Friend of mine recently gave me a can of Seafoam. Never heard of it but, after he gave me 15-minutes of praise for it, it sounds like Tectron or, other fuel/oil cleaning solutions.

What's the word from the SF membership on this stuff and any precautions to take note of?

Some of my fellow Audi owners with the early direct injection engines would burn a bottle of this to clean out the intake manifold.

I also add it to my lawn mower gas over the winter.

I have used it in my gas tank to clean the fuel system. Also used it to clean the motor running it with the oil for 15 minutes before changing the oil. Have not used it in the brake booster line like many have on YouTube videos I have seen. Creates a huge cloud of smoke, but not sure if it does any good.

added a couple oz"s once or twice a month to the motorcycle fuel tank..seemed to help ... also added to the ztr lawn mower every couple of tanks..... ... drill sgt.

I have used it both in the tank and through the intake with the engine running. It is an excellent top engine cleaner. I run it on any vehicle over 100K miles. For cleaning the intake, you pour it slowly into the intake while the engine is running at about 1000 rpm. You will have to pull the intake hose to get access. Pour it in slowly enough that the engine runs but fast enough that it lightly stumbles. then shut the car off for about an hour. When you start it back up you will have no mosquitoes in your neighborhood due to the clouds of gray smoke that will come out of your tailpipe. Just be careful, if you dump the whole can in you can hydro-lock your engine.

Their advertisements say it’s very good.

It’s a secret blend of isopropanol and petroleum distillates. I’ve used it in old, nearly worn-out engines in vehicles of minimal value. I wouldn’t use it in any high tech modern engine.

I've used it before in the tank and through the intake. If through the intake make sure you know what you are doing. BTW it will produce alot of smoke.

I think the best use for this stuff is through the intake to clean out the top end of an engine. Unless you need this cleaning I wouldn't try it. Not sure if that is really needed much on today's cars.

Also if you are putting it through your intake I would do it just before I changed the plugs.

FWIW by "through the intake" I mean using the correct vacuum line to suck it into the intake not pouring it in the intake directly.

The last car I used it on was a 2001 model.

Seems to work fine as a gas additive. Haven't tried the other methods.

I've used it in the gas tank in our cars, trucks and lawnmower for a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by opticsguy:
Some of my fellow Audi owners with the early direct injection engines would burn a bottle of this to clean out the intake manifold.

I've heard both that it's bad for direct injection systems and that it won't harm them. I used to use it regularly on my non-DI vehicles but stopped when I upgraded to the Taurus, as it's direct injection.

I use it to clean carbs in small 4 stroke engines.

quote:

Seafoam. Never heard of it

Pretty much every mechanic or mechanic-type knows Seafoam, what it does and knows it is a good product.

The stuff is awesome. A heavy dose to the oil 30 min before an oil change will fix noisy lifters.

I've used it in 2 cycle and 4 cycle and think it is a good product. Lots of times there will be an unadvertised special, like buy 2 and get 1 free, or buy 1 and get another 1/2 off. Ask at the auto store cash register.

It is a good product, but I'd put it in the tank and run through the entire tank right before you do an oil change.

It's basically kerosene.
Lots of alcohol.
Ethanol gas already has it added.
Imo, just a way to add cost per gallon of gas.

Great in small lawnmower engines (use as directed) and possibly good for cleaning up older (non direct injection) well-used high mileage auto engines by using a method that pulls it through the throttle body or straight into the intake manifold. Stick with Techron for regular fuel system cleaning. Use this for worst case scenarios or to run through the mower engine a few times a season.

There are a ton of YoTube vids on does it work? Whats it do? Will it ruin my engine? Etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:

quote:

Originally posted by opticsguy:
Some of my fellow Audi owners with the early direct injection engines would burn a bottle of this to clean out the intake manifold.

I've heard both that it's bad for direct injection systems and that it won't harm them. I used to use it regularly on my non-DI vehicles but stopped when I upgraded to the Taurus, as it's direct injection.

This is a common perception, and it does clean out the combustion chamber, but so would water. The carbon on a DI engine builds up on the backs of the valves, in the intake runners. So it might do a tiny bit. But I can tell you from pulling an intake on a 2.0 turbo after several bouts with Seafoam, it doesn't do anything to help. If it got rid of anything at all I'd be surprised.

Just FYI, if you want to introduce a liquid into the intake for whatever purpose, here's a great way to meter and even out the rate at which it gulps in the liquid. Put a football/basketball fill nipple in the end of whatever hose you pull off so that the liquid will pass only so much through the little hole in the end. Water likely will do about 90%+ what seafoam will do. But since water in not compressible at all, you really need to just let it sip at a reasonably metered source.

The thing that seems to make the most difference on our DI is using Premium instead of Regular. The difference in power gives better mpg and the result over twenty tankfuls was greater MPG, greater power and a dead heat in cost per mile between the two. So for us it costs the same. Just takes longer for the carbon to buildup probably 15-20k more time before needing to be cleaned.

If you plan on using it as a fuel injector/system cleaner, you're better off getting a can of Berryman's. It's cheaper and cleans everything, just don't get it on the paint of your vehicle, it will bubble.