Seafoam theory vs practice

[Cremaster]

Some thoughts and questions about seafoam and BMWs.

1. Choke the motor down by introducing a very thinning and flammable material into the intake of the motor there by stalling the motor.

2. Seafoam will saturate your intake, combustion chambers, heads, and exaust.

3. Wait the recommended amount of time while seafoam does magical things on the inside of your automobile, chemical and thermal.

4. Start car, which will now be smoking worse than Cheech and Chong, run the engine till the seafoam is burnt out of or expelled as smoke from your tailpipe.

5. Engine will eventually recover, having magical things done to the inside of the engine intake and exhaust (EIE)

6. Dump some in the fuel tank to clean the fuel system including the injectiors.

7. The car will run normal, better than normal, or even worse than normal if you did something wrong.

So what is being done is that seafoam a highly volatile organic compounds VOC, flammable hydrocarbon HCO. which promotes thinning of other hydrocarbons and dissolving of other compounds and is being introduced to the EIE of the car in a highly dispursed spray in the intake.

Seafoam does not even claim that thy can fix physical issues with the car fix leaking seals, reseat rings, etc.

The road cred seems to think that a good internal soaking of the engine be seafoam will dissolve bad things you do not want in the engine and move them all where they will be exhausted out the tail pipe or baked to compounds that are of less concern to us than the original compounds. In short you are getting a engine wash and flush.

So gasoline is very clean today, cars are tuned slightly lean, carbon does not build up in most parts of the engine unless you have used a fuel of low quality. We have gas and alcohol in our tanks degrading stuff. For Seafoam to work must degrade materials, liquify them, wash them off cylinder walls, dissolve old carbon oil and stale gas from the valve train.

So is it ok to put this Seafoam in our cars? Does it remove the scale on the cylinder walls and then leave them naked for some time subjecting them to increased wear? There are no large deposits in cars now days with carbon. Any that gets dissolved would burn in the cats if it did not clog them up.

But all in all a mechanic in a bottle Seafoam it is not it can lub or thin and Seafoam and Marval Mistery Oil wish to remain mysteries.

So what are we doing to our cars when we fog them with Seaoil? Is it completely benign?

Does it put particles into solution that do not need to be in solution.


I put some in my gas to clean the injectors and keep the plugs good to go. Never noted a difference.

What have you guys noticed using it? Would you use it in your BMW?
Why or Why not? Can you back up any of these claims?

I do know one thing for sure, don't add bedtime + Ambian + Writing in a forum. I am going to want to edit it.

[JoshS]

So gasoline is very clean today, cars are tuned slightly lean, carbon does not build up in most parts of the engine unless you have used a fuel of low quality.

Here's an anecdote: I pulled the head off of my M3's S54 with 9K miles after its rod bearing fiasco and it was caked with buildup, despite always using high-end gas.

I have never used this Seafoam stuff and would be skeptical as you are, but I will disagree with your premise that modern cars on modern gas don't have carbon buildup issues.

Check out the adjacent cylinders:

[RFrancis]

I like it, and do it. Can't say much more than that...

[dubzz24]

I just used some last week to clean out the idle air control valve in my '99 Accord to fix a bouncy idle. Worked like a charm.

A friend used it a few years back in his Integra. Did a compression test before to see if it would make any notable difference. Smoked like a mother and then started to idle really poorly. Did another compression test and had 0 PSI on one of the cylinders. Upon taking it apart it turns out that the seaform removed the carbon buildup from a damaged valve, and the carbon was the oly thing keeping pressure in that cylinder.

[Cremaster]

Josh, how long did it run after failure. That head looks like I couldnt do that damage with a twenty pound sledge.

[JoshS]

Josh, how long did it run after failure. That head looks like I couldnt do that damage with a twenty pound sledge.

Probably about 3 or 4 seconds, but I'm not really sure. The piston parts were on the ground only maybe 100' behind the car.

