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I think this is mostly BS, except it MIGHT help if you have an existing fuel problem.
My chainsaw was not running right some years ago (it was a fuel problem), and as the easiest, simplest thing to try first I put Seafoam in the tank and ran it, didn't help at all. So one in the negative column.
Methinks that oils and fuels historically have had the latest additives in them to the best of contemporary knowledge -- that can be today's, or 50-years-ago knowledge. If you want to sell products, you have to keep up with technology.
Give-take, push-pull, there is no magic bullet out there.
All bullets are known.
EDIT: I'm not saying anybody here is full of BS, what I'm saying is these are only anecdotal examples -- including mine. To really prove if Seafoam (or any of its competitors) actually help anything they would have to be tested under controlled scientific conditions. Have they been already? I don't know.
Had clogged injectors on my used 4 stroke outboard when I got it. Followed some rednecks instructions on YouTube and cleaned them. They always know. Runs like new. Not scientific, but it worked. Commonly used in all kinds of outboards. One ounce per quart in the crankcase and one ounce per gallon in the gas tank every so often. My '05 has made it over 200K without it. Not trying it unless I have a rough idle or something, but it definitely cleans injectors. Soak one in it, you'll be surprised what soaks out.
I have taken apart small engine carburetors with varnish in the bottom of the float bowl and filled the bowl with pure Seafoam. It doesn't seem to act as a solvent for the varnish so I can't see how it would work when heavily diluted with fuel as it would be when added to the gas tank. If it was an effective solvent, it should certainly loosen up the varnish in the small carburetor bowl after soaking for several days.
I've used it on both my cars with no ill effect. Makes a wicked smokeshow so probably best to run it away from the neighbourhood in some isolated area. Always do an oil change afterwards since that stuff will get into the crankcase as well, or run some in the crankcase to act as a oil flush.
I always thought this stuff was marketed to keep fuel fresh when storing your car like Stabil.
Yeah that's what I thought also.
Never thought of it as an engine clean out treatment.
At 96k I wonder if it would be a good idea to clean out all that built up carbon and gunk,,, it might be the only thing holding the engine together.
Here are two things you might want to consider. First, Seafoam says it is 30% IPA, which strongly implies that’s what it relies on to prevent water separation in long term storage. I say “strongly implies” because while I cannot rule out the possibility that it has other ingredients to prevent water separation, IPA was the first, and is among the best for doing that function. Furthermore, IPA doesn’t have any detergent or cleaning properties to justify its inclusion, so why else would it be there? The tiny little problem with IPA is that while it does a fine job of preventing water separation in pure gas, it does not work if the fuel contains ethanol. So unless your car or boat or whatever has been through several tankfulls of pure gas to flush out the ethanol, I would not rely on Seafoam to prevent water separation.
The second thing is that for the detergent function, as others have said, routine use of top tier gas is more effective than canned additives at keeping your engine clean. While the extra additives aren’t going to ruin your engine, I’ve seen controlled tests that prove it is possible to overdose on detergent. It would be sort of like putting an ultra heavy dose of detergent in your washing machine, which might not rinse out properly. Whether in a clothes washer or an engine, detergent leaves some deposits of its own. So when you say a heavy dose can’t hurt, that’s not totally true. What’s true is that it can’t hurt much, but if you compare a car that has run regularly on top tier with one that has been on top tier plus cans of additive, the plain old top tier engine will be a tiny bit cleaner due to fewer residual detergent deposits left behind.
So when might you want to use Seafoam? Perhaps for long term storage, but only if you have thoroughly purged ethanol from your tank. Perhaps if you have an old and dirty engine that has spent most of its life running cheapo gas. But for my own cars, which are never stored, and always run on top tier gas with Houston’s required ethanol, there’s no point.
That link won’t work for me, but when I went to the web site to look directly from there, the info on the web site is different from what I remember. My memory says the MSDS sheet claimed 30% IPA at that time, but now, rather than citing a specific number, it says less than 25%. So I did a two minute Google search and found numbers anywhere from 10% to 30%. I don’t have a can of it, so can’t look there to see if it says anything. But even if it’s only 10%, it doesn’t change the message of my earlier post. There’s no reason for IPA to be there other than preventing water separation and/or anti-icing, and IPA won’t do those things if ethanol is present. Products like Sta-Bil which heavily promote being compatible with ethanol do not contain IPA. While Seafoam’s web site mentions ethanol here and there, I did not see any claim with a clear statement that it prevented water issues in gas containing ethanol.
Hi guys,
Here’s my simple and quick reason why I like the use of Seafoam.
Tampa Tuning recommended the owner to conduct an application of SeaFoam to his manifold. On higher mileage vehicle, I see oil pooling in the intake manifold. This is “normal” that oil pools in the manifold and that’s why guys install a catch can to prevent some of “pooling”
I have found that applying it to the gas tanks DOES NOT do much.
Seafoam also has a spray application with a small red plastic tube which is inserted through the front of the throttle body for direct application to the manifold.
While the vehicle is running, spray the whole can into the manifold. If you have someone that can rev the engine from idle to 2500 RPMs a couple times while your spraying the Seafoam into your manifold, that’s even better. If you get the vehicle to stall while conducting the application, that’s great. If not apply the whole can, then turn the engine off for 45 minutes to let the Seafoam absorb some of the deposits in the manifold. (some guys will add Seafoam to the brake vacuum line to make the engine stall but you don’t have to do that).
