Seafoam test
12-31-2005, 09:14 PM
#1
Race Car
Thread Starter
Seafoam test
I know there has been some debate on here about using seafoam in 944's, but after seeing my piston crowns when I had the head off at only 6k miles, I decided I needed to use something to clean the carbon off. I was also hoping that the solvent in seafoam would help to loosen the oil/carbon built up all throughout the exhaust. I decided to allow the motor to ingest the entire can. I removed the idle bypass screw, and using some hose and an adapter from my mityvac, I fitted a vacuum line into the hole left by the screw. From there, I brought the revs up to 1500-2000rpm, and slowly lowered the hose into the bottle. For the most part, it ingested just foam, as whenever any liquid entered the tube, the engine stumbled very badly. I had to keep it off-idle, because it kept stalling. I let it consume half of the can in this application.
Well, after the 5 minute sitting period, it took quite some time to fire up (almost 30 seconds of turning over), then continued to belch the most offensive cloud of smoke I have ever seen come out of a tailpipe. I knew it was going to smoke, but this was amazing.
So, after letting it run for 20 minutes, I gave it the other half of the bottle in the same fashion. Again once this half was ingested, I allowed it to sit for another 5 minutes, and fired it back up. The first treatment gave me mostly grey smoke, that smelled like ash. I presume this was carbon getting burned off. This time after I started it back up, I brought the revs up to 2000rpm or so, trying to bring up the EGT's to help burn off the crud inside of my exhaust. After about 30 seconds, it began billowing massive clouds of blue smoke (there is lots of caked-on half-burnt oil in my exhaust, almost 1/4" thick in some placed). This didn't stop for a full 20 minutes, but at this point it was running fine, just smoking badly, so I took it out for a spin. After 2 blocks I decided I was going to get a ticket if I allowed this to continue (I pulled out slowly on to a 4 lane road, never above 3000RPM, or half-way open throttle, and smoked out all 4 lanes).
So, back to my parking spot I go, and allow it to run another 15 minutes before taking it out for a second drive. The results are amazing.
I used to have some big power problems, along with a lot of low-rpm mid throttle postion stumbling. All of that is gone. All of the power I felt I was missing is back. Without thinking about it, I made a right turn, straightened out, then went WOT at ~2400RPM. By 4000RPM it was pretty much completely sideways on the road, and I lifted to get it back under control. Prior to the treatment, this would have been a moderately quick acceleration, now it held me in my seat.
The turbo spools up so much faster now. I used to get full boost well into the 3000's, maybe 3600RPM (both headers are cracked in about 6 or 7 places each). Now I get full boost by 3200RPM, probably closer to 3000, I didn't look over until it was at 3200RPM. I presume this is from the carbon that was built up throughout my exhaust, and most likely on turbine wheel being burned off.
On a very interesting side note, it brought my O2 sensor back to life!
Prior to the treatment, the O2 sensor voltage would just wander aimlessly from 0.2V to 0.8V, with no correlation to how rich the engine was running, now it shuffles happily around 0.5V.
Not trying to say this stuff will work miracles. But for me I am absolutely shocked at how well it worked, and felt I should share my joy with my fellow Rennlisters
Sorry for the long read...
Well, after the 5 minute sitting period, it took quite some time to fire up (almost 30 seconds of turning over), then continued to belch the most offensive cloud of smoke I have ever seen come out of a tailpipe. I knew it was going to smoke, but this was amazing.
So, after letting it run for 20 minutes, I gave it the other half of the bottle in the same fashion. Again once this half was ingested, I allowed it to sit for another 5 minutes, and fired it back up. The first treatment gave me mostly grey smoke, that smelled like ash. I presume this was carbon getting burned off. This time after I started it back up, I brought the revs up to 2000rpm or so, trying to bring up the EGT's to help burn off the crud inside of my exhaust. After about 30 seconds, it began billowing massive clouds of blue smoke (there is lots of caked-on half-burnt oil in my exhaust, almost 1/4" thick in some placed). This didn't stop for a full 20 minutes, but at this point it was running fine, just smoking badly, so I took it out for a spin. After 2 blocks I decided I was going to get a ticket if I allowed this to continue (I pulled out slowly on to a 4 lane road, never above 3000RPM, or half-way open throttle, and smoked out all 4 lanes).
So, back to my parking spot I go, and allow it to run another 15 minutes before taking it out for a second drive. The results are amazing.
