Seafoam?

[minifridge1138]

Hey everyone,

Has anyone ever seafoamed their Corvette?

I'm not afraid to add it to the gas in the tank, but they describe pouring some in the crank case and directly into the carburetor.

They claim it removes carbon build up.

Is this snake oil, or is it for real?

Thanks!

 

[Gorgon]

A large number of us C5 guys have run Seafoam through our cars. The stuff works well at removing carbon buildup.

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89422

Leon

 

[minifridge1138]

I'm not afraid to spend $10 on a product that might help.
I'm afraid of spending $100's to repair the damage done by the $10 product.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

The product does what it says, but do you have 'carbon build up' that is in someway negatively affecting your vehicle?

(Psst! very few cars do, so save your money!)

If you do have serious carbon build up, best find the root cause and fix that.

 

[fine69]

Hey everyone,

Has anyone ever seafoamed their Corvette?

I'm not afraid to add it to the gas in the tank, but they describe pouring some in the crank case and directly into the carburetor.

They claim it removes carbon build up.

Is this snake oil, or is it for real?

Thanks!

Actually, the stuff works really good.

 

[Victory Red C6]

A large number of us C5 guys have run Seafoam through our cars. The stuff works well at removing carbon buildup.

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89422

Leon

How do you know that it is removing carbon form your engine? Have you tore your engine down to inspect it before/after running seafoam through it? Curious is all.

 

[3dale1]

An old timer back in the 80's showed me how to run water through the carb of a running engine to remove carbon build up:W.

It was to keep the motor from stalling by working the throttle by hand while DUMPING water slowly into the carb...1/2 gallon or so. Sounds crazy, but seems to work. The idea was to introduce compressed steam into the combustion chamber to break up carbon on the valve surfaces. LOTS of steam out the pipes, as well as a ton of soot and chunks of black material.

I've done it with no ill effects a few times over the years, just honestly don't know if there is any validity to it. But I do buy into the theory!

 

[Gorgon]

How do you know that it is removing carbon form your engine? Have you tore your engine down to inspect it before/after running seafoam through it? Curious is all.

It's cleaning something out. My experience has been in smoothed out idle and improved throttle response. If you read the thread I quoted you'll see some people's experiences with Seafoam.

But no, I haven't torn down the engine to see if the carbon is being cleaned. But there is a general improvement in engine performance with the application of this product.

Leon

 

[Hib Halverson]

How do you know that it is removing carbon form your engine? Have you tore your engine down to inspect it before/after running seafoam through it? Curious is all.

Holy crap!
Someone asking for facts about the Seafoam scam??!!

Well...I never.

 

[svntyone]

I have used seafoam, and I believe it works. No tear downs to verify, but my '71 BB certainly runs better when she has her treatment. No question I'm an "additive type", as I believe there are two forces at work in my vehicle - carbon fouling in the engine from a lot of idling, and I also suspect the fuel quality as not that great in my area. I also use Lucas products as well. I'll admit I don't perceive any "improvements" from those in terms of smoother idling/throttle response, but I'm hoping it is prolonging my valve seat life.

 

[red70vette]

WHEN I FIRST READ THIS THREAD MY THOUGHTS WERE "HERE WE GO AGAIN MORE SNAKE OIL BEING SOLD TO CAR ENTHUSIASTS"

I have had a persisstant knock on accelleration for the past year. I have tried many cures- adjusting the timing, octane additives, etc. None of them worked. I thought that perhaps there was some carbon buildup in the engine but I could not bring myself to pour water down the carb. After reading the posts here on Seafoam I figured I would try it as I had nothing to lose.

Guess what!!! It worked. I poured about 4 oz down the carb turned off the engine, let it sit for about 5 minutes then started it up. Smoky as all hell. Let it run and then took it out for a romp. It ran great solid idle, no more carbon knock. I can't believe a product that does what it claims. Kudos from me to Seafoam.