[Z3racer701]

I'd say the carbon is from a little residuel oil from assembly or even a tiny bit that gets past the rings. No matter how good the rings/valve seals, there will always be a small amount of oil getting past. This burned oil is why street oils no longer have the wear additives that they used to, and these metals are only found in race oils. The metals travel out the exhaust and slowly poision the cat's and O2 sensors. Race cars rarely go 100k miles, while street cars have a 100k mile service interval on the Lambda (O2) sensors.

[Tib]

Seafoam is a wonderful product!

I use it in all of my bikes and any car that is not driven regularly. It stabilizes fuel for up to 2 years making it so it will not turn to varnish and clog the fuel system.

I bought a 1985 Honda Goldwing that had sat for 5 years. It had very bad gas in it. I changed the fuel in the tank bled the carbs (that I was sure would need gone through) and added 100% Seafoam to them, let it sit 3 days started the bike with starting fluid after filling the tank with new 108 fuel and Seafoam.(the first fill I dumped as I did not want to run any of the gummy crap and varnish seafom had removed from inside the tank through the fuel system) to my surprise after running the 100% Seafoam out of the carbs the bike ran great. When I pulled the fuel bowls off the carbs the bowls had some sediment in the bottoms but the rest of the carbs looked great. After that I became a believer.

This is what the manufacturer says about Seafoam:

Sea Foam® Motor Treatment is a 100% pure petroleum product that safely and effectively cleans internal fuel and oil system components, helping your gasoline or diesel engine run cleaner and more efficiently. Sea Foam® is an EPA-registered product, and will not harm engine components, seals, gaskets, catalytic converters or oxygen sensors.
Sea Foam® liquefies gum and varnish deposits or internal engine contaminants, removing carbon deposits, freeing sticky valve lifters and rings, improving idle quality, pinging and hesitation problems. By using Sea Foam® to eliminate varnish and carbon buildup, mechanics can more accurately diagnose mechanical problems that may exist. That is why Sea Foam® has been so popular with professional mechanics for over 65 years.
As a fuel system additive, Sea Foam® will clean carburetors, fuel injectors, clean carbon, gum and varnish deposits, add lubricity to fuel, stabilize fuel for 2 years and control moisture.


I would have no problem using it in any gas engine ever made. I will be using it in my M Roadster too.

Tib

[pwhitt]

i haven't used seafoam - but the noise about it has me curious. i'm really just curious about it - i'm a bit skeptical, but still curious...

this sounds crazy, some of you might know this already - the wd40 alternative, PB Blaster has very busy art on the can advertising it's many uses. one of them is basically the same trick with seafoam - spray it into the throttle body of a running engine at temp, then shut it off and let it sit. start it up and let it rock. it's supposed to remove carbon buildup around valves and in the chambers...

i actually did this on an old chevy 350. i'd had the heads off before and seen quite a bit of buildup. there was a LOT of black, hard deposit all over everything before the treatment. this didn't produce the kind of smoke i see in the seafoam videos - FYI.

this treatment was performed right after headers, a new intake manifold, MSD ignition, cam and carb were installed.

the next time i took the heads off - probably a couple months - the combustion chambers looked infinitely better.

i can easily attribute a large part of that to the increased air flow, the higher RPMs the engine was seeing, the cam profile, etc.

BUT - i always wanted to do this with an engine to see a comparison without changing the ignition, intake, exhaust, and everything else.

this seems like the kind of test a vendor would do just to demonstrate the products claims. i haven't searched much, but i haven't seen this. does it exist?? as many videos are out there claiming the stuff cures every ailment, it seems like this would be one of the first you find...

[Wertles]

Sea Foam will only do something for you if there is something there for it to work on. If your car is clean inside and out, you will not notice any difference in it at all. I have never taken apart any engine that I have used sea foam in so all my experiences are by seat of my pants feeling which is highly subjective so take my experience for what its worth.

