Kevman

Hey guys, sorry if this has been posted before. The search option is a pain in my neck, so I thought I would just come out and ask it, get some more recent opinions. Anyway, they recently started retailing Seafoam here in Canada. I've heard it works, but I'm not sure if it's really worth getting for my car. Does it improve efficiency? Do you have to change your oil after you use it? Is it worth the $12.00? Thanks, KP.

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

........................j/k LOL

sea foam is good, its the best cleaner you can get for the $$$$ i would disconnect a vac line and let it suck sea foam into your intake, that will clean your valves good, and your intake, you can get it in a spray form also, you spray into the TB....... you can put it in your oil, let the car run a few mins, then change the oil, it will remove gunk in the motor....also put it in gas tank to clean injectors, get atleast 2 cans one for the vac line and one for the gas tank

ossseo28

does that really work? What you described doing sounds like a horrible idea, i just cant imagine puting something called "sea foam" into any engine let alone mine.

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

yea the stuff is great, i dont use it in my oil, as i dont need to, my oil stays pretty plean, but it can used to flush the oil system, but you put it in run the car a few mins, then drain and refill

dont let the name fool you its great stuff for injectors and cleaning the intake

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

There's a reason why they chose the name sea foam, as real water from the sea, the foam is the by-product, is natural hydrogen peroxide. Depending on the percentage used, hydrogen peroxide is used to remove rust, let alone simple carbon deposits. Of course, I'm sure the company created it's own blend (with or w/out hydrogen peroxide), but it's a proper name....

Darkshot

iTrader: (4)

I've always wondered about that stuff clogging a cat. I have a brand new cat on my car, will all the carbon deposits that break loose and flow out the exhaust clog up my cat?

Kevman

I put in some Lucas fuel stabilizer/Fuel injector cleaner/upper cyl lubricant a few months back, and for 3 tanks of gas I had a horrible start up smoke, smelled like sulphur.. Does this happen with Seafoam?

2.8RS

iTrader: (5)

After you put seafoam through the motor you will get a nice thick white smoke that comes out of the exhaust for at least a good 5 minutes of driving. The stuff really works. The white smoke is a good thing, your motor is burning off all of the old loose carbon deposits that have built up over the years. Besides the smoke my motor ran much smoother.

xbcrguy182x

YES!!!!! I seafoamed my car 2 weeks ago. I used to have a problem where the engine would die as soon as i started it, a second time worked and where my idle was rough for the first 2 mins. But now, its perfect!!!

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

its probably the best over the shelf cleaner you can get, and letting it suck up through a vac line is the only way you get the smoke and all

the sulfer smell with the lucas may be that its pretty much diesel based, the seafoam is a totaly diffrent base

it should be called majic in a can, because thats what it is, like i said, one can in the vac line, (you may have to take it out let the motor start and repete) and one can in the tank

Slipjack

It does no harm to the catalytic converter or oxygen sensor(s). The carbon is burnt before it reaches the exhaust components.

It can, however, leave the spark plugs looking white when used through a vacuum line. This is only the case if you normally have carbon deposits on the spark plugs, performance is not affected vs leaving the deposits on there


I normally use half a can through a vacuum line twice a year, usually from the brake booster. The other half goes into the gas tank, I put half a can in every other time I fill up (the other times I use Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant.)

If you change your oil regularly enough and use synthetic blend or full synthetic, putting any additives in your oil isn't necessary IMO.

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

only reason i put it in my oil once is the previous owner ran quaker mistake


but i run a full can through the vac once a year, maybe twice depending on how much i drive it, and a can in the tank, randomly and no set schedule, but maybe 3 times a year

drdave88

iTrader: (3)

ive never tried sea foam, ive used BG intake system cleaner. although the downside to this is (unless you have hookups at a dealership/shop) its costly to get it done. when i was working at a dealer a few years ago, we had a BG rep come in and demo their stuff. he asked for a car w/ some mileage. my camaro had 13x,xxx on it at the time and had no engine "cleaning" done to it as of yet. i got a good look inside thru the TB before and after........ holy freaggin wow. it looked like the intake just went thru a hot tank. i will probably be trying sea foam this spring when i get it back out though.

