Not guessing, not thinking, but my A#$ss-ometer could easily tell, that as soon as my foot hit the pedal, my car would bow it's back up , like a wet cat, and take off, lickety
split, i mean the acceleration came quick , and easy folks, as soon as I hit
the pedal. And this car weighs a good 55oo lbs, not including all the wieight of all the crap i carry around in it.
Lemme show you;

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/pmullineaux/002-13-1.jpg
Nice and old school, huh?
I have not driven the yota yet, but while sitting in the driveway, to start it up, i would just barely turn the key , for a split second, and it will start up, no prob, I think I will try a vulcan mind-meld for my next startup on the yota.

Anyway, I hope I have answered all question necessary about Seafoam, I know I have totally satisfied myself, with our conversation, and will have no
probs whatsoever, in using for serious cleaning first, and then as maintenance, without having to worry it is going to ruin some other part, gasket, ring, sensor, etc. on my vehicles. I say, use it to your hearts content. Thanks for the time, kids and homies.

p.s. , I know other dudes have other tricks of other stuff, that they add, spray, etc., but does it continue to lube parts, does it not add or subtract viscosity, does it not break down other stuff over time, does it continue to excorsize condensation, does it not erode injectors, sensors, or plugs over time?

reading this, i think most VVT-i engines would love a cleanup for the VVT-i system!

Nice!...It confirms what most of us here have said! Now you've made me feel a bit better about using Seafoam on my less than 30k miles car. I was going to wait until I at least got up to the 60k mark.

Good job.

my engine is fine, but i need to change my rear diff oil!
the seafoam company makes great products tho

Heh, first I seafoamed my Corolla on a track and ran a lap with it still smokin' - REN has photo proof :ugh3: :lol:

A few months later I seafoamed my dad's Camry in the backyard of an abandoned industrial building, with groceries in the trunk :lol: It smoked for 20+ minutes and just refuses to stop! :lol:

From what I remember, Seafoam is a mixture of three major components: some proprietary stuff, something that escapes me (lol), and isopropanol. One usually divide a can into three, a third into the engine oil, a third into the tank, and the most dramatic third to be sucked down the brake booster hose, producing all the smoke we've come to amuse ourselves with and love. :lol:

I'm glad the seafoam was finally proven safe to all. I've used it twice in my Altima with around 120K and had no issue's at all. And it helped increase acceleration immensely, the car never use to be so rev. happy.
Never used it in the oil though, I wouldn't want to unless I was near time for an oil change.

again, just what repeating what the research/spokes-tech told me, it is 100% petroleum product. i don't know all the ingredients that can be made from oil, so I do not know if Iso is one of them, but I don't think so.
i am also still trying to get a hold of the dude again, and see if I can get some indi-third party research on it, just for more giggle factor.
Anyway, from talking to the dude over the phone, and you know when you are talking to a guy with multiple years of service work, you know when someone is either b.s.'ing you, or doesn't know what they are talking about, I don't get either of those vibes from him at all.
So I will let you know what other info i gleen.
I say, use and be happy about doing it.

Is sea foam like the B12 Chemical in auto zone, Napa, and other stores? If so which is the best or are they basically the same? Another question on marvel Mystery, do you put it in the brake/vacuum hose too? I have never thought it would work there, does it work the same as the sea foam?

Seafoam is def sold in autozone, it comes in a steel can, with a white label, and I think red print. I can't vouch for the others you mentioned, but mystery oil is also sold to be used the same way as Seafoam, though Mystery oil contains other chems I believe, and it is red. So if you suck it in your brake vacuum line, you will be putting something I guess like red dye in your intake.
But it if you read the directions on Marvel Oil, it is to be used very similar to Seafoam, in same amounts.
But like I said, I don't think it is 100% petroleum like Seafoam, that said, I wouldn't hesitate to try it the same way as well, plus it is about half the price
of Seafoam. I'm gonna stick with Seafoam for the intake treatments though.

