How to: Seafoam
10-30-05, 08:03 PM
#1
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
How to: Seafoam
Seafoam makes the world go round!
Not really, but at $5 a can it's a steal.
A can is 1 pint.
You need 2 cans.
Pour 1/2 a can in the gas tank when you stop to fill up. (This ensures it mixes well)
Pour the other 1/2 in with fresh engine oil.
At the least you will notice that the engine will idle noticeably smoother.
Here's where most people get confused. Using it down the intake to clean the combustion chamber & parts of the head.
1) Drive the car around the block until it comes up to temp
2) Pour 1/3 of a can into a separate container
3) Crank the engine
4) Pull the brake booster hose off & put your finger over the end so the car doesn't lean out & stall.
5) Drop the hose in the bottom of the container & let your finger off the end. If the engine doesn't stall out completely SHUT IT OFF ASAP.
The fluid will near instantly disappear & the engine should stall from being too rich to run, or being too lean from the hose letting air in afterwards. This will not break your engine. You're not using enough fluid to hydrolock it.
6) The engine should sit for 5 min.
7) Crank the engine & let it run until the smoke dies down
Normally you will get an ungodly amount of smoke.
8) As the smoke dies down, drive the car around. Be sure to make liberal use of 1st & 2nd gear to get to the higher portions of the RPM range a few times. That would be 5000-6850rpm..
You are not breaking your engine by running it at those rpm... All of the computers on all of the engines will cut the fuel to slow the RPM down before the engine is damaged. Yes, they are built for it...
Why someone would want to do this?
To clean gunk, sludge, & misc. heavy buildup out of the oil system. Pump, passages, bearings, walls.
To clean the fuel system.
To clean carbon out of the combustion chamber.
Now some people ask why you want to go to the trouble of cleaning carbon out of the engine.
Because as it builds up on the valves, they don't seal as well - causing poor compression while the leaking gas superheats parts of the engine that are not designed for it.
Because carbon in the combustion chamber is bad. mmmm kay? Any carbon becomes superheated. Superheated carbon / metal will cause the incoming fuel & air to ignite earlier than it should be. This (Detonation, pinging, kocking - all just names for pre-ignition) is very derailment to many aspects of engine life.
This is what a 3vz-fe looks like @ 95,000 miles.
(Forget the fluids, fluids spill look at the black carbon build-up)
Here's what it looks like 6 months after the last 3 Seafoam treatments.
Seafoam = Good. It's cheap & versatile, while working at least as good as anything else; regardless of the cost.
Not really, but at $5 a can it's a steal.
A can is 1 pint.
You need 2 cans.
Pour 1/2 a can in the gas tank when you stop to fill up. (This ensures it mixes well)
Pour the other 1/2 in with fresh engine oil.
At the least you will notice that the engine will idle noticeably smoother.
Here's where most people get confused. Using it down the intake to clean the combustion chamber & parts of the head.
1) Drive the car around the block until it comes up to temp
2) Pour 1/3 of a can into a separate container
3) Crank the engine
4) Pull the brake booster hose off & put your finger over the end so the car doesn't lean out & stall.
5) Drop the hose in the bottom of the container & let your finger off the end. If the engine doesn't stall out completely SHUT IT OFF ASAP.
The fluid will near instantly disappear & the engine should stall from being too rich to run, or being too lean from the hose letting air in afterwards. This will not break your engine. You're not using enough fluid to hydrolock it.
6) The engine should sit for 5 min.
7) Crank the engine & let it run until the smoke dies down
Normally you will get an ungodly amount of smoke.
8) As the smoke dies down, drive the car around. Be sure to make liberal use of 1st & 2nd gear to get to the higher portions of the RPM range a few times. That would be 5000-6850rpm..
You are not breaking your engine by running it at those rpm... All of the computers on all of the engines will cut the fuel to slow the RPM down before the engine is damaged. Yes, they are built for it...
Why someone would want to do this?
To clean gunk, sludge, & misc. heavy buildup out of the oil system. Pump, passages, bearings, walls.
To clean the fuel system.
To clean carbon out of the combustion chamber.
Now some people ask why you want to go to the trouble of cleaning carbon out of the engine.
Because as it builds up on the valves, they don't seal as well - causing poor compression while the leaking gas superheats parts of the engine that are not designed for it.