Slipjack

Don't get me wrong, doesn't hurt to put it in the crankcase before an oil change. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, now that I think about it, it really isn't unnecessary as I previously mentioned because Seafoam does condition seals. The only thing that concerns me about it is if the rear main seal has a leak that is plugged up with gunk. But I guess if problems like that exist the engine isn't being taken care of anyway.

Three times a year is probably normal I can be a bit **** about running just gas. But that is because I live in a small town, we probably get the leftover old gas that bigger towns have had.

DaSkinnyGuy

What I can say it was fun driving my car while it was smoking up the neighborhood

bl85c

iTrader: (2)

Last time I did it I pissed off my neighbor pretty bad. I was backing out and he was headed up the drive so I gunned it to get out of his way and left a nice thick cloud for him. I'm sure the look on his face was priceless, but I could'nt see it.

Crux

What vacuum line do you put it in?

Can it hurt my fuel pump?

I know it sounds silly but my car's been having trouble and I had used this stuff and not long after, the pump went. It was a new pump and I'm NOT BLAMING the seafoam..
I just would like to know if it could hurt putting a whole can in a not-full tank.

Also..about which vacuum line to put it in.

Thanks.

Kevman

Alright! Finally got a can. I've been watching videos on youtube of people doing it, and the one thing I'm afraid of is getting pulled over. Am I breaking any emmision laws by running this?

2.8RS

iTrader: (5)

If anything you will be helping the environment by making your engine cleaner and run more efficiently but for those 5 mins maybe. Just take the car out a night when there aren't many people on the road who can complain about the cloud.

bl85c

iTrader: (2)

Crux- Most people use the brake booster line. The tank needs to be close to full whenever you use cleaners so it's diluted enough that it won't eat through seals. Dumping a full can in a low tank was definately a bad idea.

Kevman

Not as much smoke as I hoped, but still pretty good. Oh, and my girlfriend almost blew it up, and me, 4000 RPM before I had a chance to pull off the vacuum hose..

enswrob

you could always drive around at night if don't want people complaining about the smoke..

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

ohh you wanna see smoke, hook up trans fluid up to your vac line.......we did this to a freind, he pulled out of my house, and well cars STOPED in the highway....... the look on his face when he looked in his mirror was priceless .................... on the plus side it can clean valves and lube up your valve seals.......its one of the old school mechanic tricks that has mixed reviews on how well it works

Kevman

Haha I've heard about trans fluid being 'The magic Cleaner' But this stuff at least showed me where every exhaust leak was, I had to leave the door open so I wouldn't get fumed out.

rsrsrs

iTrader: (9)

so let me get this right.

1-Disconnect Brake Booster line
2-Start Car
3-Pour in can of Sea-Foam
4-Connect BB Line
5-Drive

is it like that or do you pour in can of Sea-Foam FIRST then start the car?

i_love_thirdgen

iTrader: (3)

*subscribe* for all of the white cloud pics that are sure to come

bl85c

iTrader: (2)

rsrsrs- you only need to pour about a 1/3 of the can through the vaccum line. 1/3 for the intake, 1/3 for the gas tank (full), 1/3 for an oil change.

1. start car
2. disconnect vaccum line (place finger over hose)
3. suck up seafoam
4. connect vaccum line
5. drive or idle until smoke dissapears

BluFBdy

iTrader: (1)

+ 1 for seafoam, good stuff although i went overboard on my gas tank with it, about 1/3 a bottle in a tank that had about 1/3 left lol, concentrated good stuff, i think it helped break my fuel filter down though lol the best results i had were stright down my TB but i think you'd have to take it through a line on yours, same concept just takes longer

NOTE it will smoke like an sob for like 10 minutes, let ity do its thing then take it for a spin and get it going until it clears up all the way

Kevman

Mine smoked for about 5 minutes, but last night I noticed a few differences, it took longer for my SES light to come on (Weird) and when I really boot it (For this car it takes for ever) it actually gets going, has more pep. Maybe I broke something loose finally?