Truck 1: Dodge Dakota V8, 93,000 miles all highway and some towing, 4 years old. This truck had 3,000 mile oil changes with Mobile 1 and some sort of fuel injector cleaner since new. It ran like a charm with no issues what so ever. When researching my new truck in 2006, I ran across the Sea Foam hype and tried decided to try it in the truck. 1/2 can in the intake, 1 1/2 cans in the tank. I didn't notice anything really until a week later when I realized I was chirping tires on take off and 1-2 shifts while not changing my driving style one bit. Felt like I gained some HP that I lost slowly over 93,000 miles.

I have used it in multiple small engines that were running rough (they sit a long time between runs) and it has made them run like new. It has NOT fixed cracked intake boots and worn out gaskets but for gummed up carbs, it has worked like a charm for me.

Fast forward a few months and a few other trial runs with it, 120,000 mile Ford escort. This was my buddys car. I stole it one day, filled it up with regular gas and a can of Sea Foam in the tank. Never told him. Talked to him a week later, he thanked me for filling up his car and asked if I had used premium. I said no and asked him why. He told me it was the best his car had run since he bought it.

Will I use it on my BMW, absolutely. I am a believer. I now use it in the tank with every oil change or before a long trip. It has never brought any harm to any of my engines (I am VERY careful when I put it in my diesel, It suspends any water in the fuel instead of letting the water separator do its job and potentially can harm the injectors). I know that others will say it has done nothing for them and that is great. It means their engines are in great shape.

[rf900rkw]

one problem is truisms and advertising hype die off VERY slowly.

"sludge destroys engines"

"dirty motors pollute"

" carbon buildup causes running problems"

etc etc etc The problem is those blurbs are 40 or more years old, but people try to apply them to what they see today.

When you pull the valve cover, and can't see the rockers or springs, THAT's sludge buildup. A slight tan haze on the components is not.

When you pull a plug and can't tell where the electrodes are, or the back of your valve looks like a long tapered cone, That's carbon buildup. The light coating often shown is not excessive buildup. Contrary, that thin layer is often helpful as a thermal barrier.


Speaking of this stuff, what ever happened to Amsoil and their "Powerfoam" treatment from 30 years ago? It sounds like the exact same product-process.

[adonnan]

I have a hard time believing in a $5 can of wonder magic.

This sounds like a much more informed process of cleaning your fuel system.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...1&postcount=36

I've used Seafoam in the past on two cars and one had horrible results. It was a high milage engine, and it smoked a lot more after doing the sea foam stuff. I guess the carbon deposits were keeping the compression inside.

Go for it, but for the most part I think you'll spend $5 for a smoke show.

[gmushial]

Maybe another approach or view of seafoam is: yes there are some maladies for which it is in fact a cure - the operative question is: are those maladies what your engine is suffering from? ie, a decongestant is relatively ineffective for sprained ankles, likewise, an ace bandage probably does little for a headache.

[kobayashi]

Kreen is a MUCH better option than Seafoam.

[z3540i]

I dont think i want to break up carbon and send it through my cats....that cant be healthy

[jaschil]

I have used it in my mnotorcycles and in my old boat. Had no issues running it through and seems to keep everything running fine afterwards. If you don't take care of the engine in the first place, do you really expect a miracle?

[KeysCoupe]

I'll second the comment that z3540i asked. What does this stuff do to the catalytic converters and o2 sensors? With the engine pouring out smoke as you burn this stuff can't be good for these components. Lets say I am not convinced.
I think that quality oil and quality gasoline are some of the best maintenance for our cars.

[kobayashi]

I'll second the comment that z3540i asked. What does this stuff do to the catalytic converters and o2 sensors? With the engine pouring out smoke as you burn this stuff can't be good for these components. Lets say I am not convinced.
I think that quality oil and quality gasoline are some of the best maintenance for our cars.

Again, Kreen in the gas and oil works much better for a neglected engine.

[dougmcintyre]

I have a hard time believing in a $5 can of wonder magic.

