My Seafoam experience.

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This is on a 1996 Mazda Miata with about 165k miles on the engine if the odometer is to be believed.

Ever since I overheated my engine I've been going through a gallon of oil every 4k ish miles or so. A literal gallon. Of Shell Rotella T6. So basically I'd buy two containers of T6, One for the oil
change and one to use as top off oil. I would use up the top off oil container BEFORE my actual oil change was scheduled, So under 5k miles.

No leaks, no smoke AT ALL at ANY time EVER. The oil just Houdini'd out of my engine.

So what I did out of curiosity is buy two cans of sea foam. Take out my spark plugs and cover the piston tops with seafoam. Just to see if my issues were in the oil rings being stuck. So I let them soak over night, the next morning two pistons were dry and two were wet. I turned the engine over to blow out the liquid from the cylinders and to get the pistons and rings moving after having them sit all night soaking. I covered the pistons with seafoam AGAIN and let them sit overnight. The following morning ALL the cylinders were dry. So I reinstalled my sparkplugs and started the engine after the sun went down so nobody'd know that I was smoking up the neighborhood. I drove the car hard for about a half an hour. The smoke had gone away but my engine was misfiring as I let off the gass. The sparks plugs looked a bit fouled when I took them off so I went and got 4 new Denso Iridium power sparkplugs. I swapped them out and let the car sit over night.

I drove the car to work the following morning and changed the oil out with Amsoil 10w30 Z-Rod Synthetic oil and a Fram Ultra oil filter.

That was on Monday. It is now Thursday as I post this.

By this point I would have added about 1/4 to 1/2 of a quart of oil to top it off. Again, I was using Shell Rotella T6 5w40.

Now however. The level on the dipstick has not moved. At all.

I'm flabbergasted. So far I have not needed to add ANY oil. I repeat SO FAR.

I'm going to keep monitoring my oil level as I drive the car. But now, it seems to be working.

If it does in fact work. That'd be the best 20ish dollars that I ever spent.

Side effects. I don't know if this is due to the thinner weight oil or the new spark plugs, but it's MUCH easier and faster to downshift now than before. I also have an overall butt dyno feel of improved acceleration. But I do definitely feel the engine to be smoother from idle to any RPM range. But I think that's due to the new spark plugs.

I'll take pics of the old spark plugs later on.

So far I'm really happy.
 
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I did not, I do regret not doing so AFTER I did it. I think it's because I thought this wouldn't work. So I didn't want to waste any time.

I know this story sounds like some advertisement for seafoam. But I'm just really surprised that it did this well. I knew it was going to do SOME good. Maybe even Lower the oil consumption a little bit, but it seams to have COMPLETELY worked. I haven't seen the oil level move on the dipstick at all.


I copied this from my build thread on ClubRoadster.
 
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Another great Amsoil story!

Seriously though, first glad to hear. It may be a combination of factors...maybe your oci regimen would have fixed it eventually. Just theorizing, not saying the Seafoam didn't help.
 
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Do a good test on your PCV system make sure everything is working properly there.

You probably unstuck an oil control ring or two with your soak..but keep an eye on things for now as it may come back on you.

Next time you start burning oil, swap out the plugs for copper NGK plugs and then after burning a couple of gallons of oil read your plugs to determine which cylinder has the bad oil control ring and focus on that cylinder for your soaks.

If you want to get a good soak use your Seafoam or Deep Creep and add 3-4 ounces in each cylinder. Install plugs but do not install wires. crank engine over a couple of bumps to force the solvent into the ring lands by engine compression.
 
My OCI has always been 5k miles. Always used synthetic oil. Mostly been using Shell Rotella T6. It's a great oil but now I think I don't need it now since I don't track my car. Yet. Or don't have any forced induction.

Besides I like how much easier it is to blip the throttle with the thinner oil. If that's the cause.

This Amsoil Z ROD oil I like because it has extra zinc like the diesel oil to keep my lifters quiet. And it's the viscosity that Mazda recommended. No problems so far.

I have an entirely new PCV system with a silicone hose.

I'm using denso Iridium plugs because I have Motorcycle coil on plug ignition coils and an external ignition module instead of the factory [censored] coil boxes and plug wires.

Those new pencil coils work with sparkplugs that you have to remove the tip to install.

If I have any issues with oil consumption again than I'll try to find some cheap plugs with removable tips to use.
 
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Originally Posted By: krismoriah72
Do a good test on your PCV system make sure everything is working properly there.

You probably unstuck an oil control ring or two with your soak..but keep an eye on things for now as it may come back on you.

Next time you start burning oil, swap out the plugs for copper NGK plugs and then after burning a couple of gallons of oil read your plugs to determine which cylinder has the bad oil control ring and focus on that cylinder for your soaks.