I used to have some big power problems, along with a lot of low-rpm mid throttle postion stumbling. All of that is gone. All of the power I felt I was missing is back. Without thinking about it, I made a right turn, straightened out, then went WOT at ~2400RPM. By 4000RPM it was pretty much completely sideways on the road, and I lifted to get it back under control. Prior to the treatment, this would have been a moderately quick acceleration, now it held me in my seat.
The turbo spools up so much faster now. I used to get full boost well into the 3000's, maybe 3600RPM (both headers are cracked in about 6 or 7 places each). Now I get full boost by 3200RPM, probably closer to 3000, I didn't look over until it was at 3200RPM. I presume this is from the carbon that was built up throughout my exhaust, and most likely on turbine wheel being burned off.
On a very interesting side note, it brought my O2 sensor back to life!
Prior to the treatment, the O2 sensor voltage would just wander aimlessly from 0.2V to 0.8V, with no correlation to how rich the engine was running, now it shuffles happily around 0.5V.
Not trying to say this stuff will work miracles. But for me I am absolutely shocked at how well it worked, and felt I should share my joy with my fellow Rennlisters
Sorry for the long read...
12-31-2005, 09:19 PM
#3
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Where do you get seafoam. It's a marine product right?
or have you been watching too many shows on Bravo, relating to male wardrobe makeovers?
or have you been watching too many shows on Bravo, relating to male wardrobe makeovers?
12-31-2005, 09:55 PM
#4
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It's available at Wal-Mart.
Seafoam is ridiculous on fuel injectors. I took a Rubbermaid container, filled it with Seafoam, drilled holes in the cover that were the diameter of the fuel injectors. I ran it through the injectors electrically, soaked the tips overnight, then backflushed them. The stuff turned black with all the junk. Much better response.
Seafoam is ridiculous on fuel injectors. I took a Rubbermaid container, filled it with Seafoam, drilled holes in the cover that were the diameter of the fuel injectors. I ran it through the injectors electrically, soaked the tips overnight, then backflushed them. The stuff turned black with all the junk. Much better response.
12-31-2005, 10:00 PM
#5
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Oh man !! The old James Bond smoke trick in a bottle.I just bought a bottle of SeaFoam. I was going to put half in the gas tank and half like you did, but.... not sure I want to do the smoke thing.
12-31-2005, 10:08 PM
#6
Race Car
Thread Starter
Hahaha, DON'T RUN IT THROUGH THE ENGINE IF YOUR NEIGHBORS ARE PICKY.
That is my warning.
It is cool stuff, but holy cow does it ever smoke. I had to do it at the G/F's place because her family kind of lives in the ghetto, so it fits in there
If I did it at my place, or my parents place, I would be facing hefty fines. Both are very picky neighborhoods.
It smells like rubbing alcohol, and when it burns, I don't know what it smells like, but it kind of smells good, but one whiff makes you dizzy. They say on the back that the fumes will be extreme. They aren't kidding.
Due to all the smoke from under the hood, it was being sucked in the fresh air blower. When I first got in the car I almost passed out, so I left the windows open, and the car running for a while.
As far as putting half in the gas tank, you might as well pull the injectors, and just use it to flush them. It's great stuff, but I wonder how well it would work diluted with a tank of gas. Maybe if you ran it down to the last 5-10L....
I want to borrow a borescope and take a peek inside my cylinders now... I'm so curious!!
That is my warning.
It is cool stuff, but holy cow does it ever smoke. I had to do it at the G/F's place because her family kind of lives in the ghetto, so it fits in there
If I did it at my place, or my parents place, I would be facing hefty fines. Both are very picky neighborhoods.
It smells like rubbing alcohol, and when it burns, I don't know what it smells like, but it kind of smells good, but one whiff makes you dizzy. They say on the back that the fumes will be extreme. They aren't kidding.
Due to all the smoke from under the hood, it was being sucked in the fresh air blower. When I first got in the car I almost passed out, so I left the windows open, and the car running for a while.
As far as putting half in the gas tank, you might as well pull the injectors, and just use it to flush them. It's great stuff, but I wonder how well it would work diluted with a tank of gas. Maybe if you ran it down to the last 5-10L....
I want to borrow a borescope and take a peek inside my cylinders now... I'm so curious!!
12-31-2005, 10:20 PM
#7
Three Wheelin'
You are so brave!!