After you spray the full can into the manifold and the vehicle has sits for about 45 minutes, find an area where you can go wide open to clean out the deposits in the manifold. If you blow BLUE smoke, it worked. If you don’t, your vehicle runs cleaner than most.
** So why do I ask my higher mileage client to do this? Here’s my thinking. A lot factors into how much timing a vehicle can maintain throughout the RPM band**.
Example 1: In the perfect world, you use 93 octane fuels in your NEWER vehicle, there’s no pooling of normal deposits in the manifold, and you can command the vehicle to accept 25 degrees of timing as it burns through the WOT area knock free (not retarding timing).
Example 2: Your using 91 octane fuels in your NEWER vehicle, there’s no pooling of normal deposits in the manifold, and you can command the vehicle to accept 23 degrees of timing as it burns through the WOT area knock free (not retarding timing).
Example 3 Higher mileage vehicle: Your using 93 octane fuels in your HIGHER MILEAGE vehicle, there’s pooling of oil deposits in the manifold from normal use. Simply put, now your Air / Fuel ratio is an Air / Fuel / Oil mixture and your octane level is reduced a couple points because if the addition contaminates in your AFR mixture, and the vehicle DOESN’T accept as much timing without retarding timing.
So, when I get a client tell me they have a vehicle above 60000 miles, I tell them to invest in a $8.00 can of Seafoam, and spray it into the manifold to help clean out the pooling deposits, so it gives the vehicle an opportunity for me to add more timing, so I can makes more power.
This particular client said he uses 89 Octane in his higher mileage Corvette, and I wanted to provide him information for the best opportunity to make power in the Corvette.
I hope that helps, and again it just my simple view to give vehicles the best opportunity for performance. Tuning your vehicle or not, it’s still good to do, and a can through the manifold isn’t going to clog your Cats. I use it on all my vehicles and my parent’s vehicles. I don’t sell Seafoam, but it works.
Here's a picture of my 2010 LS3 manifold being taken off at 16000 miles for porting. I wouldn't have guess so much oil deposits would be pooling in 16000 of normal use from a short period of time. If someone has a better idea to remove deposits, Im willing to listen.
This pooling oils mixes with your Air fuel Ratio and reduces the level of octane you think your getting
As I mentioned before, I read an article by someone who had chemical knowledge of gas additives and had tested them. Long story short, his claim was that using Seafoam in the gas was ok and might even help.
But his main contention or conclusion that Seafoam, as well as several others, if used through the manifold as a direct application would pass chemicals into the Cats that could burn them out!
And, as you know that's an expensive replacement.
Just saying, if I can find the article will post it. I would certainly not use that process if the process or chemicals had that possibility until and expert could refute it.
Yes, Seafoam is a fantastic product. I use it once a month. Nothing better imo.
Using products like Seafoam or Techron should be done sparingly or it can do more harm than good. I'd say no more than once every 6-7 tankfuls of gas. How much gas do you go through in a month?
Here's a picture of my 2010 LS3 manifold being taken off at 16000 miles for porting. I wouldn't have guess so much oil deposits would be pooling in 16000 of normal use from a short period of time. If someone has a better idea to remove deposits, Im willing to listen.
This pooling oils mixes with your Air fuel Ratio and reduces the level of octane you think your getting
Here's a picture of my 2010 LS3 manifold being taken off at 16000 miles for porting. I wouldn't have guess so much oil deposits would be pooling in 16000 of normal use from a short period of time. If someone has a better idea to remove deposits, Im willing to listen.
This pooling oils mixes with your Air fuel Ratio and reduces the level of octane you think your getting
Seems like a bit of a stretch. If I understand correctly, you are saying that during normal operation, some PCV oil mist collects in the manifold (I can believe that). Then when you go full throttle, turbulence in the manifold picks up enough of that pooled oil to drop the fuel’s octane, and furthermore, Seafoam treatment somehow removes that pooled oil (I have a harder time believing those two things). Do you have any direct before/after evidence, meaning either visual inspection of the manifold before/after treatment showing it having noticeably less pooled oil, or dyno or acceleration runs before/after treatment showing faster acceleration or greater timing advance?
My problem is that your scenario would take a fair amount of pooled oil. A 10 second full throttle run uses about two pints of fuel, and to drop the octane like you are suggesting, it would have to be picking up about a quarter to half an ounce of pooled oil during those 10 seconds. I don’t see how the oil can possibly be accumulating any faster than an ounce every few months, so the two sides of the equation don’t seem to match. Seems like you are requiring the pooled oil to get used up much faster than it can possibly be laid down. Furthermore, I don’t see how the Seafoam can remove it. If it’s really liquid oil which turbulent manifold air can pick up, you don’t need Seafoam to “unstick” it. Maybe the Seafoam can get a little bit out by causing a big puddle of mostly Seafoam in the manifold, which then picks up a bit of oil as it gets blown out. That said, if you have direct evidence of before/after cleaner manifold or before/after more power, maybe I can be convinced.
Yep, oil is for lubrication
Naptha is the actual cleaning agent
IPA (Alcohol) is there to absorb water.
Naphtha is simply unrefined gasoline, so it has no solvent or cleaning power that gasoline doesn’t already have. As to lubrication, it’s not clear to me what parts of the fuel system or intake manifold either need or are supposed to benefit from said lubrication. As to absorbing water, IPA will not do that if the gas also contains ethanol, so the IPA is worthless unless you are running ethanol-free gas. Those statements do not rule out the possibility that Seafoam has lower concentrations of other ingredients that have some useful function. It simply says that those three ingredients don’t have any obviously useful properties.
08-12-2017, 08:09 PM