Seafoam is snake oil, plain n simple. I used it on my camry v6 and ended up needing to change the rear bank spark plugs. I removed the intake plenum and surprise surprise, the plenum is coated in a dark black layer of carbon.

sounds like you may have not used it right, what exactly did you do?

sounds like you may have not used it right, what exactly did you do?
Gas tank at yellow light. Half into tank. Then the other half of the can into brake booster. Car chugs, almost stalls, then turn it off once all the fluid is sucked up. Wait 15 min. A good amount of white smoke.

But like a week later when i went to remove the intake plenum, it was coated in a black layer of stuff.

IMO your better off removing your intake manifold and submurging it into cheep engine degresser for 5 hrs. It'll do way more then anything seafoam does.

first off did you do the treatment with the engine running , at normal operating temps? in other words, after allready running, or you start up, and let idle for about 1o to 15 minutes. Also, you turn off, and let stand for at least 5 minutes, I like 15. and you turn the engine off, as absolutely as fast as possible, as soon as it sucks up the last bit of stuff. then, you need to do a second treatment. You also only need to do 6 ounces at a time. so you divide your can into 3rds. Yours is about 5% of the results; so dirty, that the stuff partially liquifies the sludge and carbon, but because it is not hot enough, and you have so much junk in there, reattaches to plugs. your second application should be right away, not whether you think you need it or not.

Why would you turn it off? Being off would it make more sludge? I thought you run the car till normal opperating temps, then add it to the intake brake booster and then run it again and keep it running so all the carbon desolves. I have never done this before, but wanting to try it so I want to make sure it is the right way. Thanks guys

^ Because the directions says so right on the can. Suck up the SeaFoam, let it sit for at least 5 mins with the engine OFF, restart and let it smoke.

the reason to turn it off, is like letting you clothes presoak for 15 mins. stuff comes out real easy after that. In your engine, what is in the injector mass, when the engine is off, will drip down into the tops of the pistons, top cyl walls, around the sparkys. and the hot liquid and vapors, start to dissolve the varnish/gums. it is this stuff that all the vox/nox/carbon hangs onto.
Once that is dissolved, all that above crap has nothing to hang onto, and goes into the liquid sitting there, and it starts to get broken up.
then when you fire the engine back up, that stuff gets fired up, and goes into exaust cycle, as suspended/burnt particles. plus with all the seafoam stuff still attached to it, as it goes through your cat, it starts to break up the crap in there as well.
This is why you wanna cut off the engine as soon as poss, so that there is still Seafoam to drip onto the tops of the pistons, through the injectors.
Also why you wanna do this while the engine is still hot.

IDK why you guys are debating "the right way" to use seafoam. It doesnt work any way you use it. If you guys have ACIS on your cars (1mz-fe has it), run seafoam, then remove your ACIS. If you have never cleaned your ACIS, you'll see exactly how dirty it really is. Plus you'll be able to see inside the intake plenum, which will also be black. BTW clean the ACIS and recalibrate it before you put it back.

I don't know what an ACIS is, but it nor the intake plenum has nothing to do with what seafoam is supposed to clean. Now I am sure those things are nice to have clean. But they proly dont' have metal to metal/moving parts in them, or fire coming out of them, or squirt/ atomize fluid through them.
Seafoam, cleans the tops of pistons, tops of cyl walls, injector/tips , spark plug ends, and the like. So I don't know about that other stuff, but I will be glad that Seafoam can clean this other stuff, without having to take them all
apart.
What is an intake plenum, and what is an ACIS? Do you have, or can point us to some pics?

I don't know what an ACIS is, but it nor the intake plenum has nothing to do with what seafoam is supposed to clean. Now I am sure those things are nice to have clean. But they proly dont' have metal to metal/moving parts in them, or fire coming out of them, or squirt/ atomize fluid through them.
Seafoam, cleans the tops of pistons, tops of cyl walls, injector/tips , spark plug ends, and the like. So I don't know about that other stuff, but I will be glad that Seafoam can clean this other stuff, without having to take them all
apart.
What is an intake plenum, and what is an ACIS? Do you have, or can point us to some pics?
Sorry dude, but you just have no idea what your talking about. Your not qualified to judge the effects of seafoam.

