Seafoam ( Pros and Cons)

[pito11213]

Hey guys. I know that this has been discussed before and yes I did pull the search out but....

As I have stated in the past I do have blue smoke coming out of the exhaust. Now the car runs fine but the smoke is there especially when simply light pedal stepping around the neighborhood. On the highway no smoke not even after I stop.

I have been thinking about doing the SEAFOAM treatment through the gas tank, crankcase and the brake booster line. I wanted to do a whole can in the gas tank, half in the crankcase and half through the brake booster. I spoke briefly with Wes and PMQ about this and have heard pros and cons. I would like the advice of everyone especially the senior guys and the techs.

Keep in mind that I have thought about doing this process several times to see if it makes any kind of difference/improvement. All suggestions and opinions would be helpful.

Car info: 1990 Q45, 169,000 miles. Standard model Located in NYC

[metaverse3]

all I know is that you will feel like James bond getting rid of villains with a smoke cloud in an aston martin at the touch of a button..

In all seriousness, I have had guys on my maxima mailing list do it with no adverse effects. Never hear much complaints with seafoam users, yet, with 169k on the clock like you have, i would be leery of running anything in it.. Yet, you have some issues with smoke and you are looking for solutions. maybe the more advanced have some info to chime in..

[dareo]

I've seen it make some smoke, a lot of smoke, and whole ton of smoke. Usually it has made an immediate drivability improvment in the cars we've 'seafomed'

[pito11213]

Well my plan is to do it once and then wait 2 weeks and then do it again. I want to try to clean it as much as possible. I realize that at this mileage I cannot expect results immediately. I just want to know if it is worth a shot.

[elwesso]

The thing you must realize is that

1. Seafoam can only do so much... Everything is so dirty only a manual clean will get it as new (as far as intake is concerned)

2. The damage is already done..... Doubtful it will get better...

[dareo]

i did a second seafoaming on my Q today, used 1.5 bottles through the booster line. i let it suck a nice steady stream of the stuff and it smoked a ton. Mostly white, some blue and grey smoke as well. After it stopped smoking it really runs nicer now.

[Jeff Williams]

Seafoam will not stop the car from smoking. Like Wes said, the damage is done. Now all you can do, is additives to the oil. There are some good ones out there. I used Lucas Oil treatment in an old Honda, and it worked great. It was more of a low oil pressure problem in the Honda, though.

My partner had a 275,000 mile Acura Legend. It burned so much oil, he never had to change it. He just added oil once a week. If we stopped in traffic, the car would literally dissapear. He went to Jiffy Lube, and they put some kind of treatment in tlhe oil, and it stopped, for about 2 months. He drove the car for another year, and I never saw smoke again. He just kept treating it, every so often. I think the treatment was about $30 to $40.

[pito11213]

Do you remember the name of the treatment. I was using bardaul for a while and that works ok. Now I have lucas but I have mobil synthetic oil in there now. I want to try the seafoam then go to valvoline syntec.

But if you remember the name of the treatment I would give that a shot.

[andrave]

I had an s13 that smoked and I went to walmart and bought some very thick stuff that looked like a jellied form of miller light that was "guaranteed" and I put it in, and it stopped the smoking, and it didn't smoke again until I pissed on the car every day for 30,000 miles and the engine was finally begging for mercy and smoking when I reved it.

[PoorManQ45]

To stop your Q from smoking, you can try using a heavier oil. Maybe something along the lines of staight 40w or 50w.

[dwclur]

It burned so much oil, he never had to change it. He just added oil once a week. If we stopped in traffic, the car would literally dissapear.

hahahahahahaha

[5zigen]

Since it sounds like you're burning oil I would advise against the use of Seafoam... it could eat away at what's left of your piston rings.

A few other things you might want to take note of:

-Seafoam removes carbon buildup from valves. On older higher mileage engines this may be a bad thing because the carbon buildup helps engine compression.-Do NOT let your engine suck in the Seafoam. Pour it in slowly yourself. If you let the car suck it in and let it stall itself it may hydrolock.-change your oil and clean your plugs immediately following the treatment. Also keep an eye on your O2 sensor, as all that crap blowing through the exhaust can foul it.

[JerrySC]

Seafoam treatment is not going to help your smoking problem. On your high mileage engine, your smoke is likely coming from ring wear or valve guide seals. Years ago unscrupulous car dealers would put a castor oil concoction into the crankcase to make it quit smoking. (Until the next oil change of course.) Motor Medic or something like that would probably be better for you.

[mick]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...lated

Jim tells how to use it

[4WOFURY]

On the topic of Seafoam:

I've used Sea foam before. Did a can in the tank, half in the crank case, and half in the intake. With that being said, I won't be using it in the intake again (I've found something better)

If/when you do use it, make sure you replace your:1. Fuel filter (if used in fuel tank) - All that junk unclogging in your fuel tank will clog up your filter2. Spark plugs - It can/will foul your spark plugs3. Oil/oil filter (if used in crank case) - Common sense.. You don't want that stuff staying in there forever4. o2 sensors may be soon to come. It fouled mine pretty badly.

I don't use it in the intake, because Seafoam is a liquid, and never actually foams up. So, if you suck it through the brake booster line, it's only going to get in the back two cylinders, and never really make it to all of them. What I like to use is GM or Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner (Can pick up at your local dealership). It foams up and will get to every nook and cranny. It's much more thorough than Seafoam in the intake.

On the topic of oil additives:

Copied from ls1tech (just because it was discussed there days ago) :

Quote »Never, ever put additives in your oil...with exactly ONE exception. If the factory tells you to put friction modifying additive in your rear end, do it.

All oil additives on the market today are snake oil. At the very least, they will dilute the additive package that is in the oil as it comes out of the bottle. Yes, oil in the bottle has additives in it. And the additive package (it's a lot more than just one) is carefully engineered to achieve a certain minimum level of performance. But, not all oil manufacturers use the same additives, nor in the same amounts. It's a very carefully engineered balancing act, as some additives will actually react with each other.

So, along comes Joe Lunchbucket who saw the latest T.V. commercial or the nifty new display at AZ. He buys a bottle of the new whiz bang stuff and pours it in. He has NO IDEA what's in it, much less how it will react with what's already there aside from the obvious dilution aspect (which incidentally is what you saw on the linked page from bobistheoilguy).

Some additives can actually cause harm to your engine with what they use. I've seen an analysis on one (no longer on the market that I know of) that had chlorine in it. Incredible shear strength. It would allow a Briggs engine to run forever with an empty crankcase. Don't put it in your engine, though, or you'll get acid formation that is out of this world.

Others use teflon, or PTFE, which is a particulate. What do oil filters remove? The dirtier the filter gets, the more it removes.

Any one that uses any kind of oil additive is asking in a serious way for an expired engine, transmission etc.[/quote]bobistheoilguy.comhttp://ferrarichat.com/forum/f...asics

[ZOMG.SR20]

Do you remember the name of the treatment. I was using bardaul for a while and that works ok. Now I have lucas but I have mobil synthetic oil in there now. I want to try the seafoam then go to valvoline syntec.

But if you remember the name of the treatment I would give that a shot.

Its called TX7 its better than lucas

[oldtown driver]

the gas tank yes the booster ,1/3 of a can , but would you really put aproduct in your crankcase that breaks down oil without being prepared to do two oil changes. furthermore i have to agree that the damage is already done and it sounds like you may need rings. sorry dude

[PoorManQ45]

Instead of Sea Foam in the crank look in to AutoRX. That is currently the best cleaning product for the internals of an engine.