tomstep2

I know that there are many threads and instructions on how to use Seafoam. I just wanted to share my experience...

I have been really nervous about using this in my engine for anything other than in the gas tank as I am in sales and I rely solely on my ES for work. My ES is a 1993 that just turned 96,000 miles.

I used 1/3 can into the brake booster, slow-w-w-ly pouring it in and then let it smoke everything out, then I repeated the process again and shut the engine down for about 10 minutes. When I started it up, the amount of smoke was incredible! I also realized how much smoother and quieter it was at idle. When I started to rev the engine, I instantly noticed how quickly the needles went to the 5 - 6K range, MUCH QUICKER than before. After the smoke died down 5 or 10 minutes later, I took it for a drive and noticed a HUGE power difference. I am changing my plugs tomorrow, but so far on plugs that have been in my car for over 7 years, they have not fouled up. I am having new struts installed tomorrow and will have the oil changed and plugs replaced at the same time, so needless to say, I will be pouring the last 1/3 can into the crankcase 10 minutes or so before the oil change.

My mechanic friend told me that since I use nothing but premium gas, that the carbon build-up should not be that bad, but it is still a good idea to run Seafoam through once a year or so.

Once again, I know that there are many threads on this, but I wanted to share my experience. I am now a true believer in Seafoam!

Bigfish

Here is my Seafoam story . . .

I ran into an ignition coil problems three months ago. The mechanic shop I took my car too seemed incapable of fixing my car; they did however, demonstrate proficency in cashing my check, $693 for service NOT rendered.

In January, I went out bought a car repair book. After doing a bit of research I made of list of the parts I needed to repair my vehicle and then went shopping at autozone. While I was walking through the store, I saw the seafoam display. I decided to buy a can. However, I did not use it for a few months (too nervous I guess).

Late last week, I decided to try out this seafoam stuff. I watched a few youtube videos to see the stuff in action and read comments posted on this forum. I waited for most of my neighbors to go to work (I knew there'd be smoke --- ALOT of smoke).

I then did the following:

I waited 20-minutes and watched as the white smoke began to engulf my neighborhood. I revved the engine in my driveway for about 15-minutes at which point 90% of the smoke cleared.

Shortly there after that I took the car for short spin around the neighborhood. I noticed the car was running rough, and shaking while idling. Then the Check Engine Light (CEL) came on. I checked the code it indicated there was one or several misfires in cylinder 6.

After performing a bit of troubleshooting I determined the cylinder 6 ignition coil went bad. Coincidence? I don't really know or care. I had a spare coil laying around so I installed it.

I then took the car for a test drive (straight to McDonald's). The shaking had gone away, and car was driving smoothly, however, within 2 miles the CEL came back on. The codes indicated P300 "multiple misfires," and codes P1305, p1310, p1315, p1320 forgot what these mean. Tired of the auto repair world, I waited until the following day.

The next morning, I began to wonder if I should have driven the car after the seafoam treatment, rather just revving in my driveway. Perhaps the carbon deposits had to be burned out of the engine . . .

So I went for a test drive, after driving about I took out the ODB scanner and cleared the CEL. And 90 miles later the CEL has NOT returned (knock on wood). An added note, I had my oil changed at jiffy lube before the 100 mile marker to clear the remaining chemicals out of the system.

All-in-all, I'd say my seafom experience was a good one. I plan to try this stuff out on my sisters minivan or perhaps my fiance's mazda protege based on those experiences I decided whether or not this stuff lives up to the hype.
Good luck everyone.

BDSL

When you said PCV hose, you meant one of the vacuum hose at throttle body. PCV = positive crankcase vent...it goes striaght to your oil!

Another way to clear the Check Engine light is to remove the EFI for 30 seconds.

mmatheny

So you disconnected the brake booster line and let it suck in there?

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...o-seafoam.html

^^For anyone with questions about seafoaming, heres a How-To

Jewel707

iTrader: (1)

if i seafoam do i need to change my sparkplugs? because i just had them changed...

llcoolpass

i have the feeling you guys are using seafoam wrong. dangerously wrong. which is why i always advise caution. it's not a toy. you can damage the engine if you don't do it properly. do not follow what you see in the youtube videos; those people are lazy and clueless, they are in vast majority of cases doing it WRONG.