Just remember this. The brain believes what the eyes sees. You might be seeing a lot of white smoke coming out of the exhaust but that doesnt mean anything is being cleaned. (i just means your seeing white smoke)

your right, I don't; and am no mechanic whatsoever. I do know how my cars run , before, and after. I know my caprice, when it is on, if you are looking at it, or standing next to it, you cannot even tell it is on. If I open the hood, and you are standing in front of it, and if you cannot see the belt turning, again you cannot tell the car is even on, the engine doesn't move whatsoever. I know that when I just barely touch the gas pedal, whether it is from a standstill, or I am allready doing highway speed, it bows up like a scalded cat and jumps.
I know that other people, much more mech worthy than i , have said they have pulled the top of their heads off, or pulled the spark plugs, and said after a seafoam treatment, things were nice and clean.
I still wanna know, and see some pics of a intake plenum, and an ACIS , please! And what is an ACIS, still.

ACIS is a valve that moves when engine conditions are right, and change the intake tract's shape and length, altering the power curve.

Disclaimer: My 1ZZ-FE doesn't have it.

I see lots of hate in this thread. Just remember, if you seafoam: get a friend, find an empty place where loud noises dont attract police or neighbors, warm up car, use only a third of the can, let it get sucked up by the brake booster (your friend will have to keep the engine running by depressing the gas pedal), turn off car for 5 mins after its done, then start it up and rev like crazy (or drive in low gears) till the smoke is gone :D

I killed my 12+ yr old head gaskets doing this, so imoh, do it only when ur sure your car is ready for hard revs or you're going to be paying a lot to fix it in the end.

I know, right? ok what and where is the plenum?
also, ...mmeh.... I don't know that you need real hard or long hi revs, just hitting the accel like they do in the movies, you know, like at a red light, that worked pretty good for me, or just sitting on the pedal, and keeping the rev at about 4 k, and just sitting on it there, seemed to work out nice as well. oh yeah, is that acis valve, visible from the front of vehicle, and can you adjust it, and do you need to adjust it?

IMO sea foam is a good product & has been used for many years in the marine industry, You should slowly let it suck up about half the can & then let it suck up the rest until the engine dies. The guys are correct, you need to let it sit for 5-10 minutes. You should always sea foam the engine before it's time for a tune up. That way after the sea foam you can change out the plugs. At least I do. One last thing, after you sea foam it, take it out and really romp on it! this will help clean things out as well. It's not a cure all but I do believe it's a good product.

As far as Marvel mystery oil goes, it is not used like sea foam, I have never heard of running it through your intake. It is however great to add a few onces to each tank of fuel as an upper cylinder lubricant. You can add it to your engine oil but I really don't see the need unless you are trying to free up a stuck lifter or something.

Both good products IMO.

I used it on a friends 93 Mazda after he had a major incident with a blown head gasket. After replacing the gasket it still smoked from the water & coolant coating the head so I ran seafoam and it cleaned it up...though as for improved acceleration I didn't notice any change. Not denouncing seafoam, but in my opinion owners never really pay attention to their vehicles power until they try something that "says" it will improve HP (when really torque is gives your that fly by the seat of your pants feeling). That tornado thing is a prime example because that truly was a bunch of bull crap :weed:

I will agree with that entire post! Very well said. I'm sure that many people are still buying that tornado thing (suckers!)

I used it on a friends 93 Mazda after he had a major incident with a blown head gasket. After replacing the gasket it still smoked from the water & coolant coating the head so I ran seafoam and it cleaned it up...though as for improved acceleration I didn't notice any change. Not denouncing seafoam, but in my opinion owners never really pay attention to their vehicles power until they try something that "says" it will improve HP (when really torque is gives your that fly by the seat of your pants feeling). That tornado thing is a prime example because that truly was a bunch of bull crap :weed:


I killed my 12+ yr old head gaskets doing this, so imoh, do it only when ur sure your car is ready for hard revs or you're going to be paying a lot to fix it in the end.

