Sea Foam Motor Treatment

http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm

 

I was wondering if any of you guys use this or any other type of motor treatment.

Sea Foam is based in my metro area (just down the road from where I live as a matter of fact). I use their stuff in my small engines. We have a local talk radio host / newspaper columnist that is a big believer in their stuff (he has been doing the Q&A for 25 years now, raced semi-professionally, teaches at a Skip Barber school and is a VERY knowledgeable gear head. I have never had reason to use it regularly in my cars, but I would not hesitate to do so.

http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm

 

I was wondering if any of you guys use this or any other type of motor treatment.

I used to use it in my Honda-though that thing was running pretty rich.

Everytime I used to do it the damn thing would smoke like you wouldn't believe-seriously, if your trying to run away from someone pour a little bit of this in there and you will loose them in the smoke...

^ It's also supposed to burn really hot, i was told it was a good idea to change the spark plugs afterwards. I'm gonna change ' em next weekend so it works out. Plus I can't wait to drive through town with smoke bellowing out my fat exhaust.

I used to use it in my Honda-though that thing was running pretty rich.

Everytime I used to do it the damn thing would smoke like you wouldn't believe-seriously, if your trying to run away from someone pour a little bit of this in there and you will loose them in the smoke...

 

 

+1 I used it in my accord, had the engine suck it up through a hose in the intake manifold. let the car sit off for like 20-30min, start it up and start laying down the smoke in the neighborhood. then aftewards do a oil change to finish it all off.

Another Honda story. Used on my '95 Prelude, 1/3 in the tank, 1/3 in the vacuum line, 1/3 in the oil. Same story a lot of smoke after letting it sit, I changed the oil and spark plugs. I couldn't really tell if there was a difference.

 

Has anyone tried this on their LGT? Would there be any adverse affects on the turbo?

before you even think of doing it you want to do a compression test.

 

if your compression is all level throughout then there isn't any point in doing it. Sea foam is better for higher mileage cars that have had carbon build up for an extended period of time and mileage.

I use it in the tank and would on the brake vacuum hose but I couldn't get the stupid hose off. I took the hose clamp loose and pulled but it didn't want to come off. I didn't pull too hard, but sheesh.

Do not use Sea Foam!!! One motor was lost due to the use of sea foam. I repeat do not use it!!!

^ It's also supposed to burn really hot, i was told it was a good idea to change the spark plugs afterwards. I'm gonna change ' em next weekend so it works out. Plus I can't wait to drive through town with smoke bellowing out my fat exhaust.

 

Drive around Cali with your tailpipe lit off and smokin' and someone will surely call you in to the pollution police. Like better to do it "off the street".

 

And I seem to recall this being a TOD back in 04/05. Don't have time to search but it's still likely on the site.

SBT

I seen the subaru version on the shelf at the dealer. Same way to put in in. I just did mine and my grandfathers focus with this. I have never heard of it causing damage. Maybe they used it wrong. I have heard nothing but great praise about this.

Do not use Sea Foam!!! One motor was lost due to the use of sea foam. I repeat do not use it!!!

 

 

if you lost an engine it wasn't to sea foam's wrong doing.

 

It is designed to break down the carbon in the engine so if lets say you had bad rings and used sea foam and it cleaned the carbon from the cylinders well congrats because now you have no seal because it was just eatten away by sea foam doing what its suppost to do.

 

 

Do not make false assumptions of a product due to your situation unless you can prove with mechanical records that it was in fact the cause of your failure.

i used it on my car. No noticeable performance gain after/before. Smoked a shitload though, my car used to run pig rich. I filled it from the pcv hose

My car and truck seem to idle a little smoother now.

if you lost an engine it wasn't to sea foam's wrong doing.

 

It is designed to break down the carbon in the engine so if lets say you had bad rings and used sea foam and it cleaned the carbon from the cylinders well congrats because now you have no seal because it was just eatten away by sea foam doing what its suppost to do.

 

 

Do not make false assumptions of a product due to your situation unless you can prove with mechanical records that it was in fact the cause of your failure.

I'll make any assumption I choose. It was the carbon deposits that embedded themselves into the ring lands causing the rings to sieze. All four cylinders had rings stuck in the lands. Why don't you take your built block and run some seafoam in it. Then show my your mechanical records of your brand new coated piston set and rings with a fresh bore that got toasted.

Don't go making assumptions that you may have more experience that someone else. I've swapped more motors then you've owned cars...

or so you say...

I've been running it with no problems. Was that a high mileage engine. All mine have been low mileage. Also my subaru and avalanche idle better afterwards.

Quick story on the the suspect motor...

The motor started life as a stock EJ257. It was overbored to 100mil, installed JE coated pistons/rings, Cosworth rods race bearings.

 

During break in it developed a leak from one of the valve guides. Removed the motor, tore it apart, replaced the guides/seals, put it back together and continued the break in. After driving it for a bit the valves started leaking again. Conducted the same procedure as before.

 

After running as long as I did with a pretty major leak, you might guess that there was a ton of carbon build up in the cylinders, exhaust gas path etc. Seafoam was the first that came to mind. I've used it before with good results. The engine was warm I pulled it through the vac line(slowly). I started to see the trademark white smoke, continued to empty the bottle. I followed the instruction and shut it down let it sit for 20 min or so. When I tried to restart the motor I couldn't tell if it was even turning over. I went out to put a mark on the power steering pulley turned the key again and took a look sure enough the motor was turning. Not the typical turn over though. I could hear the starter motor but no compression pulse. WTF. The following morning I did a compression test, I could not believe what I saw. All four cylinders had zero compression. I though at first I may have hydrolocked it. When I did the compression test there was nothing in the cylinders. Finally the I took the car to GST.

 

Upon disassembly they found the rings on cyl. 1-4 had seized into the ring lands. Frozen solid the rings had to be dug out. When the finally got the rings out of the ring lands, we were greeted with channels full of abrasive carbon. In this case the seafoam preformed exactly as stated, all directions were followed, the dislodging of the carbon is what caused the damage to my new block, pistons and rings.

 

Previous to this encounter I used seafoam. I thought it did a good job. From that day forward seeing what it did to my motor, I will never use it again. I will never recommend it to anyone; Unless they have an extra $3K laying around.

I believe the instructions say let it sit for 5 minutes. Thats what the can I used on Saturday said. Maybe they changed it. Also, they engine was suspect before. So that definitely had a play in it. I would say for a good engine, this is fine to use. Why else would subaru sell their own brand of it?

5min 20 min Is there really a difference? I think it was a minimum time. At that point there was no problems with the motor.

The point is it preformed just as it should. This preformance cost one engine.

It's your dime...

I used it in all my cars/trucks so far except the LGT. I never had a prob. It is better to use a product like sea foam gradually. Don't use a whole can at 1 time. I usually use 1/2-1/3 can each time but in more frequent intervals.

Agreed. I plan on doing every 10k. Half in the tank, half in the vacuum line.

which line?

Don't go making assumptions that you may have more experience that someone else. I've swapped more motors then you've owned cars...

 

Not really topic related, but isn't ironic that in the second sentence you're doing exactly what you said you shouldn't do in the first sentence?

Vacuum line off the brake booster.