THIS is the correct procedure [for the last damned time lol]:
[[paraphrase from a mazda tsb:]]
Bring engine to normal operating temperature, then shut engine off.
2. Use a 610mm (?!) length of 1/8" I.D. vacuum hose as a feed tube for seafoam, although it is strongly advised to use an aerosol cleaner to eliminate the risk of liquid lock (some techs have done it). Do not use any of the vehicle's vacuum hoses for feeding cleaner into the engine otherwise they may deteriorate as a result (vacuum leaks on 24 possible hoses is tedious).
3. Connect one end of the feed tube to the Purge Control vacuum port on the upper intake manifold and place the other end of the feed tube in the can of seafoam, or to the spray nozzle of an aerosol. If a liquid bottle is used the feed rate must be at least 30 secs to avoid hydraulic lock-up damage.
4. Pinch the feed-tube with locking forceps or locking pliars to prevent suction during start-up.
5. Restart engine.
6. Allow idle to stabilise, then feed the cleaner into the engine by releasing the locking pliars/forceps while lifting engine speed to 3000rpm until half the cleaner is used. If using liquid feed, ensure feed-rate is always erring on the safe side by kinking the tube (a thumb screw clamp is ideal). If using a spray feed (preferred) keep shaking the can vigorously. At the half point allow the engine to stall, or shut-it off.
7. The vehicle should be left to sit for 6-24hrs allowing the cleaner to saturate the carbon, the initial intake of cleaner loosens carbon by both dissolving and also by a cold-shock.
8. Flush remaining carbon by repeating the above steps using the remaining half of the carb cleaner. Do not let the engine stall during the procedure.
9. Remove the feed tube & reconnect the purge control vacuum line.
10. Change oil & oil filter to remove contaminants & carbon in the oil which will otherwise be pumped through all parts of the engine.
11. Take the car on a 3-4 mile test drive, using the full-rpm range to remove any remaining cleaner or carbon from the engine.
12. Let the car sit for another 12hrs, restart - if the noise/problem is gone then the cause of the noise was carbon build-up. Note the above procedure is a little complex and requires an oil & oil-filter change.

mmatheny

Where is the Purge Control Vacuum Line? Are they talking about CARB cleaner, or SeaFoam? I assume SeaFoam is stronger than carb cleaner, that's why it only soaks for 10 minutes? (according to the other post)

mmatheny

Direct link to SeaFoam's site on how to do it:
http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm

llcoolpass

some ppl will mistakenly be injecting it into pcv i would bet after reading that seafoam site

carb cleaner.....sea foam.... no difference in that procedure i gave up three posts in this thread

and the purge control line.... well, on a 1mz-fe or 3vz-fe you can use the vacuum port on the intake manifold

you can try 10 minutes if your car is running ok. but if your car has deleterious amounts of carbon building [e.g. running poorly] then follow the procedure in my post three notches up in this thread.....

i strongly suggest following the procedure that i posted

mmatheny

I believe they mean to remove the hose going from the intake TO the PCV, and that way it goes into the intake plenum.

mmatheny

OK - here's my idea of getting the most out of a Seafoam application.
1. Get the engine to operating temp
2. Turn engine off
3. Disconnect/disable the ignition system
4. Have someone crank the engine while you administer the proper amount of Seafoam through one of the vacuum hoses slowly, so you don't get a hydro-lock
5. Let the car sit for 10 minutes at least
6. Crank engine to clear any liquid out
7. Re-enable the ignition
8. Start the car and drive until it smooths out at higher revs

This would let more of the liquid sit in the cylinders without being evaporated by the ignition and really attack the deposits.

What do you experts think? Anything wrong with this method, please correct me.

llcoolpass

........

10. Change oil & oil filter to remove contaminants & carbon in the oil which will otherwise be pumped through all parts of the engine.
11. Take the car on a 3-4 mile test drive, using the full-rpm range to remove any remaining cleaner or carbon from the engine.

.............

plus dont do this:3. Disconnect/disable the ignition system
4. Have someone crank the engine while you administer the proper amount of Seafoam through one of the vacuum hoses slowly, so you don't get a hydro-lock

llcoolpass

THIS is the correct procedure [for the last damned time lol]:
[[paraphrase from a mazda tsb:]]
Bring engine to normal operating temperature, then shut engine off.
2. Use a 610mm (?!) length of 1/8" I.D. vacuum hose as a feed tube for seafoam, although it is strongly advised to use an aerosol cleaner to eliminate the risk of liquid lock (some techs have done it). Do not use any of the vehicle's vacuum hoses for feeding cleaner into the engine otherwise they may deteriorate as a result (vacuum leaks on 24 possible hoses is tedious).
3. Connect one end of the feed tube to the Purge Control vacuum port on the upper intake manifold and place the other end of the feed tube in the can of seafoam, or to the spray nozzle of an aerosol. If a liquid bottle is used the feed rate must be at least 30 secs to avoid hydraulic lock-up damage.
4. Pinch the feed-tube with locking forceps or locking pliars to prevent suction during start-up.
5. Restart engine.
6. Allow idle to stabilise, then feed the cleaner into the engine by releasing the locking pliars/forceps while lifting engine speed to 3000rpm until half the cleaner is used. If using liquid feed, ensure feed-rate is always erring on the safe side by kinking the tube (a thumb screw clamp is ideal). If using a spray feed (preferred) keep shaking the can vigorously. At the half point allow the engine to stall, or shut-it off.
7. The vehicle should be left to sit for 6-24hrs allowing the cleaner to saturate the carbon, the initial intake of cleaner loosens carbon by both dissolving and also by a cold-shock.
8. Flush remaining carbon by repeating the above steps using the remaining half of the carb cleaner. Do not let the engine stall during the procedure.
9. Remove the feed tube & reconnect the purge control vacuum line.
10. Change oil & oil filter to remove contaminants & carbon in the oil which will otherwise be pumped through all parts of the engine.
11. Take the car on a 3-4 mile test drive, using the full-rpm range to remove any remaining cleaner or carbon from the engine.

mmatheny

OIK - why does it have to be RUNNING? It would seem that sucking it int by cranking and not igniting, more of the cleaner would stay in the cylinders to do their job. If the engine is at running temp before doing this, the Seafoam would still get hot to help with the process. Or is there more of a chance of liquid-lock this way?