Is seafoam safe? Options

[ILoveMySilly97]

I've heard that seafoam is a really good and easy way to clean the car up a bit. When I go look at videos and ask people they tell me pour it into the Oil crank case, Brake booster, and fuel tank. It sounds stupid to pour something that doesn't belong into the brake booster and espescially the crank case. I just want to know if anyone has ever used it and does it really work or is it just stupid.

[Special_Edy]

Ive got a special tool that screws into the seafoam bottle and limits the flow of seafoam into the vacuum line but I cant find it ATM

Anyways, seafoam works great in the gastank(its the elixer of the automotive gods!), but my favorite use for it is through the intake manifold.

What you want to do is get the engine warmed up to operating temp, and with the engine off disconnect the pcv valve. Find a peice of hose that will fit where the pcv valve hose goes into the throttle body, or better yet use the existing pcv hose with the pcv valve removed and insert a smaller diameter hose into the PCV hose. Whichever way you do it, you MUST remember that fluids are non compressable and the vacuum line will draw seafoam in at an alarming rate(like the whole bottle in 10-20 seconds. YOU MUST NOT allow it to flow into the intake this fast, as it can hydrolock the engine and do serious damage(the piston will reach TDC and the liquid wont compress, breaking the head, rods, pistons whatever).
Set your can of seafoam opened somewhere in the engine compartment where you can reach the hose to it(you will need one hand for the hose and one for the throttle, so no extra hands to hold the bottle)

So, with your extra long pcv valve hose connected to the throttlebody(dont put it into the seafoam yet), start the engine. The idle may soar WAY up because of the vacuum leak you just purposefully connected, but dont worry.
Now take the your pcv Hose and kink/bend it in half to cut off airflow through it.
Next you want to disconnect the IDLE UP vaccum line from the throttle body (of the four small hoses on top of the throttle body it is the closest one to the front of the vehicle and the ONLY one that travels towards the drivers side of the car, not the passenger side) the engine will now rev to 2000-2200 rpm on its own
Insert the hose into the can of seafoam(all the way to the bottom of the can) and SLOWLY/Carefully unkink the hose so that just a TINY bit of seafoam can flow through. You may need to use your free hand to open the throttle enough to keep the engine from stalling, but DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE FLOOD THE ENGINE
You will start to see a HUGE cloud of white smoke pouring out of your exhaust, but this is good. All the crap in your intake, valves, cylinder heads, exhaust, Catalytic converter and 02 sensor is getting blasted out by the seafoam.
When the can is finally empty( I would say 2 or more minutes from full to empty is proper), you should reinstall the IDLE UP vacuum line to bring the idle rpm back to normal, and reconnect the pcv valve and normal pcv valve hose(I would suggest leaving the engine running while doing this).
Finally, go take your car for a ride to burn off the seafoam. It may take as much as 30 minutes of driving for it to stop smoking, so dont be worried. And try to enjoy the looks from people as you pass by with a James Bond smoke screen pouring out of your exhaust.


Ok and dont let this scare you, its very easy to do this but obviously you must limit the amount of seafoam entering the intake to a small trickle through whatever means.

As for putting Seafoam into the crankcase, I havent tried it before. I have put Seafoam Transmission clean into my Lincoln Towncar before changing the Transmission fluid/filter, and I must say it did wonders. After a few miles (I drove 20 before I flushed the trans.) the car was shifting significantly smoother.
The only advice I can offer for putting seafoam into the crankcase is that nothing you put into your crankcase other than oil is good for your engine.
I would run the engine very gently for a short period with the seafoam in the oil, then immediately change the oil and filter(i imagine it will loosen alot of crude and thin your oil, good for cleaning but bad for driving)

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Mar 31, 2012 - 4:25 PM

[njccmd2002]

environmentally safe

[3WayStunna]

environmentally safe

Lol i see what you did there....
But to add my .02 cents, if you do put it down your intake seafoam MIGHT burn out or otherwise damage your O2 sensor. It has only happened to me once and that was in my honda...Otherwise, i have had over 20 uses with it on various toyotas and nissans with no problems....

[richee3]

Your car will smoke quite a bit when you run Seafoam through the intake manifold (through the brake booster line, not the brake booster itself.) It's kind of alarming but it's normal. That's just carbon buildup burning off. Seafoam in the gas tank is perfectly fine as well.

I personally wouldn't ever put Seafoam in my crank case. If you do it, do not drive. Let the motor idle and change your oil immediately.

[kurt95gt]

I beleave theres instructions on the can
Ive ran it in the stuff in my crank case before
I normally dump about half a can in at the parts store an do what ever other running i have to do
Then go get my oil changed

[Galcobar]

Never heard of putting it in the brake booster.

The danger of Sea Foam isn't the Sea Foam itself, but the gunk (varnish from gas or carbon deposits from gas or oil) it cleans out. Sea Foam in the crankcase means that it will clean out deposits from the oil system -- which is good, unless a deposit is plugging a small flaw in a seal. In that case, you removed a carbon deposit and revealed a leak; that's what happened to me, and I ended up with my slow leak from the oil pump seal becoming a fast leak. It didn't change that the seal needed to be replaced, it did change how quickly I had to get it done.