Ouch. These posts are what make me so apprehensive for trying it for myself.

Well I wasn't trying to offend anyone. Just trying to say that alot of this stuff is just a marketing ploy to get your money.

Well I wasn't trying to offend anyone. Just trying to say that alot of this stuff is just a marketing ploy to get your money.

None taken. Thanks for sharing your experiences, you just saved me from lot of trouble.

Well I gotta recomend it for cars with Over 90,000 miles its worked for me and my 200,000 mile camry 4 banger.

Gunk was blocking up all the little passageways and the engine COUGHED when you stomped on it!!
2 cans of seafoam later,,, The 3sfe revs freely, feels like its got more power and torque and starts a few milliseconds quicker.

Thats what I can say about seafoam. But I dont think people will notice a difference in perfomance untill the engine starts LOOSING it. at around 95 thousand miles... then you seafoam it up a few times..you get that performance back.

I would tend to be cautious about pouring it the oil. No motor oil producer recommends adding additives to oil. It will not improve the performance of the oil, because you would have to know exactly how the oil and its additive package was designed, and may actually damage the oil you have in there. As far as using it to clean your combustion chambers and valves, I don't know, maybe.

Everyone here has mentioned better performance but not one person here has mention gas mileage. A real good test result would be if you got significantly better gas mileage out of using Sea Foam.

Everyone here has mentioned better performance but not one person here has mention gas mileage. A real good test result would be if you got significantly better gas mileage out of using Sea Foam.

I believe it does give better gas mileage, I've used it twice and have noticed both a performance gain and a smoother idle. I only go through about a quarter of a tank in a week and thats driving 20 miles every other day, plus 6 miles on Saturday and where ever else I might go. So I believe its good.

brake boost line leads directly to the intake manifold (also known as the plenum, this is where the throttle body sits in front of).. as engine is running and provides vacuum, you let it intake Seafoam into the manifold, thus "wetting" the interiors of the manifold, combustion chambers, ports, and other things in there, and letting that SeaFoam break down those sludgey and ashy components sitting around.

this is like washing your hands with soap, the soap makes it hard for bacteria to grip onto your hands, then when you are done lathering, you wash away the germs when you rinse your hand.. just like starting up the engine after the treatment.

so as you start up your motor, anything affected by Seafoam gets knocked loose and flows right into the combustion chamber... you need to run the vehicle hard so it can clean it tough! then the stuff and emissions will go out the muffler....








If you do the brake booster and fuel tank methods only , there should be at least no way for you to get this stuff into your crankcase oil... UNLESS you did this as your motor was cold.... (why? cold piston rings let more blowby gasses)


an effective way to do it is to do it from the throttle body.. if your motor doesn't rely on VAFM's and MAF's, then you can easily do this while running the motor. but if you break something doing this... not my fault....


well run the motor to it's optimal running temperature, warmer is always acceptable. remove the air intake pipes connected to the throttle body... get something that can spray in a fine mist, like some type of squirter... put seafoam, BG 44K, or injector cleaner in that squirter... well, open that throttle body WOT and spray that cleaner in there! if you have a better sprayer, and that is continously on, use it! this is to get the motor to try to get every bit of the intake manifold "wetted". this is similar to NOS injection...


dont use it all yet... well, shut off the motor.... open WOT, spray your cleaners in that manifold! clean as much as you can. clean that throttle body plate also....


start up your motor, hold down the gas as you try and start up. it'll take a bit for the motor to start up, but it will... when it does turn on, keep the pedal down to about 1/4 to 1/2.... letting the motor burn out as much stuff as it can.



















as much as i typed, ive done both, but the fun and more better method is to pull off your intake manifold and clean it yourself.... more cost effective anyway.

just seafoamed a 91 Camry with 142000 miles and my 01 Camry with 84000 miles.

We will see how well they perform after the treatment.