titan

After seeing this thread the other day I too went out and bought a can. (local advance auto parts) I used about 1/4 of the can through the brake booster line, and poured maybe half that much down the tb. I did get a little smoke, but not even as much as Kevmans pic up above. Today the rest will go in the crankcase, and the gas tank. I just changed my oil last weekend, but it's already pretty dirty, so I think some cleaning is necessary .
It has made a bit of an improvement though, smoothing idle out quite a bit.
Yesterday I also removed and cleaned the EGR, but I don't think that should affect the idle any, as I dont think it was sticking open. I'm thinking after all this is done perhaps a new set of plugs is in order, since the set in there now have close to 5000 miles on them, and I've now been making them burn off that built up carbon...

A little side note... I got my wiper delay and parking brake working yesterday. I'm so happy!

2.8RS

iTrader: (5)

I have had much more smoke come out of my motor. I put a whole can through the motor and let the stuff soak over night for about 12 hrs and then let it burn off. I get the kind of smoke that is from a burnout, white and thick so you can't see through it.

Kevman

5k on sparkplugs! They're brand new! What brand are they, NGK?

Oh I finally did some much needed work on my car today, put the center console lid back on, fixed my clutch pedal cover, put my arm rest on my drivers door (Long story), put a cap on my broken Air Conditioning filler adapter, topped up the washer fluid, and of course, made sure the plug wires were all still attached.. Long day.. Very long day.

titan

Nah, they're ac delco, but I'm kind of a stickler about cleanliness...
I change my oil every 2000 miles, along with the air filter. Knowing now that I've made the plugs burn off that carbon, it's going to eat at me until I do.

It feels good to get those little things fixed doesn't it? Seems like even something as simple as a clutch pedal cover makes it run better.

Crux

Sorry to bring back this sort-of-old thread but I had a question and thought it'd annoy people ever more if I started a whole new thread about it.

I just ran the seafoam through the vacuum line and I was wondering whether or not all of the smoke in my engine compartment meant that I had a vacuum or exhaust leak. If that's what it means then I have some BAD leak lol..I couldn't breath under there.

Thanks and later.

2.8RS

iTrader: (5)

So you have smoke in your engine bay? Sounds like you have an exhaust leak somewhere.

Crux

Yup. I only had about 1/8th of a can to put in there but later today I'll have a full can(will probably use around half) and I'll take a picture of it.
It was hard to tell where it was coming from.

I've heard of smoke machines that run smoke through it all to help you find vacuum/exhaust leaks...is this basically what the seafoam's doing?


On a side note..I was pretty shocked at the strong vacuum I got from the brake booster line. If I had a vacuum leak would it not have been strong?..or would I need a vacuum gauge to know for sure if it's around where it should be?

Thanks and sorry for the questions.

campin1983

iTrader: (4)

I wouldn't say that the smoke under hood while seafoaming necessarily means you have a leak somewhere, especially when you use the vacuum line method.

In my experience, on older cars, they will leak oil and blow smoke everywhere while using the seafoam, but the leaks stop and everything is ok when you are done. I'm not an expert, but I'd imagine that burning the seafoam increases compression or something, causing leaks that don't usually exist. The car wasn't meant to burn seafoam, so weird things are going to happen while its doing it.

If your car was perfect, the smoke would all come out of the exhaust. There could be a bigger problem, but I wouldn't get too alarmed if the smoke while seafoaming the motor is the only thing that seem odd. My 166,000 mile Firebird will get this treatment saturday, and I anticipate smoke everywhere.

Crux

Ah, ok.
Thanks for the reply, Campin and 2.8RS

Slow2.8

I actually used seafoam today again for about the 10th time today (over 6 years). In my opinion it is great stuff. I was questioning the smoke under my headers as an exhaust leak but it sounds typical on an old 2.8. Does anyones else's engine shake when using the brake booster line? Mine does a decent amount while going through the treatment, my guess is the lack of vacumn when you take off the brake booster line while you have to suck in the seafoam. When you reconnect the brake booster the rpms are high (didn't note actual reading).

startercar

Yeah, the rpms sink a bit when you disconnect that vacuum line. And a side not....you aren't supposed to dump it in...you are supposed to suck it up, and slowly so it doesn't stall. Then you turn the car off, let it sit for like 10 minutes, then turn it back on and rev it higher or drive it.

