Anyone use Seafoam?

[detroiter]

Was just wondering if anyone on here has used it and if so, what method did you use? I've used it in the past on my Honda Del Sol by putting it in the gas tank but I've seen that alot of people put it through one of the lines in the engine bay, then turn the car off to let it settle for 15 mins or so, then fire it up and it smokes like hell (which is the seafoam coming out). I never did it that way though because I couldn't figure out which line to use.

[YarisSedan]

On the yaris if you follow the PCV hose to the intake disconect it there. Run a large hose with a smaller hose inside the middle of it and suck it through that hole that feeds the intake. Id run half a can first then shut the car off and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then run the other half through. Then keep the car at 4k rpms for a few minutes and then take it on the freeway and drive it hard. The smoke isnt the seafoam that you are seeing its the carbon and oil being cleaned out of the intake. Toyotas seem to have a tendency of sucking quite a bit of oil and causing lots of buildup inside the intake manifold. So make sure when you do this its in a very well ventalated area.



Make sure to change you oil shortly after.

[Loren]

I've done it on a few different cars, it's amazing how much crud comes out. (not all of the smoke is Seafoam... the white smoke is mostly seafoam, but when you see dark smoke, that's soot that was clinging to your valves and pistons!)

Pick a vacuum line that comes from the intake manifold, smaller is better. Warm up the engine, then dip that hose into the Seafoam can and VERY slowly ingest half of the can. It should take you a minute or two to get through it, and it will smoke a bit and bog as you do it. With the Yaris's electronic throttle, you probably can't manipulate the throttle from under the hood to keep the engine running (not sure, never tried). That could make this a little more difficult. If that's the case, it's even more important that you're SLOW and very controlled with ingesting the Seafoam so that you don't stall the engine.

(note: You could get a long piece of vacuum hose and sit in the driver's seat while you do this... just be careful not to spill it in the car, of course. That way you could rev up the engine to keep it running while it's choking out on the Seafoam.)

The point of this first part is to get out the loosest crud and get the Seafoam to start soaking into the rest. Go ahead and let the engine take a nice big gulp and stall itself when you get near half a can. Let it rest for at least half an hour. Overnight, if you have time.

When you're satisfied that you've let the Seafoam soak long enough, start the engine and run the rest of the Seafoam through it. It will likely smoke EVEN MORE now.

When you're done with that, hook your vacuum line back up, close the hood and go for a drive. Drive the snot out of it. It will smoke like a mo-fo for 5-10 miles until you burn all the residual crud out of it.

Last step, and it's important: change your oil! You'll have generated some pretty nasty blow-by in the process of doing this. You don't want it in your engine oil.

The only possible negative effects of this treatment might be fouled spark plugs or gunking up the catalytic converter. I've never heard of anyone damaging a cat this way, but I guess it might be possible.

Let us know how it goes. Oh, and your neighbors will look at you really funny. Maybe you should do it at a friend's house?

[detroiter]

Thanks big time for the advice guys. I'd hate to ask but I have no idea which line would be best. Any way someone can post up a picture with a closeup and it circled, which line to use? Thanks!

[YarisSedan]

Yeah the last time i did this i saw all the neighborhood kids run out into the street to see what the heck was going on. I guess they though it was a fire or something. I filled the entire block with smoke! LOL i prayed that there were no cops around as i quickly tried to make it to the nearest freeway to blow the rest out.

[Yaris Hilton]

The Seafoam itself smokes. Put it in a brand new engine and you'll smoke up the whole neighborhood. This stuff isn't anything new, there have been similar engine decarbonizers sold since the early days of the automobile. They went out of fashion when catalytic converters came along. It's possible to badly overheat a catalyst while the engine's misfiring and putting out unburned fuel and solvent into the exhaust. Last year I successfully cleaned up my Mercury Villager's engine with a similar solvent. Afterward it ran better and had no apparent harm.

The other old method of cleaning carbon is, of course, to trickle water into the warm running engine's intake. The rapid cooling shocks the carbon loose from the surfaces.

You'll need an OBD II code reader to clear the misfiring code when you get done.

[YarisSedan]

Originally Posted by Yaris Hilton

The Seafoam itself smokes. Put it in a brand new engine and you'll smoke up the whole neighborhood. This stuff isn't anything new, there have been similar engine decarbonizers sold since the early days of the automobile. They went out of fashion when catalytic converters came along. It's possible to badly overheat a catalyst while the engine's misfiring and putting out unburned fuel and solvent into the exhaust. Last year I successfully cleaned up my Mercury Villager's engine with a similar solvent. Afterward it ran better and had no apparent harm.

The other old method of cleaning carbon is, of course, to trickle water into the warm running engine's intake. The rapid cooling shocks the carbon loose from the surfaces.

You'll need an OBD II code reader to clear the misfiring code when you get done.

I dumped a whole can of seafoam in a car that ran only chevron it was a really old oldsmobile. Let it sit for a hour. Started it up and just a small puff of smoke and then that was it. No further smoke after that. Car had nearly 180k miles too. Nothing near what my yaris has and the amount of smoke it put out.

Also my acura i ran 5 cans of seafoam not joking at all. Over teh course of a few weeks. The last time if finally stopped smoking. I assumed the engine was finally spotless clean like new again.

[RedRide]

Personally, I just dump a can of seafoam in the gas tank of my cars about evey 5k miles.

Also, Seafoam is also a gas stabaliser for up to 2 years.
So, it's great to use in your lawn mower, snow blower, bike, etc before storing for the season.

[Loren]

The quality of fuel (additives, like Chevron's Techron) and the way you drive a car definitely affect how much nasty stuff you flush out of the engine.

When I did my Miata at about 70k miles, it had seen pretty regular hard-driving and the occasional can of fuel injector cleaner through the fuel tank. It smoked for sure, but not THAT much, and not much black smoke.

When I did another Miata that had over 230k miles and a questionable life, is was a completely different experience! Lots and lots of black and brown smoke.

I suspect that puttering around doing the hypermiling thing is probably going to build up a fair amount of carbon.

Also, what Hilton said. It's nothing new, and I've heard that you can do the same thing with just water. Rather than chemical action, water relies on steam. It's old school and cheap (free). I may try it someday to see how effective it is.

[HTM Yaris]

You will not need an OBD II reader to clear the misfire code . With the car off , and while depressing the the ODO trip meter , turn the ignition to the on position (don't crank the car ) . You will see some horizontal bars appear . Continue to hold ODO trip meter until the bars are gone . Turn ignition off . Restart car . The error code will be gone .

[Yaris Hilton]

Thanks for the tip! I'd seen those bars before and had wondered if there were other tricks the odo/trip meter thing would do besides resetting the "Maintenance Required" light.