This was a very interesting read.
I have just rebuilt my 3sgte for my '91 MR2 Turbo. The head was rebuilt and used about 2000 miles when I decided to rebuild the block with forged .040 over pistons 9:0-1 C/R. I am installing the engine tomorrow and I don't think I want to Seafoam the bottom half at this point, but I do want to run it thru the intake, head and exhaust. Do you think it will have any adverse effect on my new CT27 Turbo? I didn't see any mention of running Seafoam thru a turbocharged engine.

This was a very interesting read.
I have just rebuilt my 3sgte for my '91 MR2 Turbo. The head was rebuilt and used about 2000 miles when I decided to rebuild the block with forged .040 over pistons 9:0-1 C/R. I am installing the engine tomorrow and I don't think I want to Seafoam the bottom half at this point, but I do want to run it thru the intake, head and exhaust. Do you think it will have any adverse effect on my new CT27 Turbo? I didn't see any mention of running Seafoam thru a turbocharged engine.
Why do you think you need Seafoam?

I'm rebuilding my 3sgte and I can see some "black stuff" on the inside of the intake manifold. After reading this, I was thinking of running Seafoam thru it.

Imagine the amount of smoke that will come out a 1984 AE86 that have never had it done. Til 2morrow. Ill be posting a vid on my youtube 86 channel. But is it true that it has a tendency of fouling spark plugs?

Imagine the amount of smoke that will come out a 1984 AE86 that have never had it done. Til 2morrow. Ill be posting a vid on my youtube 86 channel. But is it true that it has a tendency of fouling spark plugs?
whens the last time you replaced yours? i figured it would be good to do Seafoam and change plugs after.... but it shouldn't harm it

[quote=DubVipers;2684414]whens the last time you replaced yours? i figured it would be good to do Seafoam and change plugs after.... but it shouldn't harm it[/quote

The plugs are new. Update: Preformed it. Plugs are fine. Better mpg seems to have brought engine back to life more. People say do that every 3rd oil change? or how often should it be done?

I was reading today about Seafoam on a forum. These guys with S2000's run hot water through there vacuum into the intake at 2K RPM. They said it works better than seafoam or berrymans b12 products. Is this possible, I thought water in an engine would cause major problems. Has anyone done this and does it work better or close to the products? If it does work, how does it work and how do you do it?

Hmm? Never heard of that. You can run water thru your engine intake in a vapor/mist like state(ie. water injection) but I can't see that it would have a better cleaning effect than Seafoam...

I was reading today about Seafoam on a forum. These guys with S2000's run hot water through there vacuum into the intake at 2K RPM. They said it works better than seafoam or berrymans b12 products. Is this possible, I thought water in an engine would cause major problems. Has anyone done this and does it work better or close to the products? If it does work, how does it work and how do you do it?
Water.. into... intake? Are we serious? Running hot water into a vaccum line (even a tiny bit) will not be enough to vaporize and atomize it to run into the motor safely, let alone having water in a motor

H2O in the intake or anywhere in the engine...:rofl2: :lol:

^

Maybe not for the posters reason but it is done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_(engines))

^

Maybe not for the posters reason but it is done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_(engines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_%28engines))


^ Not to get into a pissing match, but all you have is Wikipedia (which anyone can edit or modify) LoL! :rofl2: A real source would be nice. ;) By the by that article doesn't exsist.


Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Water injection (engines in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/Water_injection_%28engines) to check for alternative titles or spellings.
Start the Water injection (engines article (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Water_injection_%28engines&action=edit) or add a request for it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requested_articles).
Search for "Water injection (engines" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/Water_injection_%28engines) in existing articles.
Look for pages within Wikipedia that link to this title (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Water_injection_%28engines).

lol unfinished link, it needed that last )

Don't know why that link doesn't find what I sited from wiki, search "water Injection" and you will find a wiki definition that isn't what you posted but I see the same "not an article"?

Here is another site.

http://www.rallycars.com/Cars/WaterInjection.html

Regardless, injecting water to reduce or eliminate denotation is well established.

Thanks DubViper, the extra ) was added my original link works.

Oh but Wikipedia is worthless right. ;)

Don't know why that link doesn't find what I sited from wiki, search "water Injection" and you will find a wiki definition that isn't what you posted but I see the same "not an article"?

