Seafoam Engine Cleaner

[OBIO]

In an earlier post about our acquisition of a "new" set of wheels...a 1994 Plymouth Grand Voyager LE minivan....Brian Gladden suggested that I use Seafoam to get the van running smoother. Well, this evening, just as it was getting dark....I put 2/3 of a 16 ounce can of Seafoam into the gas tank to clean the fuel system and injectors and slowly poured the remaining third of the can into the brake booster vacuum line while the van was running at a fast idle. Shut the engine off, let it sit for 5 or 6 minutes. Fired the engine back up. It was a bit too dark to see the plume of crud blowing out the tail pipe, I sure could smell it. Let the van run at a fast idle for about 3 minutes, then took it for a drive...and flogged the motor a bit going up some hills....got the RPMs up to the 5500 range for a bit.

Before treating the engine with the Seafoam, the van had a rough idle and had some hesitation when giving it gas. Now, the idle is much smoother and RPM pick up is much quicker. I'm sure that as the Seafoam in the fuel cleans the injectors and combustion chambers even more the engine will run even better. And once I install the new fuel filter and put in new plugs and plug wires, it will get even better.

If you have a high milage engine, I highly recommend treating with it Seafoam Engine Cleaner. The makers of Seafoam suggest doing it on vehicles with 150 thousand or more miles, but it will work wonders on cars with even fewer miles. Youtube has a ton of videos of people using Seafoam in their engines...and a lot of them are just idiots who want to see their car smoke like a freight train...but there are some really good videos showing the before and after...rough idle and slow pick up before and smooth idle and better throttle response after the treatment. I can attest that it made an immediate improvement in the idle and throttle response on the 200 thousand mile 3.3 liter V-6 in my minivan. Well worth the $6.99 (on sale at Advanced Auto) that I paid for the can.

OBIO

[Navy Chief]

I haven't heard the product name "Seafoam" in years! I have a beat up 1985 Chevy truck I use for hauling my garbage to the dump. Seafoam is probably just what it needs to get it running better. Am hesistant to put a lot of money into the truck.

[OBIO]

Navy Chief

A bottle of Seafoam is well worth the $7 to $10 price. Can't say how much improvement your old truck will show after the Seafoam treatment, but you will get you money's worth for sure.

OBIO

[stansdds]

If I recall correctly, Sea Foam is one of the highest rated cleaners available to the do-it-yourself crowd. There is a large number of such cleaners on the market, most work fine with mechanical fuel pumps, but many will eat away at the mesh filter in an electric fuel pump. Sea Foam reportedly is safe for electric fuel pumps.

[safn1949]

Another option is to find a BG dealer and get a can of BG 44K,it's expensive at $25 a can but is the best stuff I have ever used.You put it in the fuel tank and fill up twice a year.
I used to be an ASE tech working in GM dealerships before I went back to driving truck,it did wonders for my 88 Cherokee with 188,000 on it.:jump:

[aeromed202]

I can vouch for what Obio said. Our mechanics recommended Sea Foam for my aging car as it had started the death march of blue smoke out the pipe. Half into the crankcase and half into the gas tank to dissolve carbon. In the crankcase the piston rings may have become stuck to the pistons by carbon build-up so removing the carbon would allow them to expand again, plus freeing up and improving seatings of any other related parts. In the gas tank it should clean injectors and related fuel system parts for better milage. They cautioned however that this product will vaporize out fairly early and so engine rpms ought to be on the low side for as long as possible. I did't get a change in emissions but did improve my mpg.
For my case I then added 15oz of an oil additive ...CD (I'll check for the exact name) which has Teflon, together with an oil change to a thicker grade (10-40 or straight 30) which helps keep the stuff in there longer. My plumes all but dissapeared in 3-4 days. Time will tell if that is because of the oil merely being thicker or if the Teflon has actually being deposited on surfaces to fill in gaps.

[Trans_23]

I use Seafoam quite a bit. It usually sells for $10 a can. I happened to go into the auto parts store when it was on sale and bought a few extra. I didn't watch the videos but I assume that when the guys were making their cars belch a lot of smoke they were putting it into the upper air intake manifold. I have done this before also. It dissolves the carbon in the intake and it does produce a lot of smoke for a few minutes. I did it at night so the neighbors wouldn't think I was burning the house down. You also have to be careful that you do not hydro-lock the engine when doing this procedure. I have read where guys actually do the same thing with water to "steam clean" the carbon from the intake. I don't think I will ever try that. I have never used Seafoam in the crankcase.