Sea Foam will reduce the viscosity of your oil, but not to the point of it being incapable of protecting your engine if you follow proper dilution procedures. That said, I would still change my oil within a couple days after using it because of all the crud the treatment will transfer from the engine into the oil, or sooner if it's the first time the treatment's being done on an old engine.

Sea Foam in the gas or via the intake is much less of an issue. If your fuel system is heavily gunked, then there's the possibility you could loosen something which will plug an injector. However, modern gas with all its additives makes that improbable, particularly since the introduction of ethanol to the gas supply (ethanol is very good at removing built up varnish). Being more powerful than your standard fuel additives, however, it will be more capable of removing the baked-on deposits in the combustion chamber.

This post has been edited by Galcobar: Apr 1, 2012 - 9:18 PM

[Box]

I've used it before, and will soon on the Celica. Fuel, intake, and oil. Seafoam says it can be used indefinitely as long as the oil is clean, and at least 30 miles. I wouldn't run it more than 50-100 miles myself, especially on an older engine that may have lots of build-up. Just keep an eye on the oil, should be fine.

[RabidTRD]

I've always done the 1/3 in the oil, 1/3 in the tank and 1/3 through the vac lines via brake booster vac hose. I do it before an oil change once a year and the engine stays clean.

I pour 1/3 into a laundry detergent cap (roughly 1/3 of the bottle fits perfect) and gently ease the hose into the cap. You find the sweet spot that allows for the engine to suck but not stall and that way it's safely burning. If you rev the engine, you risk the chance of sucking too much in. Once the cap is sucked dry, put the hose back on the brake booster and shut the engine off. Let it sit for 15 mins and then turn it on again. This allows the seafoam to do its job inside the vacuum system. After turning the car on, rev the engine to 2k rpm and hold it there for a bit. Then drive around the neighborhood to let the rest burn off.

Running it in the vacuum lines or crank case means you want to change your oil within 150 miles. It thins yor oil and isn't too good for extended use. If you want something to add to the oil that will work well extendedly, use Marvel Mystery Oil. It'll clean but be safe.

[Smaay]

it dont go in the brake booster, you are just using the larger vacuum line that feeds the brake booster. its the largest of the lines to the intake manifold.

[rave2n]

Seafoam..makes you think it helps, til it clogs and screws over everything else.

When used on the 7a, I had to pull the throttle body off and clean the piss out of it after using seafoam.

[Ted95]

if your motor has high miles it may not be the best idea because all the oil and "crud" thats attached to your seals will come off raising the chances of you having some type of oil leak.. like my 5s did a few weeks after i used it. throttle response was better, but leaked oil..

[ILoveMySilly97]

Thanks everyone. I've always had doubts in this product and use but I might give it a try. I'll just use a third in brake booster and and a third in gas tank and a third ub crank case but change oil after letting it idle for 5-10 mins. Might give it a shot next week when I have time.

[nics]

Just did mine last week. 237k engine.

[mandrek]

have had GREAT results from using seafoam in all 3 meathods. i would put about 1/3 through the brake booster vac line, and 1/3 into the oil, on every other oil change. as for the gas tank i have found that for me (and my lil 7A) putting 8 OZ of seafoam and 3 OZ of pure acetone every other fill up, has given me a documented and noticeable increase in MPG and the car runs allot smoother. LOVE this stuff.. OH, and DEEPCREEP (penetrating lubricant by seafoam) is hands down the best stuff to use on anything you would have the angling to use WD40 on.. LOVE that stuff as well.

[RabidTRD]

if your motor has high miles it may not be the best idea because all the oil and "crud" thats attached to your seals will come off raising the chances of you having some type of oil leak.. like my 5s did a few weeks after i used it. throttle response was better, but leaked oil..

Yeah, it made my fourth cylinder's exhaust side valve seals leak. but that's the only leak it has and it's only noticeable on startup when it poofs smoke quick and burns off. Engine runs much better now (I had serious sludge when I first got it) so that minor leak doesn't matter to me. Plus, 5s's are known to have that issue anyways.

[ricochet1490]

From a 6gc member (notice sticker in window)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gasxZT1bKJM...feature=related

[zfjohnson07]

its safe, heres my video i did

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeyFCFojb6E

[CruznKnFuzn]

Thank god I found this thread haha I'm about to do the same to mine since it seems to be choking at startup from time to time.

[VavAlephVav]

I learned the hard way in a different car that seafoam in the crankcase is risky.
you can put some in there and then run it for just a little while, but then change the oil right away dont leave the stuff in there for more than a day.

When I used it in the intake I removed the main vacuum line from the brake booster, and let the vacuum suck it into the motor slowly. Until you get about 1/3 of the pint in there and then shut it off and let it set for 5 min. Then fire it back up and smoke out the neighborhood.
That's the procedure recommended on the bottle. Then put the rest of it in the gas tank and filler up.