Write-Up: Seafoam to restore lost horsepower

most people are more worried about the putting it in the oil part....

yeah that part worries me to

I wouldn't.
Same principle, if you haven't been doing since new leave the crankcase alone!!!!!!
Just change oil and filter regularly and all will be fine until something wears out by normal use.

I've done the Seafoam full treatment about an year ago and a half ago. Didn't really notice much with the oil thing, and I wouldent bother doing it again. As for the vac lines, it works great as a cleaner. Having bought my car used, there was much carbon buildups that it cleaned out nicely and perked up the car.

yeah I know I got some carbon built up thats why I want to do it, so the dirrections for use are on the can for using it in the fuel and vac lines?

yup, and theres plenty on the Internet on how to use it. In short, for fuel, add a half can to the gas tank. For the vaccum, just pull the brake booster vac line and suck the remaining half can in letting it choke and die at the end. Wait 10 min, restart, and take for a spirited drive.

So just driv with it in there thats fine I dont have to like clean it out or anything, Will it mess with the fuel pump and filter or no?

I put 2oz of Seafoam to 1gal of gas. (1/2 tank is about 8 gal.) Put a can of Seafoam (16oz) in 1/2 tank of Gas and run till low then fill tank up full. O.K. to just pour in gas tank.
After you've burned that half tank take about 6 oz. of Seafoam and let the Brake Booster Vacuum line suck it up slowly with out the engine dying, just give it sips and hold throttle open some from under hood. Then give another two oz's and let it stall. (turn off key) Let it sit sit for 10 -15 min's and start it up and take for a good drive. It will blow a lot of white/gray smoke after start up - don't worry that's all the carbon going out the tailpipes. Take a good spirited drive with it up to temp. and all will be fine. It will start hard after letting the Seafoam soak so don't be suprised.

do you have a pic of the vaccum line i need to use

Use the word "Seafoam" in the search engine here and you will find a good write up on page 1 and 2 by jax95riv. I would just not do part two "Cleaning Your Oil System"
He explains the location of the hose very well, but I don't have any pic's. There may be some posted further in that write up, it is 6 or 7 pages long.

I use seafoam in my motorcycles quite a bit. A BG fuel induction service and a can of BG MOA (motor oil additive) in the crankcase works a little better, but is much more expensive for most of you. Luckily I have the luxury of free BG chemicals and access to the tools to apply them, so neener neener neener.

The only problem I have, is when adding SEafoam to the oil, I would imagine the seafoam is of different weight and would float on top of the oil in the tank, thus may not even be picked up by the oil pump in the first place. Next time I pick up a can, I'll pour it and some oil into a glass and see what happens...

word of wisdom for the not so wise. if anyone here has a high mileage vehicle ,and they are considering doing a seafoam. make sure,by any means necessary,that your cat isn't clogged. do a sea foam on a car with a clogged cat and you'll blow the head gasket. or severely weaken it....

How do you know if your cat is clogged?

www.aa1car.com/library/converter.htm

How do you guys feel about running some seafoam through the engine? It is suppose to break down carbon build up. I have run it through my engines in the past, and if not anything else, the idle on my chevy truck was a bit smoother afterwards. Might be worth a shot, under $10 and its easy to do.

Hey guys, I haven't posted on the forums in a while but I just seafoamed my Rivi and for the most part I've had desirable results. I could feel a small difference after running it through the gas lines, but after performing the treatment through the Brake Booster line my idle has been pretty rough. The RPMs will drop by about 100 every now and then, accompanied with a small buck from the engine.

Any ideas of what it could be?

check for vacuum leak; may need to use a smoke machine.

Albertj

Probably will need to use a smoke machine. I felt around the lines with my hand and didn't feel any obvious suction. Thanks for the tip, Al.

I'll probably be posting here more frequently as time goes on. The folks are planning to give me the Riv when they go to purchase a new vehicle, so I've been performing all the regular maintenance as an amateur mechanic. (And I really mean amateur. No real experience with anything automotive related.)

Nez wrote:

Probably will need to use a smoke machine. I felt around the lines with my hand and didn't feel any obvious suction. Thanks for the tip, Al.

I'll probably be posting here more frequently as time goes on. The folks are planning to give me the Riv when they go to purchase a new vehicle, so I've been performing all the regular maintenance as an amateur mechanic. (And I really mean amateur. No real experience with anything automotive related.)

Be sure to get a copy of the factory manuals (off eBay probably cheapest) if you don't already have them, and get some sort of scanner (not just a code reader, a combination scanner and code reader is what you want) that lets you read what the sensors in the car are "saying" so you can isolate problems as well as make repairs and intelligent modifications if you want.

