Sludge/engine rinse.

[walkman]

In Sept. I changed out my intake manifold to a aluminum one. I have a 71'/270hp/4spd.78k miles, second owner, engine never gone thu. Then I repainted valve covers. When I pulled them off, in the cornners where the head bolts are recess a little, sludge had built up thick enough to scoop it out with a q-tip. Did a bunch research and found that Sea Foam would be the best product to use. What a good product. The oil was getting a little brown, so put in new Pensoil filter got the engine to opperating temp. poured in one can of Sea Foam. Drove the car a 1/2 hour at freeway speed, 70/75 drained oil which was now black. Changed oil using Castroil High Milage 10w/40 and Purolator PureOne oil filter, rated the best. Oil pressure went up a little on the gauge, car runs smoother, less noise, just better. The whole set up, aluminum manifold, 1/2 carb spacer, Sea Foam, has really made a nice differance to the motor. Has anyone used Sea Foam and how did it work for you.

 

[fine69]

I've used Seafoam in my oil and gas tank... works great.

I've also used a product called Lucas oil stabilzer in my Camaro. I swear the car runs better - quicker starts, less start-up exhaust smoke, increased oil pressure, and a small oil leak even stopped!

By the way, the color of your shark, Bridgehampton Blue is my personal favorite!

 

[Rich80]

Sea Foam...Great Stuff for disolving sludge. I use it in my two cycle outboard for getting rid of carbon....

 

[Chas]

someone told me before that when you take the sludge out of the engine , it tends to loosen things up and then it gets worse. maybe he was off his rocker too! But it seemed to make sense at the time i guess.....just an opinion.
Chas

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

As the self appointed resident Luddite, let me ask a semi-retorical question.

What harm do you think this sludge does? What will the benefits be of removing it?

 

[MRANT212]

I've used Seafoam in my oil and gas tank... works great.

I've also used a product called Lucas oil stabilzer in my Camaro. I swear the car runs better - quicker starts, less start-up exhaust smoke, increased oil pressure, and a small oil leak even stopped!

By the way, the color of your shark, Bridgehampton Blue is my personal favorite!

Love the Camaro!!! I am just a bit biased towards Bridgehampton Blue also!!!

 

[Rich80]

Sludge builds up into problems.... Eventually (like a blood clot on the body)SeaFoam dissolves it... Doesnt loosen it up like kerosene and lodges someplace else.

 

[walkman]

Thanks mrant212, hope I can find the color when I repaint, haven't done it yet $7-10k are quotes so far.. Since the rinse about 40 mi. everything is running well, no leaks, oil pressure still up. Where it was running 35psi dead on, now 40. Takes 15min.to warm up good, since the intake manifold change, oil still clear. I'll put 800mi on the oil and then see what color it is. What I've found out is that Sea Foam is a refined by-product of refining oil, so no solvents are in it. 100% oil by-products. My motor was not very dirty, but never rinsed before. You can use it mulitable times( every 3000mi) till clean. I'll see how it works, it has made a good differance so far on 2 cans. A 1/4 can down the carb at 2000rpm the rest in the tank of about 12 gal of 89 octaine gas. The other in the oil. $14 invested.

 

[zgator]

Seafoam,good stuff.Use it all the time.A little$$ but it ain't snake oil.There is also a fromula for your gas tank to.But it might be the samething

 

[GerryLP]

I noticed a key claimed "effect" of using Sea Foam is higher oil pressure.

I am a bit apprehensive about this. If, for example, one's engine has attained degraded oil pressure over time, and after using Sea Foam, the oil pressure seems to be more consistent with normal operating oil pressure, then perhaps that is a good thing.

However, if the engine's oil pressure has always been "normal", and after using Sea Foam the oil pressure is higher than normal, then that perhaps is NOT very good.

Higher oil pressure through an oil pump change is different from higher oil pressure from just some product being used. I would tend to be concerned about higher oil pressure caused by restriction of oil passages between the oil pump, crankshaft, push-rods, and block passages in some sort of way.

So which way it happened? Am i confusing something else?

GerryLP:cool

 

[walkman]

Well that's a good point. I have not droped the pan, so I don't really know how dirty or how much sludge is in the motor. I know before the rinse the oil gauge was straight up 35psi. now it is between 35 and the next little hashmark which I belive is 45psi. Book says 40 at opt. temp. so somehow the product raised the pressure. Reving the motor past 4500rpm will move the neddle on the oil gauge a neddles width. There was never any blue smoke at start up before or after the rinse, not matter how long it sat. I would think that a sludged system would have higher pressure, but, if less oil is being pressureized because of restricted flow than that would give you a lower pressure reading because less oil is being pumped. The oil gauge line is at the top of the motor near the distb. I don't know. Cleaner oil rings? Would that build pressure?

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

So which way it happened? Am i confusing something else?

I think you're on the same wave length as me. If there is sludge in an engine that's stuck in little corners, it causes no harm. If it comes loose, it gets washed out with regular oil changes. There's no benefit in loosening up static sludge.

GM built millions of SBC and BBC engines. The vast majority last about 150K miles between overhaul, some more, some less.

Less than (I'm guessing) .001% of owners use any sort of additive, yet the remaining engines run just fine without them.

When they do wear out, it's rarely due to lubrication issues.

Aside from the probable placebo effect, I see no benefits.

 

[walkman]

Your #'s I'm sure are pretty close, so, if so few used a additive how could you get a mersurement on what might happen if more people used it and tracked the results. Maybe 200k miles? I sure if you change your oil every 2k miles the engine would last longer than changing oil every 4k miles. Most parts fail do to wear by friction, some by part failure, but mostly by friction. Dirty oil/engine makes more friction. Sludge is dirty oil that has accumulated over time. A oil temp. gauge might be interesting.

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

Those are good points, but unfortunately, there's no evidence to support them.

We're not talking running old dirty, oil- just the need for supplementary 'cleaners'.

If these products really were any good, why wouldn't the major oil companies integrate them into their own oil main line products. They spend MILLIONS on advertising all sorts of variations of a basic product, why not add this stuff and claim that the engine will last longer?

These products (that essentially fix something that's not broken) remind me of the scam artists that want to clean the heating/cooling ducts of a house. It's all based on the premise that bad things will happen if you don't remove static residue.

 

[walkman]

Well, no one has said yet that they have not seen results using Sea Foam. Oil,gas and filter techology have improved since my car was made 35 years ago, even in the last 15 years. I don't think you would have seen many cars back then getting 150k milage unless you really took care of the maintenance. That techology along with gearing has helped cars today get that milage and more out of engines. How many miles and what type of miles are on your 73'?

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

The original engine went boom in my '73 when the previous owner ran it out of oil. He thought the 'oil pressure' gauge was an 'oil quantity' gauge and was trying to get it to the next gas station to throw in a 'quart or two' so it would stop reading zero. That engine had over a 100K miles on it and aside from the rod through the side of the block was in pretty good shape despite Bubba. I've put about 30K on the replacment engine, so it's almost broken in.

The point that I'm trying to get across is that there's millions of SBC engines that have been produced over decades of time. Lots of them hit 150K miles or more without an overhaul long before your Corvette was born.