If you want to get a good soak use your Seafoam or Deep Creep and add 3-4 ounces in each cylinder. Install plugs but do not install wires. crank engine over a couple of bumps to force the solvent into the ring lands by engine compression.


Very dangerous - you're asking for a hydraulic lock and an expensive repair.
 
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: krismoriah72
Do a good test on your PCV system make sure everything is working properly there.

You probably unstuck an oil control ring or two with your soak..but keep an eye on things for now as it may come back on you.

Next time you start burning oil, swap out the plugs for copper NGK plugs and then after burning a couple of gallons of oil read your plugs to determine which cylinder has the bad oil control ring and focus on that cylinder for your soaks.

If you want to get a good soak use your Seafoam or Deep Creep and add 3-4 ounces in each cylinder. Install plugs but do not install wires. crank engine over a couple of bumps to force the solvent into the ring lands by engine compression.


Very dangerous - you're asking for a hydraulic lock and an expensive repair.


I agree.

Better would be to figure out which cylinder, get both valves closed, add the Sea Foam, and pressurize with compressed air.
 
Originally Posted By: N7Quarian
I did not, I do regret not doing so AFTER I did it. I think it's because I thought this wouldn't work. So I didn't want to waste any time.

I know this story sounds like some advertisement for seafoam. But I'm just really surprised that it did this well. I knew it was going to do SOME good. Maybe even Lower the oil consumption a little bit, but it seams to have COMPLETELY worked. I haven't seen the oil level move on the dipstick at all.


I copied this from my build thread on ClubRoadster.



The compression may or may not have made better by a soak. If the only issue was a gummed up oil control ring, then the compression would not change much, but the oil control ring would not better scrape oil off the cylinder wall. Or all rings gummed up and freed by a soak.
 
Just to be fair. I'm using this Amsoil Z ROD oil because of the high levels of Zinc among other reasons. Because I tried other oils like M1 0W40 and after a while my lifters started tapping very loudly. Keep in mind I use 0W40 in my BMW with no issues.

I believe the Seafoam unstuck the rings and the Amsoil will keep them unstuck WHILE keeping my lifters nice and quiet. Only time will tell.
 
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: krismoriah72
Do a good test on your PCV system make sure everything is working properly there.

You probably unstuck an oil control ring or two with your soak..but keep an eye on things for now as it may come back on you.

Next time you start burning oil, swap out the plugs for copper NGK plugs and then after burning a couple of gallons of oil read your plugs to determine which cylinder has the bad oil control ring and focus on that cylinder for your soaks.

If you want to get a good soak use your Seafoam or Deep Creep and add 3-4 ounces in each cylinder. Install plugs but do not install wires. crank engine over a couple of bumps to force the solvent into the ring lands by engine compression.


Very dangerous - you're asking for a hydraulic lock and an expensive repair.


bigt61 do you know of anyone who has been able to hydro-lock an engine with just the starter and NO spark and damage the engine?
 
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I don't know if this is due to the thinner weight oil or the new spark plugs, but it's MUCH easier and faster to downshift now than before.
I know what you mean. This is called placebo effect.
 
The "blip factor" increase IS coming from the oil viscosity being a little lighter with the Amsoil, NOT specifically the brand of oil. I experienced that on a rebuild where the "build" oil was 30 and the "running" oil was 20W-50. Holly doggier, batguy! Went to 5W-40 Rotella and the "eagerness" came back to near 30-wt levels. I believe there might be a RotellaT6 10W-30 now, if that matters.

The detergency package in the diesel-spec T6 should be plenty strong to keep the rings from sticking or anything getting gunked-up.

For curiousity, do you normally drive in lower gears (at part throttle, low load) rather than upshift and use lesser rpms? Reason I ask is that Chevrolet had an issue with Corvette drivers who drove that way. When they did that, the OEM oil rings would flutter and not seal well, ending in higher oil consumption. Chevy bought back several of those vehicles. What they found was that the higher rpm/low load mode did increase oil consumption. The revised rings had a different "scraper" shape on the oil rings and 1oz more tension on them.

CBODY67
 
My 03 maxima uses oil. I just ordered a pcv valve and gonna see if that helps. If the rear plugs weren't so tough to remove, I would do the piston soak like you did. I ran a bottle of techron 3 tanks ago, and have a can of Berryman in there right now. Should clean up whatever it can this way. I think these are known for oil control ring issues so a piston soak might be necessary to fix it.

To clarify though, the Berryman and techron went in he gas tank, not the oil. I poured about 8oz of seafoam into the oil a few days ago. It has M1 5w30 in it, about 1500 miles into the oci and I'll be using syntec 0w40 next go around. I can't think of much else I can do other than a piston soak.
 
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