Here is another site.

http://www.rallycars.com/Cars/WaterInjection.html

Regardless, injecting water to reduce or eliminate denotation is well established.

Thanks DubViper, the extra ) was added my original link works.

Oh but Wikipedia is worthless right. ;)


Wikipedia is useless and not a reliable source IMHO! ;)

I use wikipedia to give me a base vague view of what the topic is, then i go on from there looking for other strong resources. it's a good tool overall, but its got flaws

Wikipedia is useless and not a reliable source IMHO! ;)

I see you'd rather focus on wiki. :lala: Were did wiki or rallycars get it wrong?

It appears that running water through the intake is considered by some to be effective. Here's a "Chinese Water Torture" recipe. I've never done such a proceedure, but it doesn't make me :rofl2:. :ugh3:

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=35053

Seafoam is just the latest in a long series of top end decarbonizing solvents applied the same way. It used to be common standard practice to do this, often just before changing the spark plugs and oil. I found B-12 Chemtool the other day, looked at its ingredients and recognized it as the same stuff I'd used on my 429 Ford LTD and '40 Ford flathead nearly 30 years ago. Put a can in the tank of my '98 Mercury Villager, then sucked up about 4 oz into the intake manifold of the revving warm engine, finishing by flooding the engine to stalling. Let it sit a few minutes, started it up, revved it hard, blowing out white smoke clouds, then drove it around with frequent bursts of WOT driving to blow out the junk. Then I cleared the P300 (multiple cylinders randomly misfiring) code set when it flooded. Today my wife was driving the van. She called me on her cell phone and said "I don't know what you did to this car, but it's running better than ever!" She commented on how smoothly and quietly it was running, and how responsive it felt. She's not a techy sort at all, so I take it as a good recommendation that she noticed a difference! (I'd noticed a slight roughness at idle that cleared.)

RE: running water through the intake.

I don't know whether it's advisable or not, but I can see where this idea came from. I blew a headgasket on my old Ford, and drove it home for several miles trailing a lage cloud of white water vapor the whole way.

When I took the head off, all the cylinders were black with carbon except the one that had basically been steam-cleaned for 15 minutes. That one looked shiny and new.

So it definitely cleaned it out. What damage it may have done at the same time, who knows?

Cleaning carbon out with water has a long history, back to the early days of automobiles. If you get carried away pouring in water or any of the solvents too fast, you can make a hydraulic lock and break a hole in a piston, bend a rod or such. Keep the rate down to what it can handle and it's a pretty safe process that's been done probably millions of times. Although old car books talk about it cleaning carbon by the familiar old water gas reaction (carbon + water vapor making carbon monoxide and hydrogen), it's unlikely that carbon in the combustion chambers is hot enough for that to occur. I think it's mainly sudden cooling by the water mist causing thermal shock that makes the hot carbon crack loose. I can imagine that being a hazard for spark plug porcelain as well.

i'm over fifty. i've been using water in my carbed motors since i can remember. if done properly it has excellent results. i am an ex fighter a/c hyd-pneu tech. even the AF practices tossing some water down intakes to clean the rotors and stators.
remember, here in the states your motor consumes more water, over time, via alcohol additive in gas. this is arguably why some exhaust systems rot out prematurely. but it has no adverse effect the motor. i use 1/4 cup at every tune up on my tercel.

there is a cautionary note for this app. those motors w/compression much over 10.5/1 may expierince valve crystalization. not good. this was told to me by those old timers that have had that experience. i wont test that theory.

but with the advent of fuelies, seafome is the way.

btw, Yaris Hilon sir, you are correct on the temp and expansion idea. open up any motor after a head gesket/water jacket leak. you will find the effected chamber in pristine condition. including the plug, valve seats and faces.

i think part of the reason that people shy away from this practice is because its not needed anymore, or they are too young to know (experience), hence they are afraid of it. it is a natural concern. and really a necessary fobia to have w/fuelies.