I may copy you as my S motor is a piece of crap anyway, no risk at all.
I would advise people to remove the o2 sensors and the cat if you are all gonna do this. Maybe not the o2 sensor if it is old already, but I wouldnt assume that it is a good thing, especially on a newish sensor.
I may copy you as my S motor is a piece of crap anyway, no risk at all.
I would advise people to remove the o2 sensors and the cat if you are all gonna do this. Maybe not the o2 sensor if it is old already, but I wouldnt assume that it is a good thing, especially on a newish sensor.
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12-31-2005, 10:23 PM
#9
It would be kind of funny if your headgasket blew next week, wouldn't it??
And dude - that's funny. What's the ghetto like in Alberta?? What.....a bunch of badass Eskimos selling whale oil on the corner??
Drunken Polar Bears??
And dude - that's funny. What's the ghetto like in Alberta?? What.....a bunch of badass Eskimos selling whale oil on the corner??
Drunken Polar Bears??
12-31-2005, 10:51 PM
#10
Race Car
Thread Starter
drunken polar bears, LMAO!
Close, but no cigar
My engine is on it's last legs due to a piston failure, so I really see this as having nothing to lose. If the headgasket goes tomorrow that's okay, since it gets parked monday night for the winter, I'll have lots of time to fix it (until may). Although, it would probably scare everybody here away from using seafoam. A lot of the honda guys swear by it, and I am pretty impressed.
As far as O2 sensors and catalytic converters go, it claims it is safe for O2 sensors, says nothing about catalytic converters. I would imagine that the smoke and small debris would be rather bad for the honeycomb in the cat, but mine is dead anyways. It burned so much oil, then ran super-rich for a while. Many nights I could see it glowing bright orange under my car. Almost looked like underglow, lol.
Smoke under the hood was due to cracked headers.
All 4 top flanges have cracks where they attach, the 1-4 header's bottom flange is cracked as well. Both headers have cracked in their Y sections, and the 1-4 header's bellows has a big visible split in it. When it was burning oil badly, you could see goo oozing out behind the head shields, and around the backside of the flanges. It was truly gross
I need new headers, but can't afford them. I'll probably go aftermarket, as I don't want to buy used stock ones then have them crack too.
So yeah, ghetto in alberta. The average 'stay' in this neighborhood is about 2 months, this high population turnover has driven housing prices way down, and the entire area is full of poor drug-using people and hookers. Oh, I forgot, there are a few cab drivers around here as well.
My G/F's family usually has 3-4 vehicle break-ins a year, and they had 2 RV's broken into. My cars have all been kicked/keyed/spit on/whatever in that neighberhood. Usually once a week I'll have something done to one of my cars. If you can't tell, I don't park them there often. When the main road through the neighborhood is called 'international avenue'.... well I don't want to say any more. Sure it's no Bronx (been there too), but it's stil pretty ghetto for Calgary.
That and those damn eskimos with their whale oil!!!
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Close, but no cigar
My engine is on it's last legs due to a piston failure, so I really see this as having nothing to lose. If the headgasket goes tomorrow that's okay, since it gets parked monday night for the winter, I'll have lots of time to fix it (until may). Although, it would probably scare everybody here away from using seafoam. A lot of the honda guys swear by it, and I am pretty impressed.
As far as O2 sensors and catalytic converters go, it claims it is safe for O2 sensors, says nothing about catalytic converters. I would imagine that the smoke and small debris would be rather bad for the honeycomb in the cat, but mine is dead anyways. It burned so much oil, then ran super-rich for a while. Many nights I could see it glowing bright orange under my car. Almost looked like underglow, lol.
Smoke under the hood was due to cracked headers.
All 4 top flanges have cracks where they attach, the 1-4 header's bottom flange is cracked as well. Both headers have cracked in their Y sections, and the 1-4 header's bellows has a big visible split in it. When it was burning oil badly, you could see goo oozing out behind the head shields, and around the backside of the flanges. It was truly gross
I need new headers, but can't afford them. I'll probably go aftermarket, as I don't want to buy used stock ones then have them crack too.So yeah, ghetto in alberta. The average 'stay' in this neighborhood is about 2 months, this high population turnover has driven housing prices way down, and the entire area is full of poor drug-using people and hookers. Oh, I forgot, there are a few cab drivers around here as well.