Yeah I dunno, mixed review on Seafoam: and this is with my 94 Camry(156,000 miles), not a Gen3 Firebird or Camaro:

Through the brakebooster: smoked a hell of a lot, noticed just about no difference in anything at all.

Through the oil: I added a bit to the oil and ran the car for a few days...noticed that after the oil change, it idled a bit smoother. Nothing different regarded responsiveness or anything like that.

Seafoam DEEP CREEP through the throttlebody: Here, my friends, is the different. I sprayed the inside of my throttle body down with the Seafoam Deep Creep and went at it with an old toothbrush as deep down as I could. Started a little rough afterwards, but it DEFINITELY helped the responsiveness of the car a bit, I drove it afterwards a bit and there was a difference.

Haven't tried it through the gas tank.

So yeah...this used to be dad's car...and was meticulously maintained...so maybe those whose cars haven't been maintained as well would notice a bigger difference than I did, or maybe those engines are just completely different and benefit more from it. But meh. I say do it.

Gumby

In the motorcyle world seafoam works magic on crummy carbs. We tell folks in the Virago forum to run half a can per tank, ignore direction. And it does fix so many funky problems.

Odd how it works and other brands don't.

In the Subaru world they use it in the oil to cure the tick of death from sticky lifters.

Only around here is it just used as a upper cylinder cleanner.

Though in motorcyle world its not used in the oil on a wet clutch.

They make an auto trans cleanner and I didn't like it. Made my front seal leak like a sive for 1 day. Then it never leaked again but I coulnd't trust it anymore and got a new one built. Though Im happier with a better built trans n stall, I was forced to do it sooner then planned. Could of gotten my twin turbo kit instead.

92birdy

hey i just did an oil change then did seafoam im 1000 miles down the road i didn't see on the can anything about changing the oil did i have to do that

startercar

Most people I talk to like to put seafoam in, let it run for a bit or drive it a few miles, then change the oil. It sounds like you're doing it the other way around.

Quite honestly, from reading the instructions, I got the impression that you're supposed to do what you did, change the oil, stick it in, give it 3,000 miles(or however long you go before oil changes) and let it clean out your motor a bit. However I think people are a little afraid of it moving chunks of gunk around in the motor or of it causing leaks plugged by sludge when left it that long...

I dunno...anyone? I don't see a problem with leaving it in until the next oil change but then again I never have.

EDIT: You mean you stuck it in the oil or you just...seafoamed it like...through the booster? If you just did it through the vacuum line then no, there's no reason to change the oil.

rsrsrs

iTrader: (9)

Are there any PROPER directions on how to do this and what type of Seafoam to get?

92birdy

yes i put it in the oil and have seen no problems. i just used it as an additive

Gumby

That wasn't smart, its not an additive, its a cleaner. It would be gone from your oil in a few days as it evaporates. You put it in your oil, drive around a few miles then change it asap.

Done waste $8

sonofageek

alright, i got a new Question, i think...I have heard that if you use seafoam in your gas tank that you will need to change your fuel filter afterwords. is that true? i would think that the seafoam would actually clean it out as well?

i plan to use the seafoam no matter what in like 5 days, but i would like to know if i should or have to change my fuel filter.

K-slice

iTrader: (2)

You shouldn't need to chnge the filter. I don't think it'll clean the filter, but it shouldnt make it so you need to change it.

chevyracingrox

I agree with k-slice, you won't need to replace your filter. MAYBE it'll help clean it SLIGHTLY, but probably not. well, not enough to save you from buying a filter vs potentially cleaning an old one. If you think the filter is probably crappy, go ahead and change it. around $12, and if you're old one is crap you'll notice a slight difference in milage. depending on how bad it was.

92Birdofprey

What does the vacuum line look like? Or can I just pour the seafoam down tb with the same results? Thanks.