i'm over fifty. i've been using water in my carbed motors since i can remember. if done properly it has excellent results. i am an ex fighter a/c hyd-pneu tech. even the AF practices tossing some water down intakes to clean the rotors and stators.
remember, here in the states your motor consumes water via alcohol in gas. this is arguably why some exhaust systems rot out prematurely. but it doesnt hurt the motor.

but with the advent of fuelies, seafome is the way.
that's a good point to bring up, ever seen a plane go through a cloud? I tried it a bit, give a few cc's of water through a small vacuum line to optimize intake misting before it reaches the combustion chamber

that's a good point to bring up, ever seen a plane go through a cloud? I tried it a bit, give a few cc's of water through a small vacuum line to optimize intake misting before it reaches the combustion chamber

yo!! i wouldnt intro the water through vacuum lines as you may get a water bubble. then your looking at a carb rebuild. only down the throat of the carb. thats why seafome is better. and i'm an old guy that resists changes. and i wouldnt get water any where near my fuelie 4x4. just carbs. its ok for TBI though.

edit: vacuum line into intake man. im slow.

Eekk! okay then.... well... the truck is EFI.... soooo.... gunna stick with seafoam anyway.


but i won't need to bother with the truck for now... front pipe decided to go to heaven... Now the truck sounds like an open pipe toyota inline four... Wait a minute...

:D it is one...

im sure you meant, vacuum line directly into manifold. thats ok. water in any place in the carb other than down the thraot can create water bubbles. but then you just have a throttle bodys w/fuelies. so i dont really know if there are any issues. seafoam (i've read) gets everything.

edit:
you know. i dont know what i was thinking. water needs the temp differnce to work. putting it in vacuum lines will get it to the chambers. but the chambers will be the only thing cleaned. seafoam doesnt rely on just temp diffrence. so it can clean more stuff.

Edit, again:
I told ya I was slow to change.
If one is concerned with the cleanliness of their vacuum system and intakes, why use water. These modern motors w/a mass (mess) of vacuum components. Do it right.

Adding to this when I used to run a Caterpillar 977 loader, the boss used to always make sure that I filled it up with gas everday before leaving.
Apparently if you keep it filled with gas than there is a lot less space for overnight water vaper to seep into the emtpy airspace in the gas tank; which would later than be sucked up as it started up.

He takes good care of his several hundred thousand dollar equiptment, so I dunnno if you wanna use that tip to keep your tank filled constantly.

Too bad I just changed my spark plugs on coming up to my 90k miles on 03 Tacoma Prerunner 4 banger.

I am doing a journey across America from Southern California to Washington DC for 4th of July, than driving back to Yosemite and than back down South.

I was planning on making the switch to synthetic oil Mobil1 for my engine before the journey and maybe even before that if I put in enough miles to change it again.

My question, should I do the seafoam on the old oil before I switch?

Seafoam is just the latest in a long series of top end decarbonizing solvents applied the same way. It used to be common standard practice to do this, often just before changing the spark plugs and oil. I found B-12 Chemtool the other day, looked at its ingredients and recognized it as the same stuff I'd used on my 429 Ford LTD and '40 Ford flathead nearly 30 years ago. Put a can in the tank of my '98 Mercury Villager, then sucked up about 4 oz into the intake manifold of the revving warm engine, finishing by flooding the engine to stalling. Let it sit a few minutes, started it up, revved it hard, blowing out white smoke clouds, then drove it around with frequent bursts of WOT driving to blow out the junk. Then I cleared the P300 (multiple cylinders randomly misfiring) code set when it flooded. Today my wife was driving the van. She called me on her cell phone and said "I don't know what you did to this car, but it's running better than ever!" She commented on how smoothly and quietly it was running, and how responsive it felt. She's not a techy sort at all, so I take it as a good recommendation that she noticed a difference! (I'd noticed a slight roughness at idle that cleared.)
What's the main ingredient you use?

I used the plain original B12 Chemtool. I notice that on the site of Berryman Chemical Company, the manufacturer, it has been discontinued. They have a number of similar products for more specialized uses like carburetor/choke cleaner, fuel injector cleaner, total fuel system cleaner...