This sounds like a much more informed process of cleaning your fuel system.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...1&postcount=36

I've used Seafoam in the past on two cars and one had horrible results. It was a high milage engine, and it smoked a lot more after doing the sea foam stuff. I guess the carbon deposits were keeping the compression inside.

Go for it, but for the most part I think you'll spend $5 for a smoke show.

Very informative link. Thanks for posting.

[Cremaster]

I just wonder if that sea foam is not to thinning to gas your top end with. Those heads have to have critical lubrication and the SF might reduce that lubricating ability and wear the parts. I would much rather dump a few ounces in the fuel than fog or the OIL. Most of these products say to only idle the engine if you put it in the oil and to then change the oil.

This inquiring mind would like to know.

I know the military used to never use products like this. Does anyone know?

[Wertles]

From the website:

Will Sea Foam harm my catalytic converter?

No – quite the opposite. Sea Foam® actually helps to clean the catalytic elements, restoring its efficiency, and reducing that “rotten egg” odor you occasionally smell from some catalytic converters that aren’t working properly.

What is it about Sea Foam that makes it so safe to use?

Sea Foam® is composed solely of three specially blended petroleum oils – each having specific functions such as lubricating, cleaning or moisture control. There are no other chemicals (not even color dyes) included in the formulation. Being of the same basic petroleum chemistry as the motor oils and gasoline you already use in your engine, Sea Foam® is completely compatible with all engine components, fuels, lubricants and other additives you may have in your engine. Sea Foam® will not damage gaskets or seals, and will not interact in a negative way with motor oil or fuel, or the additives used in them.

This is not purely a solvent that thins the gas and oil. I have been using this in my diesel for years to add lubricity to the crappy ultra low sulfur diesel that is killing common rail diesel engines. There have been multiple studies on the diesel side looking at different additives to increase lubricity and Sea Foam does a good job of it. (FWIW, 2 cycle oil did just about as well and used to be cheaper.) Since this is not just purely a solvent that thins out oil and breaks down sludge, you can run this in your oil for a short time (100 miles) to let it gently clean and remove deposits in your crankcase unlike the *UNK product we used to all use years ago which you dumped in and let the car idle 5 minutes before the oil change.

Again, if you don't have any specific problem in which Sea Foam was designed to fix, you will NOT see any difference. It will not magically give you 3 more MPG or 10 more HP just by adding it to the tank.

[07090]

These discussions are very confusing. I posted the same topic a few days back and haven't done anything because people are all over the map with it ranging from 1 end of the spectrum of

1. "life-saving product".

Somewhere in the middle
2."not sure it did anything"

or the other end of the spectrum

3. "it will kill your car".


3 sounds a little harsh. What I'm really struggling with is when is the right scenario to use seafoam(or anything else). Should I just use it in the gas tank if I have no known issues and am experiencing no problems? Should I not do anything, why mess up a good thing? Should I use it as preventative maintenance.

It's certainly not expensive so if it's a no harm, no foul situation, I think its worth it. This still comes back to where to actually apply it that will provide the no harm no foul with possible upside?

[flynismo]

All I can vouch for is that when we put it in my brother's Scion, it freed up a sticky valve that we could not get rid of before (put the SF into brake booster hose).

I've put it in my oil and gas, but my butt dyno didn't feel or hear any difference.

[bob3275]

I have never put it in the BMW, but on my high performance outboard motor, it goes into every tank of gas. Piston tops, etc are VERY clean.

[dreamrider01]

I used Seafoam on my "guinea pig" Crown Vic, something that can really take abuse, before I introduce anything into my whimpy bimmer.

No effect on performance after two tanks of gas, i.e.: mpg, quickness off the blocks, cold start, warm start, etc.

I did a little research online about the engine cleaning chems. Most reviews seem to echo my results. Also, a large number of reviews seem to note better results from something called Redline SL-1.

I have not tried the Redline product. Has anybody? If so, what kind of results did you get? Also, how did it compare to Seafom's results?

Thanx!

Miguel.