wsrivers

It was suggested that I use "SEAFOAM". Now I've been all over the Internet and Youtube looking at how to use this stuff. My question is as I am preparing this car to be road ready can I use it now? I see that it gets smokey however can I let it run to burn off in the driveway or is it better to take it on the highway?

nsghtbrwry

What did they suggest using it for? It's mostly rubbing alcohol (has a bit of naphtha and mineral oil) so most fo what you see is isopropyl and water vapor. I would let it smoke out, because you may be a hazard on the highway or get pulled over.

wsrivers

Thanks nsghtbrwry I heard it was like lighter fluid. One of the old timers swears by it. Cleans the engine, injectors, sludge and etc. It's just that every video that I've watched has the owners driving the car until the smoke clears. Rather than risking the tickets and or endangering other drivers if possible I'd do everything in my driveway.

nsghtbrwry

Yeah it's a solvent cocktail, but most of that is rubbing alcohol (isopropyl). It has some naphtha (lighter fluid). A lot of people swear by it, and it's not magical but it has a positive effect sometimes and I guess it can't really hurt anything.

I see recommendations on Toyota Nation for dumping in a bottle 15 minutes before an oil change (idling the engine for that time). They say the oil comes out a lot blacker...I'll try it once if I see another sludged 1MZ. They don't recommend driving it around like that because it may strip lubrication from cylinder walls, being a solvent and all.

Vern1956

No one knows of any possible danger to the engine? I'm hesitate to use these "miracle" products...

thanks

Oro

What do you want to do with it?

I have used a fair amount of it over the last two decades on motorcycles and autos for various things, with various levels of absolute- and cost-effectiveness. For some things, it is fantastic, others less so.

wsrivers

Been told to use it in my intake, gas, and oil. Just a thought since the car was sitting for a few years maybe I should look into adding it.

Vern1956

I just bought an 05 with 90K miles on it for my daughter. It has all the service records and the only thing I don't see as being done is to replace the plugs. I will soon but was wondering about the value of running a cleaner through it.

Oro

Preface: There are a lot of ways to deal with this issue. Here's my opinion; there are other ways to do it, but I've found this to work and not waste time or money or miss a big problem. Other approaches can work, too.

SeaFoam can be used as a solvent for cleaning varnish off lines and systems. It can work very well in injector systems, carburetors, ATs, PS systems, etc. Of course, you have to have a problem first for it to be effective. Also, it is relatively pricey vs. other options (same size can of B12, an even stronger solvent, is 1/3 the price at Walmart, for example). The place it really shines vs. others is in fuel lines dissolving varnish, cleaning injectors, carburetor jets, etc. It's also really good at cleaning valve bodies in AT transmissions and

There are some "homebrew" recipes floating on the web which insist SeaFoam is roughly diesel/naptha/alcohol. They are wrong. I've tried the mix and the chemical properties (and effectiveness) don't match at all. Nor do they even make a homogenous mixture - the alcohol is too polar and separates right out. Not to say those chemicals can't be useful, but that's a different subject.

Tank: First, drain the old gas out of the tank if you can do so. If not, dilute the old with fresh premium gas (preferrably E0) added to the tank. Adding Seafoam here can be useful to clean the pump (which is unlikely to need it at all), clean out injector lines and bodies. This can be helpful because it has sat with gas evaporating and leaving a varnish in those elements. It's not necessary to do it before starting the car, but rather through the first tank or two to clean things up. As a long-term maintenance in this area, what I do is add marvel Mystery oil (others used TCW3 oil - both work for this as well as other benefits, and are cheap) to gas. Worry about that later.

Crankcase: The idea here is to use it to dissolve sludge or varnish in the valve train, oil journals, oil pick up, OCVs, etc. that accumulate from heat acting on oil and the combustion by-products in the oil. This is a condition caused from engine operation and will have nothing to do with the car sitting. Don't worry about this as necessary to put the car back in service. Fresh oil and filter is adequate. If you want to address this issue after the car is running, there are more effective and cheaper ways than seafoam.

Intake: The idea has some overlap with adding it to the gas, but mainly it is to clean valves and combustion chamber deposits. The main mechanism here is actually NOT chemical but just hydraulic - the vapor under pressure does the work. There are nice videos out there on youtube of people getting the same effect with water vs. SeaFoam. And again, this is to "cure" the effects of engine operation, not anything to do with sitting idle. Worry about it later.

Here's what I would do to get it running (lots of info on the web):

1) take out the front bank plugs and turn the engine by hand with a socket on the crankshaft. If it turns easily, put the plugs back in. If not, then you have stuck rings and need to take all plugs out and soak the rings to loosen them. This is unlikely unless it's been sitting a LONG time and unprotected/leaky.

2) Get fresh gas in it - drain tank, siphon it out, etc. Disconnect the fuel line at the rail and pump out the old fuel from the lines.

3) Jack each axle in turn and check each tire rotates freely (no stuck calipers or guide pins). Spin and apply brakes and make sure all brakes work.

4) Start it. It may run very rough for a little while, but wait for it to stabilize. Once it is running, take it for a brief drive to heat things up a little and get brakes and coolant a little warm.

5) Bring it right back and then shut it down. Go over it with a flash light looking for fuel leaks, oil leaks, brake fluid leaks, etc. Feel each wheel center and make sure none are screeching hot implying seized brakes or bearings.

6) Change the brake fluid.

All good? Then now you can toss some SeaFoam in the tank to clean out the injector system. Doing an engine flush or intake fluid induction for cleaning is optional. I do them usually every few years as maintenance, so maybe this is just a good time to start. If you want to do an engine flush, do that on the old oil and filter before you recycle it and put in fresh oil and filter. On your first real drive, watch the temp. gauge and make sure the thermostat is working normally. Check the coolant and evaluate if you need to service it.

DocLiving

Another option is Marvel Mystery Oil. My dad has a 91 Land Cruiser, that since he has had it, it would hesitant slightly when accelerating. When we ran some of that in the gas it took that away and made it a little more fuel efficient. I also had a 92 Corolla that had sat before I got it and it would burn oil and run a little rough. Well I put some in the gas and oil and it for the most part it had gotten rid of the oil burning and smoothed it out a lot. It would only burn oil on start up after that. We decide to run it because one of our mechanic friends runs that in everything he has and he has tried running other cleaner too. He recommended that we start running that in our vehicles. Of course I have heard that it can mess with the emissions of the vehicle, so I would not run it before an emission test.

http://www.marvelmysteryoil.com/

satiger

iTrader: (1)

I have used Seafoam in ES and GX multiple time with gas. I didn't have issues so far. Once used through ES brake booster line and it did smoke a bit and idled smoothly.

Oro

Funny you mention that. I had to get an emissions inspection today. I left the MMO out of the tank when I refilled it this past weekend, and added some this afternoon when I got home.

I am a big fan of it and it has A LOT of uses. I have used it to free stuck rings, improve MPGs (reverse ethanol drying in gas), lube/clean fuel system, and more. It also works as a light oil for things like a cutting oil when drilling or tapping, or air tool oil, also. Very versatile stuff that saves me money and, more importantly, fixes things and cuts down on the number of various specialty items I need to have.

skeeter55

Here is a good video with after result tests using an internal camera. also gives method by which to introduce the foam