seafoam works! [merged]

[crimsondragon]

Does seafoam clean the TB and TB plate? I only ask cause cleaning the TB was next on the list of things to do to my car. If it does, this sounds like a good way to do it without removing the TB.

[rich3389]

You dont have to remove the TB to clean the TB plate anyway. zBut you can get seafoam deep creep.

[snowborder714]

Originally Posted by tcpx

I'm tempted to try this out..
if i dumped a whole can in my gas tank only, would I still need to change the oil and/or the spark plugs immediately afterwards?
also would i still notice a positive improvement if i put it only in the tank?

I wouldn't think so (otherwise you'd have to do this anytime you added a fuel injector/system cleaner). But I'd recommend doing more than just adding it to gas tank. But if that's all you do, at least check plugs and oil (on dipstick) to make sure they're all right. OR, do it right before and oil change not worry about it!

Originally Posted by crimsondragon

Does seafoam clean the TB and TB plate? I only ask cause cleaning the TB was next on the list of things to do to my car. If it does, this sounds like a good way to do it without removing the TB.

I'd recommend taking off the tb to clean the plate as trying to clean it on the car (or even with seafoam) won't do as good of a job. I took mine off to replace the shaft seals and after taking the plate out, it took a good bit of elbow grease to get that plate to shine.

[rich3389]

Originally Posted by snowborder714

I wouldn't think so (otherwise you'd have to do this anytime you added a fuel injector/system cleaner). But I'd recommend doing more than just adding it to gas tank. But if that's all you do, at least check plugs and oil (on dipstick) to make sure they're all right. OR, do it right before and oil change not worry about it!




I'd recommend taking off the tb to clean the plate as trying to clean it on the car (or even with seafoam) won't do as good of a job. I took mine off to replace the shaft seals and after taking the plate out, it took a good bit of elbow grease to get that plate to shine.

I cleaned my throttle plate on the car and followed the vfaq....A month or so later i had to take the TB off to do shaft seals, and it was spotless.

[snowborder714]

Originally Posted by rich3389

I cleaned my throttle plate on the car and followed the vfaq....A month or so later i had to take the TB off to do shaft seals, and it was spotless.

Well, from my experience, I'd say you're pretty lucky. Mine definitely didn't just "flow" off the plate. I had some nice permanent dark/black marks that took a good bit of work to remove (especially around the shaft). And I still have very faint lines where the mark ended. If you can do as the VFAQ describes, go for it!

[ktmrider]

Didn't read all the posts but will +1 for an excellent product!
I have used it in all my vehicles for the last 4 years now with great results. Last was on the wife's SUV at 88k miles, smoothed the idle considerably, MPG went up 1, better power, etc.
I have heard of folks fouling plugs if/when the engine was really gunked up but not the norm. I personally never had that problem even with my high mile WRX and iridium plugs.

[joebor1776]

Hi
I have been reading all the posts on here about using Seafoam. I was a little hesitant about using it because of the variety of opinions on it I've been reading, so I decided to call the company's support line. Here is some interesting info the (very knowledgeable and helpful) guy told me. He talked to me for about fifteen minutes about seafoam!

First, he said do not put a vacuum hose from the throttlebody into the can and let the vacuum suck up the seafoam--he said that could suck up too much too quickly (although granted, the vacuum lines off the TB are pretty small). He said you need to pour it into the vacuum hose so some air goes in as well.

More interestingly, he said there's really no need to do the induction method (through the intake using a vacuum hose) unless you're just in a big hurry. He said that putting one ounce of seafoam per gallon of gas in the tank does the SAME thing, only it takes longer--he said after you have run about two tanks of gas through (after putting in the seafoam), you'll have accomplished the same thing. He recommends using the gas tank method over the induction method.

He also said if you are using it as a pre-oil-change cleaner by putting it in the oil, make sure you drive for at least 1 hour before changing out the oil.

Finally he said there is no need to change your sparkplugs after using seafoam--he was surprised to hear that this is being recommended. He guaranteed me that no damage would be done to sparkplugs from using seafoam.

Just repeating what I heard, take it for what it's worth--not saying this is gospel or anything :-). And it's possible I am misquoting him, so feel free to correct me if this is totally wrong.

[silvreclips]

adding seaform to your gas will not clean the carbon out of the intake manifold. Thats why you put it in a vacumm line. So it runs down the intake and washes it into the cylinders.

Changing the plugs after are no big deal. They are cheap and probably need to be changed anyways.

[kenamond]

Thanks for the info! It's probably not a bad idea to know what the vendor says about this treatment. I was wondering about the pre-oil change stuff. And I usually only care about cleaning the CC with seafoam, so the gas tank treatment sounds like a good idea for that application (and the vaccuum line trick scares the shit out of me).

[joebor1776]

btw, about cleaning the intake manifold--I forgot to mention this. The guy from Seafoam said that Seafoam will not clean the intake manifold. So there's really no reason to do the induction method unless you are in a hurry.

[turbosax2]

The vacuum line way works fine, you just have to keep the line pinched with your fingers and slowly let the Seafoam go in.

[98mitsuGSX-SD]

When it comes to the spark plug issue. I have an old set of spark plugs put aside for when I do put seafoam in my engine. It's just another safety step to ensure my plugs don't foul up. I will have to remember to drive for 1 hour when I do place seafoam in through the oil cap.

[silvreclips]

I used the vacumm line method, a few weeks later when I removed the throttle body you could see the clean spot in the manifold beside where the vac. line entered and trailing down the runners. So it does help clean out the manifold.

[joebor1776]

yea, it makes sense that it would clean out carbon wherever it goes. I was surprised that he told me it doesn't, but maybe that was a cya thing so he wasn't guaranteeing a clean intake.

[silvreclips]

It would probably be a little easier to just remove the intake manifold and clean it out with some carborator cleaner or something. It would also be a little less risky for the people scared about locking up their motor.

[h8r]

I just used SEAFOAM today... It was a nice Smoke show.. But not too bad.. I take it that was because I have a pretty well maintained machine. I pulled the B Booster line, and added it there. I poured it in very slow, making sure it was not going to stall the engine... I will tell you it detected a Exhaust leak from my o2 housing to DP... Good to know.. It must have been very slight as I have a good ear for those things. I give Seafoam 2 Thumbs up.

[flinguist]

After I used seafoam via the throttle body, I removed the spark plugs and shot a bunch into the cylinders, and let it sit over night. Then sucked the liquid out of the cylinders with a shop vac.. I got a bunch of granular looking carbon deposits out this way. Here's a description of how to do it-Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner (AWESOME!)

[Whiplash]

Alright so I'm about to do this and I notice that my 1.8L 4G67 doesn't have a hose coming out of the "P" on the throttle body. Which hose can I use to suck the seafoam up?

Thanks.

[Whiplash]

Could I maybe spray it through the little hole?

[Locke]

I am unsure about the specific ports on your TB, but since you haven't gotten a reply on that as of yet, I will tell you you can let it get sucked in through the brake booster or PCV line if you wish. Nearer the TB the better though, since flow in the IM in directional.