 

[Bobsvette]

Yep! I alway's used marvel mystery oil for getting rid of carbon, and for storage I used to use stabil but once I found out about seafoam I figured I give it a try (for storage)and I switched to just the one product. Don't really have anything with carbon build up anymore because I add the sea foam every couple month's and run the car's normal. I feel doing it all at once is dangerous because hearing chunk's of carbon coming out really can't be good for the valves! My dad told me how years ago they used water and rice to do cadillac engines, but I guess back then the valves in those old tank's were the size if some pistons now.

 

[Vettepirate]

I find it works. It seems to have improved my 98 Sunfire after i gave it a treatment.

It did not do anything for the Vette, although being a 2002 i strongly doubt the Vette had any buildup in the engine at all. Even if SF was not as effective as claimed, i still find that the chance of it removing any unseen deposits is peace of mind enough to justify the $10 per oil change cost.

 

[Onebadelf]

I have used seafoam on a few of my vehicles. Only had one issue, but I don't know if it was related. On my 81 I had to replace my O2 sensor after running seafoam through it. Not a big problem. The O2 may have had problems to begin with I am not quite sure. The other vehicles showed no adverse affects and did show improvement.

 

[SEARAY290]

Hey everyone,

Has anyone ever seafoamed their Corvette?

I'm not afraid to add it to the gas in the tank, but they describe pouring some in the crank case and directly into the carburetor.

They claim it removes carbon build up.

Is this snake oil, or is it for real?

Thanks!

I borrowed a bore scope from one of the Technitions at my dealership and inspected valves and piston top thru the sprk plug hole-found valve seals were leaking. ( Big surprise?- 80k smallblock that is 28 years old!)
I seafoamed the engine and it did help clean things up. GM also makes a similar product called top engine cleaner. The new generation of smallblocks have a carbon issue that causes a cold start knock. The (temporary) fix was to pull the plugs, soak engine cylinders down with top engine cleaner, let it sit all night, re-assemble and start the next morning. This also results in a HUGE cloud of white smoke. My fix is a good hot engine, heavy load and high rpms ( Italian tuneup). I have found most Corvettes dont require thiat service however.

 

[hotshotzny]

well i went out and bought that magic potion from the door to door salesman known as seafoam.............and i cant say if it cleaned my engine out, or is making it run more efficient yet , but i can say this..prior to doing it the car would idle at about 1200 rpm's or so and while not rough it wasnt smooth either, after i ran the seafoam through it and let it sit... i started it back up ...AND MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA! now it idles at 900/1000 and as smooth as glass i cant say what else it really did to be honest ..ya do stuff like that and in your mind you are convinced the car is running faster than ever and never sounded so good ... but it is running better at idle

 

[Rumpity rumpity rump....]

An old timer back in the 80's showed me how to run water through the carb of a running engine to remove carbon build up:W.

It was to keep the motor from stalling by working the throttle by hand while DUMPING water slowly into the carb...1/2 gallon or so. Sounds crazy, but seems to work. The idea was to introduce compressed steam into the combustion chamber to break up carbon on the valve surfaces. LOTS of steam out the pipes, as well as a ton of soot and chunks of black material.

I've done it with no ill effects a few times over the years, just honestly don't know if there is any validity to it. But I do buy into the theory!

REPLY: An ol' Timer did the same with me watching. He said using ice cold water is best at near 32 f. Ive never seen so much white smoke come out the exhaust of his car. I never felt easy about doing it so i just use Carb Cleaner down the venturis . But i wouldnt mind trying SeaFoam now.

 

[gmjunkie]

Seafoam will work,as will Marvel Mystery oil and even a 1/2 Qt of good old Automatic Transmission fluid,and in the oil will clean out a sticky lifter in just a few miles!! But some of us Old Timers use good ol H20 for De-carbonation and it works as Good as any!!

 

[minifridge1138]

I've never heard of using water before.
It sounds like something that would be fun to do to my brother's car.

:L

Thanks everyone!

 

[gmjunkie]

It sounds like something that would be fun to do to my brother's car.

No,it's more fun to stick a bottle of transmission fluid somewhere and pull a vacuum line off the engine and stick it in the bottle!!Talk about Smoke!!!!