I used Seafoam Deep Creep on both Camry's and Corolla's with good results. Stopped pedal from sticking, improved start up an seemed to let the cars run slightly better. That said, it was worth the time and expense.

I am considering dumping some in the gas tank, but not sure. Looked around here and came across this thread. I've definitely ruled out the bracke vacuum hose process, it seems like a crap shoot. If I put it in the tank, should expect smoke or erratic performance as I am using up that tank of gas? What should be getting cleaned by putting it in the gas tank? Is just putting it in the gas tank a waste of time since I am not doing the other steps?

As for the brake vacuum line, I'll go to Vegas and think it over.

Sometimes these threads cause more concern and confusion rather than clear things up, but that's life in a forum.

True.

You're not going to hurt anything using it as directed, but you will need to be able to reset the trouble light code set by the misfiring as you drown the engine out.

I hope people really know what their doing before trying Seafoam. It crapped out a brand new A/F bank 2 sensor after only 10 months of service. $212 down the drain. So no to Seafoam for me.

did it to two diff vehicles at the same time. sucked in 6 oz through a glass
measure cup, through the brake line. the smoke was incredible. then did a second treatment and waited 1 hr. again, lots of smoke, and tons of water, and even a little goo, out the back of the tailpipe.
now the yota starts when you just look at the key, and the caprice, if you are standing in front , with the hood open, and cannot see the fan turning, you cannot tell the car is on.
p.s., make sure you car is allready warmed up, and running, when you add, and when you have added it all, turn the car off immediately, as fast as possible.

I wonder how you're catalytic converter is working?

Those "old school" treatments came from an era before O2 sensors and catalytic converters. Me, I wouldn't chance it, but as they say YMMV.

Gene

I really don't think SeaFoam is a "magic" elixir for your car. I believe many people are mistaking the voluminous clouds of smoke as "evidence" that it is cleaning the engine, when the reality is, you are just putting something in your engine that makes it smoke.

Check the list of ingredients as stated in the MSDS for SeaFoam; Pale Oil (very fine light, colored oil, sorta like your Grandma's sewing machine oil). Naphtha (think moth balls) and Isopropyl Alcohol. THAT’S IT. True; Naphtha and IPA are inorganic solvents but with the dilution and short time it is in the engine, it's really not doing anything... other than goofing up your computer sensors... and creating smoke….

If SeaFoam is so good, why don't mechanics perform this as a service? (bring in your car and we'll make it run like new!), why don't the car manufacturers state something about this on their preventive maintenance? (every 50,000 miles bring in your car for a "engine solvent wash"). Why doesn't Consumer Reports extol the virtues of this product? And finally where's MythBusters when you need them?:confused:

You're basically right, but naphtha is any one of the petroleum distillates from gasoline up to about the diesel fuel range. Usually means paint & varnish makers' naphtha, a.k.a. mineral spirits or Stoddard solvent. Light kerosene. (It'll make white smoke, too, when you run it through a hot engine.) And they're organic solvents, meaning chemicals with carbon in them. Naphthalene is the stuff in old fashioned mothballs. It's an aromatic hydrocarbon that's a solid at room temperature and sublimates directly to a vapor.

I don't mean to agree, though, that Seafoam and similar solvents can't do any good. The action's occurring when you flood and kill the engine with an excess of the stuff, the solvent soaks into the warmed carbonaceous goo, then you restart the engine with the softened stuff and blow it out. Decarboning used to be widely recommended before catalytic converters came along. They're the reason it went out of fashion. Do this with one of the '70s GM cars with the bead catalysts, and it'd probably melt into a solid mass. Modern catalysts are more tolerant.

Very interesting article, thinking about trying the stuff. I heard of it before, but thought it was another gimick for one of these companies to make money off of us. Definitely worth trying.

I always thought seafoam was for cars with carburetors. I'm currently using Marvel's Mystery oil and determining if it really works. Only using it in the gas tank first, then I might see about putting it in my oil crankcase and possibly the auto tranny and power steering reservoirs.