Seafoam
#41
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Jul 2010
Location: Tacoma, Wa/Surprise, Az
Posts: 2,841
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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.
If the ingredients in Seafoam reduce the carbon buildup on the back sides of the valves and inside the cylinders, this may be where the results Phil spoke about earlier. If there is sufficient carbon build up in side the cylinders, compression will increase (unevenly) and would that have a tendency to pull timing at the upper RPM ranges? Carbon buildup on the backsides of the valves would certainly disrupt airflow, but don't know what effect that might have on timing.
Techron is also good at reducing carbon buildup on valves, on another forum I've ready many anecdotes regarding the use of Techron just prior to an oil change and running the engine close to redline for brief moments to beat the carbon off the backsides of the valves - for gas and diesel motors. The caveat is you need to change the oil afterwards to remove the blowby.