Because carbon in the combustion chamber is bad. mmmm kay? Any carbon becomes superheated. Superheated carbon / metal will cause the incoming fuel & air to ignite earlier than it should be. This (Detonation, pinging, kocking - all just names for pre-ignition) is very derailment to many aspects of engine life.
This is what a 3vz-fe looks like @ 95,000 miles.
(Forget the fluids, fluids spill look at the black carbon build-up)
Here's what it looks like 6 months after the last 3 Seafoam treatments.
Seafoam = Good. It's cheap & versatile, while working at least as good as anything else; regardless of the cost.
10-30-05, 09:13 PM
#4
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
What OLT? Nobody posted good directions, or examples of what happens.
I remember the old directions no longer printed on the outside of the cans which can clear up issues/questions people have with seafoam.
Like hydrolocking, plug fouling, destroying o2 sensors & cats, amounts that should be used when doing xxx.
(Besides, who better to ***** a new thread with directions than the person that brought Seafoam out of the bowels of the yota-truck forums in the first place!)
Anzial noone has noted any plug fouling, or cat damage using the correct amount of Seafoam. In all honesty, after 100/150 000 miles the cats don't do that much anyway.
I remember the old directions no longer printed on the outside of the cans which can clear up issues/questions people have with seafoam.
Like hydrolocking, plug fouling, destroying o2 sensors & cats, amounts that should be used when doing xxx.
(Besides, who better to ***** a new thread with directions than the person that brought Seafoam out of the bowels of the yota-truck forums in the first place!)
Anzial noone has noted any plug fouling, or cat damage using the correct amount of Seafoam. In all honesty, after 100/150 000 miles the cats don't do that much anyway.
01-14-06, 04:31 AM
#7
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Aloha folks,
Doing some digging and found this thread. Pheonix, per your directions at the top, is this to be done in one session? Adding in the gas, oil, and intake.
Also you state to add to fresh oil. So I have to do another oil change after the treatment? And would the plugs need to be changed after? I recently changed the valve cover gaskets...5k miles ago, and popped in new plugs at that time.
Mahalo! (thank you)
Oops. nevermind about the plugs. You answered it several posts above.
Doing some digging and found this thread. Pheonix, per your directions at the top, is this to be done in one session? Adding in the gas, oil, and intake.
Also you state to add to fresh oil. So I have to do another oil change after the treatment? And would the plugs need to be changed after? I recently changed the valve cover gaskets...5k miles ago, and popped in new plugs at that time.
Mahalo! (thank you)
Oops. nevermind about the plugs. You answered it several posts above.
Last edited by sur4dude; 01-14-06 at 04:36 AM.
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01-14-06, 11:52 AM
#8
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
No plugs shouldn't need to be changed.
You can do it to everything at one time if you want 2. Doesn't really matter 2 much.
I wouldn't put it with fresh oil, kinda wasteful. If you want 2 do it that way, go to Walmart &nbuy you some cheap Supertech (Which isn't bad dino old, don't let the price fool u) in the big jugs. That way you're like, not throwing away $18 worth of good synthetic oil (Mobil 1 5w-30 Synthetic sells for around 18-20 @ most wall-marts)
You can do it to everything at one time if you want 2. Doesn't really matter 2 much.
I wouldn't put it with fresh oil, kinda wasteful. If you want 2 do it that way, go to Walmart &nbuy you some cheap Supertech (Which isn't bad dino old, don't let the price fool u) in the big jugs. That way you're like, not throwing away $18 worth of good synthetic oil (Mobil 1 5w-30 Synthetic sells for around 18-20 @ most wall-marts)
01-14-06, 10:37 PM
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So...step 5, drop the hose, let the fluid enter the line, then the engine dies. Then what? Reconnect the hose with the fluid in it, or let it drain out? I assume when the engine dies from the seafoam, thats when you have put in enough? Correct me if im wrong.
Thx
Thx
01-15-06, 11:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Pheonix
The vacuum is going to suck anything up instantly.
01-15-06, 02:01 PM
#13
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Great write up Pheonix, so just to reiterate, I should do the treatment right before I change my oil? Also, I haven't looked yet, but can I get seafoam at any autoparts store?
