Seafoam

I used a bottle on my Celica that is burning oil, and it actually worked. My oil consumption has been cut in half. The 1ZZ-FE engines are known for being oil burners. From what I have read, they used an undersized piston. The ring of course makes up the difference, but sludge builds up and the ring sticks.

For those of you that have used it, have you noticed any benefits to using it more than once?

Where did you put the Seafoam, as fuel or in the crank case?

Dan

I put a 1/3 in the crankcase, 1/3 in the tank, and last 1/3 in the intake.

That about covers it!

I just used a can in a '92 1.8 Jetta I just got. Used 1/2 in the crankcase, 1/2 sucked in through a vacuum hose. It really smoothed out the idle VERY noticeably, and the notorious VW clicking lifters are quiet. For now... I use a can in the fuel of the 6.0 Chevy pickup every 2-3 months, but I don't drive that truck much anymore since I picked up the Jetta. Seems to temporarily cure a cold start hesitation in the truck. Seems like good stuff.

You folks who use Seafoam change the oil pretty quickly after adding it to the crankcase? I've heard mixed thoughts on that, but I've always changed the oil fairly quickly (20 easy miles or so) after adding Seafoam to the crankcase. My theory there is that if the Seafoam actually did it's job, then there is all sorts of nasty contaminants in the oil now.

I've used it a few times in my last car, but not in the Mazda. I think about using it from time to time, but the car still has a silky smooth idle and pulls as hard as the day I bought it.

When I add it to the crank case I run the car in my driveway for a bit and then change the oil, but never drive on it.

I drove my car to work for a few days (6 miles one-way).

I have never noticed an amazing change after using it. I do believe that it certainly does not hurt anything. I run a heavy dose in my fuel before storing a car. Then I run another heavy dose when pulling it out of storage.

I've never seen any advantage to using seafoam in the fuel and I definitely don't leave it in the crankcase any more than a day before an oil change.

But in the vacuum system? Dear god that can make a difference. On b-port Cobras it's the ONLY way to clean the dry intake ports, and those things carbon up like a bastard.

I've got a little bit of carbon knock at idle in my car.... nothing that can damage it, but i've been told Seafoam is the cure for it.

I've only used it on the intake and I do think it has helped quite a bit. I'm thinking about trying it in the fuel system to see if I can get the injectors on my '84 Celica working better.

In reply to doc_speeder:

I'm new to the whole Seafoam thing, having just had it pointed out to me when I bought my first boat, which was stored for a while.

I'd never heard of using it in a Vac line to get it into the intake and I'm betting which line you use it in is specific to whatever car you're talking about. I've got a '95 Golf- which Vac line should I send it through?

Run it through the line going to the brake booster.

Whatever method you use, make sure it'll get distributed evenly to all cylinders.

maddabe wrote: Run it through the line going to the brake booster.

I did this and am unsure how evenly it gets distributed...

In reply to ignorant:

That's a good point. I never took that into consideration.

Have you seen their intake cleaner? It is a spray can that has a spray hose that fits under the edge of the intake snorkel. I used it on my 3 and it seemed to help a little more than the liquid.

Although, the placebo effect can be very convincing.

ignorant wrote:

maddabe wrote: Run it through the line going to the brake booster.

I did this and am unsure how evenly it gets distributed...

DOOD! It gets sucked into the engine! That's how.

This stuff works! Try using to decarbonize your engine, the smoke that billows out will scare your neighbors

Hehehe, we JUST that once. Seafoamed a car, and the smoke was billowing OVER the neighbors house. And then for fun- we took off in the car and did a James Bond around the neighborhood.

Be careful with the vaccum line thing. I hydrolocked a motor doing that.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Be careful with the vaccum line thing. I hydrolocked a motor doing that.

I've never done that, but I've always been VERY conscious of the dangers of introducing a liquid into the intake tract. Small bursts of Seafoam at about 3500 rpms has always worked for me. If the engine starts to bog down too much, pull the hose out of the Seafoam immediately.

Yar. And only use about 4oz of it.

16vCorey wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: Be careful with the vaccum line thing. I hydrolocked a motor doing that.

I've never done that, but I've always been VERY conscious of the dangers of introducing a liquid into the intake tract. Small bursts of Seafoam at about 3500 rpms has always worked for me. If the engine starts to bog down too much, pull the hose out of the Seafoam immediately.

I did recently do a similar thing with an aerosol can of CRC Carb Cleaner while the engine was running. I figured the atomized spray would distribute better and the amount of liquid would not be a hydrolock threat.

I've been toying with the idea of Seafoaming my turbo FC. I just don't want the fire department to show up when the neighbors complain of the smoke!