Sea Foam Reviews with Data?

[tlee1234]

Sea Foam Reviews with Data?

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has tried Sea Foam,

Suppose to clean out carbon build up in engine (through pcv valve)


If so is it really neccessary to do something like this?

Current milage: 58,000
Car: Honda S2000 2.2 L

Thanks

PS i'm new here, I think this is a great forum!

 

[Camu Mahubah]

Wow, S2000 is one of my dream cars! I don't think you need Sea Foam. I'd really like to see some pics of the Honda Hunny though.

Welcome to BITOG! Plenty of good advice here. Plenty of people know about Sea Foam.

I have used it in an old Cadillac. I wouldn't think you would need something like this in a modern fuel injected engine. Unless you are in an area that has poor quality fuel.

 

[ryan2022]

Hi, the use of seafoam is a debated topic on BITOG.

I've used it on an Acura, and it SEEMED to help. I wouldnt use it in your crankcase, only the PCV, or throttle body, and possibly in the tank.

At 58K though, I'm sure that S2000 engine is in no danger of carbon! I think I'd stick with a nice oil. Great car!

 

[mechtech2]

Trickle or spray a little water in the intake manifold instead of the Seafoam.
Keep the engine running at 2,000 or so while doing so.
Very safe and cheap.
Use a modern cleaner once or twice in the gas tank each year.
Seafoam is dated, but has it's uses.
But get the modern stuff, like Chevron Techron, Gumout Regane, or Redline SI-1. This will clean the whole fuel system, valves, and C.C.s.

 

[chevrofreak]

I've done both SeaFoam and Berryman's B12 Chemtool through the intake. Neither did squat. The SeaFoam sure puts on a big show, though, to make you think it is actually doing something.

Slowly sucking a couple gallons of hot water in, however, did more than those other products combined, and then some.

I pulled a plug and checked the top of the same piston after I did each of the above, and only saw an improvement when I used the hot water. My pistons are fully visible as being metal now, and not pitted chunks of carbon.

 

[brandontyler65]

how did you suck the water in through, a really tiny vacuum line?

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

couple gallons? wow, at what rate?

 

[chevrofreak]

I put a hose on a nipple just below my throttle body. The hose had a tiny restrictor in it (the hole was about the diameter of a thumb tack) and I just put the other end of the hose into the jug of water.

Letting it idle caused water to pool up in the intake, and when I revved it a significant amount got sucked in at one time. Not a good thing, because my car was tilted at an angle, which darned near made one of the cylinders get too full. There's a lot of vacuum at idle, which makes it suck water FAST, even with such a tiny hole for the water to go through. You're better off running the engine at 1500-2000 RPM, which will help to prevent stalling, and will also lower the amount of vacuum trying to suck the water in.

I've used both cold and hot water, and the hot water gave vastly better results.

After you've sucked about half a gallon of water in, take it out and flog the heck out of it once it stops sputtering. That will help loosen up and burn off the carbon. Come home, repeat.

If you have something with the ability to create a steady mist of hot water that you can put into your intake before the throttle body, that might give better results by distributing the water evenly to all cylinders. It will also cut the chances of hydrolocking a cylinder.

Even with my tiny restrictor in the hose it still only took about 10-15 minutes combined to suck up 2 gallons of water.

 

[Camu Mahubah]

I simply refuse to put water in my engine. Contrary to everything I have ever read or heard.

Where did you guys who do this get this idea? I'm not slamming the practice. Just wondering who came up with this.

 

[chevrofreak]

It's something that has been done for a very long time. My shop teacher was a mechanic and he said the way they used to do is to take the air cleaner off and slowly pour a cup of water into the carburetor while revving the engine.

Water is a powerful solvent, and steam is even better.

 

[tlee1234]

wow, thanks for all the replies, never heard of anyone pouring water, any chance of hurting the engine with that practice? (any evidence with facts/numbers that it was cleaner?)

thanks

 

[chevrofreak]

You can hurt the engine if you use too much water. It will make the piston hit a hard stop at the top of the compression stroke, since water does not compress. That can break head bolts, piston rings, blow out spark plugs, break connecting rods, damage the crankshaft, and various other things that you don't need happening. Cold water could also cause hot metal to crack. That's part of why I used hot water. Hot water will also clean better.

No numbers, but I know for a fact that the tops of my pistons are cleaner after using water than they were after using either SeaFoam or B12. I can see them by removing a spark plug, and I actually see aluminum now instead of just pitted black carbon like I saw before.

 

[tlee1234]

this forum is awesome, thanks for the quick reply

 

[mechtech2]

Who came up with water injection?
I think the Nazis did in WWII fighter planes.

For us, use a small amount at a time - trickle it- don't hydrolock your engine!

 

[punisher]

Water is no more likely to lock up an engine than Seafoam or another top end cleaner. Liquid is liquid.

Water does work well to remove carbon. I saw lots of 3.8L Ford engines with really clean shiny piston tops.

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

good idea w/ the hot water, it's that much closer to turning to steam and the steam rxn is what's doing the cleaning i think. and the car being hot from running too is important, but i just used a hand spray bottle so maybe 20 oz and a lot of trigger pulls while opening throttle by hand, around 2-3K rpm

 

[sciphi]

Hmm, another thing to try this weekend to impress my non-techie friends.

Will the plugs need changing after this?

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

i'd try it if i could get to mine easily. they'd probably be clean

 

[Ross]

I have used water in a geo metro that I bought about 2 years ago. I hooked up hose to the TB ran the hose up by the wipers then outside and thru the dirvers side window. I had a gallon of dist. water on my lap. Used a basketbal pump needle as a restrictor on the hose. I drove down the interstate (at night) and would put the needle into the water until you could feel the engine slightly gog down. I would then take the hose out of the water and let the engine recover. I repeated this several times. It blasted all the cooked on deposits on top the pistons. It was the first time I have done it. Do a search hear to find out more.

 

[chevrofreak]

I used a ball pump needle in the restrictor of mine as well, but I put it on the throttle body side. I threaded it into the hose, and it was in there quite solidly so I wasn't worried about it getting sucked into the engine. I slipped the end of the hose with the needle in it into the 2" long piece of hose that normally attached my black PCV tube to the throttle body. It still flowed too much for my liking, so I pinched it a bit to restrict the flow. Even with that tiny hole it's amazing how fast the water got sucked down.