As for the smoke machine, the reason they are interesting is that they are safer and take a whole lot less time to find a leak than just about any other way - for instance, using starting fluid or carb cleaner sprayed aroundvac leaks or using a propane torch, unlit, to discharge gas near a leak, are ways that home/shadetree mechanics use. The other thing is that a leak big enough to cause problems may also be small enough the carb cleaner/starting fluid/propane approach may not work. However, smoke machines aren't free -- but one of the others on this site might have an idea for how to substitute. You may also find the following links to a BMW site or the GarageJournal or the most interesting, this Chevytalk.Org post describing how to make your own smoke machine for very short money (under $100 including regulator and a small 12v air compressor such as you might keep in your car to inflate balls or top-up tires).

Thinking about it, a bit of thought and engineering ought to improve the Chevytalk smoke machine. A simple circuit for instance would run the glow plug for ~10 seconds then light a 'ready' light for a few minutes. The whole thing could be packaged in a small plastic storage tub. Just saying... something to think about.

Albertj

Well after you posted all that, the check engine light came on.. Plugged the code reader in, and turned out I fouled out my #5 plug. I was sort of expecting that, as it was about time for those to get changed out anyway. Got some autolite 104s (planning on dropping pulley sizes, as I'm still running the stock one.)

I've been meaning to pick up that factory manual, but all my money has been going to everything else lately. (New pulleys, new alternator, new battery...) would you believe the stock battery was still in there? It amazed me how long it lasted.

As for a scanner/tuner, where would you recommend I find one? I poked around ebay trying to find a cord that would connect to my laptop, but I've had no luck.

Nez wrote:

Well after you posted all that, the check engine light came on.. Plugged the code reader in, and turned out I fouled out my #5 plug. I was sort of expecting that, as it was about time for those to get changed out anyway. Got some autolite 104s (planning on dropping pulley sizes, as I'm still running the stock one.)

I've been meaning to pick up that factory manual, but all my money has been going to everything else lately. (New pulleys, new alternator, new battery...) would you believe the stock battery was still in there? It amazed me how long it lasted.

As for a scanner/tuner, where would you recommend I find one? I poked around ebay trying to find a cord that would connect to my laptop, but I've had no luck.

use the search function on this site to find discussion and recommendations for scanners for the '95; one of the posts says where to get the tricky OBD - 1.5 cord.

you won't likely find a generic cord that will connect to your lapop. For OBD-2 cars I use a dongle from obd-2.com (CarCode) and a serial cable to connect to my laptop; on the laptop I run CarCode software for scanning.

Albertj

I want to start out by saying I use to do this regularly to my 2.5 V6 Ford Probe. The first time it smoked like crazy and ran great afterwards. I did this every 10k miles or so. I would run 3 parts kerosene to 2 parts oil or so as kerosene is a natural lubricant and burns extremely hot.

When I did the LIM on my 207k motor, I noticed the engine was filled with ALOT of crud. Some of the LIM ports were blocked. I cleaned out as much as a I could. I'm thinking about doing the kerosene flush but I can't risk anything as this is my DD and always gets me where I need to go. The car runs GREAT. Debating between this and seafoam in the oil and through the brake booster. Anyone have any feedback or suggestions?

well the seafoam isnt as volatile as kerosine and its a much more tested method of cleaning the motor.
Ignition temp of kerosine is 428°F which is really low and i could easily see it blowing the crap out of a motor if you ran it hard on a summer day, though the oil should raise the ignition point some.

I used seafoam in my motor once but didnt notice a difference because i keep up with my oil changes, use a quality filter and have never had any grime or sludge inside my motor.
It may not be as pretty as a motor that used all synthetic, but i dont have any oil burning problems at 180k hard miles (100k of those miles modified).

The only thing I know about top end engine flush is this: I've never done it to any of my cars. At 235k miles, some would say my Riviera should be running terribly from build up over the years, but it feels very strong, very reliable. If the engine runs GREAT, I don't see the need to do anything. That's just my opinion. I'm sure there's some crud in there, but I don't know that it's hurting much.

I'm not alone in my thinking. Read this info from a certified mechanic:

http://www.salemboysauto.com/original-faqs/faq-21.htm

Sorry, I forgot to say you only run the kerosene at idle and for a short limited time. NO revving or drive.

I can say after seeing the amount of build-up I saw, I can't believe my engine runs as smooth and powerful as it does. Going to read right now, AA.