for those who have used SEA FOAM?

[rdgt4r]

hey so i bought some sea foam and put a can in the tank because the man at kragen couldnt tell me how to distribute it otherwise according to the can. i would like to clean out the other parts it claims it cleans if you use alternative methods other than in the gas tank. if i could have some help please? thanks.

 

[JeremyH]

I have used this stuff on my jeep before. I pulled the brake booster vacuum and let it get sucked up through there. I didnt notice any difference other than a hell of a lot of smoke.....my neighbor thought my house was on fire.

What are you trying to accomplish with this stuff....clean the injectors? I have always had MUCH better results by pulling the injectors and manually cleaning them. It isn't that difficult of a task and will yield better results.

 

[beallen21]

yea I have removed intake vacuum lines while it was running and let it suck through, but he it right you better expect some of the stinkingest white smoke ever for the next 45 minutes it's running, it really didn't make a noticeable difference for me

 

[scotts97T4Rltd]

all it does is remove carbon deposits inside the motor. You are not gonna see any performance gains from this. Its almost like steam cleaning the INSIDE of your engine.

 

[JC_ez]

all it does is remove carbon deposits inside the motor. You are not gonna see any performance gains from this. Its almost like steam cleaning the INSIDE of your engine.

Speaking of steam cleaning, I read up on spraying a mist of water into the PCV instead of the seafoam. I tried it and put piece of cardboard near the exhaust pipe and noticed some carbon chunks fly out.

I also tried a GM cleaner that I got from the GM dealership. I heard it works a bit better than seafoam.

 

[scotts97T4Rltd]

the guys running water/meth injection are constantly steam cleaning their engines. :awais:

 

[rdgt4r]

yeah i know i wont get amazing/noticeable results, i just want to "de-gunk" my engine it had 131k so i figure it might be dirty. ill have to looksee and find out how to manually clean the injectors.

 

[druuu88]

i have used seafoam now twice in my car... just turned 150k miles last week. Used it once around 120k, and again today ~150k. Both times I fed it in through the brake booster line (R side of engine, PM me for pics). Although the can says only use 1/3, i slowly feed in the entire can, letting the engine stall out on the last little bit by submersing the hose directly into the seafoam. Let it sit for about 15 minutes--- start it up and watch the smoke! I wouldnt recommend driving anywhere for at least a few minutes, as the car tends to stall when no gas is applied (ie- stoplights, stop signs, etc).

It got rid of my rough idle, and seems to make the car run smoother overall. Hey, for only $8, its worth it to me. Not sure about MPG improvements or whatnot, i have never tested it out. 3rd gen 4runner is never gonna get the kind of gas mileage id like anyways.

ps- i went to ace hardware and bought a clear plastic tube to use as a "vacuum" line to suck the seafoam up. Not sure the implications of sucking it directly into the real brake booster line, but i thought id rather be safe than sorry. hope this helps

 

[shootmymime]

i did sea foam at 200,000 miles and didnt notice a damn thing! no smoke no mpg imprvements no throttel responce NOTHING

so... i did it again and once again... nothing! man was i pissed!

 

[druuu88]

not to insult your intelligence... but are you sure you were doing it correctly? Just the seafoam itself will create a small amount of smoke when induced into a main vacuum line (like the brake booster).

Putting it into the gas tank/crank case it another matter when it comes to smoke.

I guess be happy that your 200k rig is already clean as can be!

 

[96runnerOME]

I ran about 1/3 of a can of seafoam through the vacuum line as well....not only did it smoke a TON (~115,000 miles) it actually ended up throwing a check engine light. The code was something like cylinder misfire which was a very scary code to find. Luckily after i cleared it my truck ran fine and I noticed a smoother idle. Probably just a freak thing but ill prob never do it again lol.

 

[LINY4Runner]

anyone have a pic of the vac line to use?

 

[druuu88]

its fairly understandable as to why it would throw a check engine light. If that happens, and it stays on, id just disconnect the negative battery terminal for 10 minutes or so to reset the ECU. Should clear any light that was thrown from the seafoam. if the seafoam actually did some damage or what not, obviously the light wouldnt clear. Never read anything on any forum about seafoam causing permanent problems though.

Ill take a picture of the brake booster line tomorrow and post it. But, if you look at the back right of the engine bay, at the brake master cylinder. See the black circular thing sitting behind the master cylinder? Follow the hose that runs from there to the right side of the engine. thats the brake booster vacuum intake. Ill post a picture tomorrow in the daylight to be a little more clear

 

[longeeMAC]

Yep. My check engine light came on after using seafoam.

My engine did not stall like it said it would on the can. I had to manually turn the key to turn my engine off after using about half the can.

Smoke came out for a good while. I tried to quickly get on the highway so all the smoke can be diluted into the wind by the high speeds. Driving on local roads is risky: 1) all that smoke might attract a cop, and you might get some ticket of sorts (heard only by word of mouth); 2) creates a dangerous smoke screen for those following you.

 

[druuu88]

as promised.. here are some pictures of the brake booster vacuum line location. better late than never...

 

[druuu88]

pic

 

[druuu88]

last one. feed the seafoam into the engine side of the hose (just to be reallllly clear, and not trying to insult anyone's intelligence)

 

[(4)runnin'it]

wait so is it bad to just do it in your gas tank?

 

[druuu88]

putting it in the gas tank vs. feeding it into vacuum lines does entirely different things for the car.

Gas tank- would clean injectors, remove moisture from fuel lines, not sure what else

vacuum line- removes gunk/carbon build up throughout the engine.

You could do both and it would be benefiting your car in two very different ways.

 

[(4)runnin'it]

which would solve rough idle?