My G/F's family usually has 3-4 vehicle break-ins a year, and they had 2 RV's broken into. My cars have all been kicked/keyed/spit on/whatever in that neighberhood. Usually once a week I'll have something done to one of my cars. If you can't tell, I don't park them there often. When the main road through the neighborhood is called 'international avenue'.... well I don't want to say any more. Sure it's no Bronx (been there too), but it's stil pretty ghetto for Calgary.
That and those damn eskimos with their whale oil!!!
Sorry, couldn't resist.
01-01-2006, 12:15 AM
#11
Rennlist Member
What is in seafoam?
01-01-2006, 12:56 AM
#13
Nordschleife Master
I am really tempted to try this. I too would also probably be yelled at by the neighbors and have my mom yelling at me from inside the house wondering "What the hell is he doing with that car now!". Id probably do it at my fathers shop though..its in the outskirts of an (in the outskirts dosent seem to make much sense!) industrial park so i doubt many people would care.
I have heard things about Seafoam being bad for engines over a certain mileage, mainly those that burn oil or have oil leaks. I did a fair amount of searching on Honda forums about Seafoam because i saw to many of the Honda guys seem to have a liking for this stuff. Many said it should not be used over a certain mileage because it could create more problems (or atleast make them more serious) then it solves. Is there any truth behind this? I would be extra cautious with my car considering it burns about a quart of oil every 1k miles (or more depending on how hard i drive it) and has a leak from the dipstick tube and possibly from the rear main seal.
I could care less about clogging up the catalytic converter, i would just cut off and weld in a newer one. I figure it couldnt hurt to change it as i approach 100k anyway.
I have heard things about Seafoam being bad for engines over a certain mileage, mainly those that burn oil or have oil leaks. I did a fair amount of searching on Honda forums about Seafoam because i saw to many of the Honda guys seem to have a liking for this stuff. Many said it should not be used over a certain mileage because it could create more problems (or atleast make them more serious) then it solves. Is there any truth behind this? I would be extra cautious with my car considering it burns about a quart of oil every 1k miles (or more depending on how hard i drive it) and has a leak from the dipstick tube and possibly from the rear main seal.
I could care less about clogging up the catalytic converter, i would just cut off and weld in a newer one. I figure it couldnt hurt to change it as i approach 100k anyway.
01-01-2006, 01:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Techno Duck
I have heard things about Seafoam being bad for engines over a certain mileage, mainly those that burn oil or have oil leaks..
01-01-2006, 01:33 AM
#15
Race Car
Thread Starter
If you put it in your oil I could see it doing some damage. It is a powerful solvent. I would only run with it in the oil at idle, and only immediately prior to an oil change. I would not allow it to stay there.
I can warn you that it smokes, but nobody will understand until they see it... I wish I had taken a video of it, it was crazy. There was a person walking down the alley after the first 5 minute wait. They were right behind my car when I started cranking it. When it finally fired up, this huge cloud of smoke started to engulf the person, and she just started running down the alley. I have no idea what she thought it was, but she didn't look back...
That was the small cloud. The really bad one was the second one.
I might do it again just to get a video of it. It'll show me what is left in there too.
I pulled the plugs immediately prior to running the seafoam. Nice light tan color (since I'm now running stock chips, I expected this) with some soot on the base. Most likely from running rich on startup. After the smoking stopped and I had taken it for a drive, the plugs were just buried in soot, and were dripping with something. Whatever it was just stank. I expect this is what came off of the piston crowns. I pulled them later tonight, and they are back to a light tan color after ~15 miles.
I can warn you that it smokes, but nobody will understand until they see it... I wish I had taken a video of it, it was crazy. There was a person walking down the alley after the first 5 minute wait. They were right behind my car when I started cranking it. When it finally fired up, this huge cloud of smoke started to engulf the person, and she just started running down the alley. I have no idea what she thought it was, but she didn't look back...
That was the small cloud. The really bad one was the second one.
I might do it again just to get a video of it. It'll show me what is left in there too.
I pulled the plugs immediately prior to running the seafoam. Nice light tan color (since I'm now running stock chips, I expected this) with some soot on the base. Most likely from running rich on startup. After the smoking stopped and I had taken it for a drive, the plugs were just buried in soot, and were dripping with something. Whatever it was just stank. I expect this is what came off of the piston crowns. I pulled them later tonight, and they are back to a light tan color after ~15 miles.