ray559527

ok so i read up some information on how to seafoam your car. i also looked at a bunch of videos. i couldnt really find a great diy guide but so far i think i have most of the idea down. but i need some help to see what is correct and what is wrong and also i need help identifying my vacuum line.

ok so i only want to seafoam my vacuum line and my gas tank.

from what i understand the first step i need to do is

1.disconnect the vacuum line (while car is not started yet?)

2. start the car.

3. add 1/3rd of the can of seafoam very slowly.

4. after adding seafoam, shut off the car and reconnect the vacuum line.

5. wait 10-15 mins.

6. start back the car and start reving the engine until the most or all of the smoke is gone.

7. do i shut the engine back off again before i add in 1/3rd of the seafoam to my gas tank or do i leave it running? or does it matter?

8. after adding seafoam to my gas tank drive the car. (the higher the rpms the better? while driving) how long do i drive for?

things to do after seafoaming my car. change my oil within a day

anything else that i am missing or i should know about? plz let me know.

also like i said i need help identifying my vacuum hose. can someone plz locate this for me on my picture. if someone could circle where my vacuum hose is it will help the most or post a another picture of another car with the same engine would also help. i got a b16. cause im not too familiar with the terms so if u tell me where its next too i might not understand

thx

Blacknight117

iTrader: (1)

When you use the Seafoam, like you said you put a third in than let the car sit for about 10 minutes. Than you start the car and bring the car to about 3k, maybe about 500 higher. Do that for about 3 minutes. Than take the car for drive, it will smoke for a bit but that`s normal. Push the car a bit at a redlight to get whatever is left out of the engine. Than, when you get home, add another third to the tank like you would any other additive. And if you plan on changning your oil in the next week, you could put the rest of the foam into the crankcase to get some of the crap out. Correct me if I`m wrong...

As far as where the vaccum hose is on a B16, I`m not sure..

nealnanoHX

Here is how I do a top engine clean using seam foam or similar product. You want to use the smallest line possible the slower the SF gets into the motor the better. Us about 1/4 of the SF, let the car ideal, do not rev it up. After you are done running the SF threw the motor using a small vacuum line take the car for a little drive. There will be large amounts of white smoke coming out the exhaust, dont worry it is the carbon the SF cleaned off burning. DO NOT put SF in you oil, it is a solvent and will break down the oil, I dont car what the bottle says. You an put small amount in the furl tank but I prefer to use a good fuel injector cleaner. IME the best vacuum source to use is the PVC line on the middle of the intake, being in the middle of the intake helps to ensure the SF is getting to all 4 cylinders evenly, you will need to use a smaller line than the one on the mani though. Remember you want it to go into the motor slowly in small amounts, if to much goes in at once you can hydro lock the motor. As a auto technician I have done thousands of top engine cleaning and I see what happens when done wrong and it can be bad. GM and Valvoline have a top engine cleaner that IME is much better than sea foam.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

The brake booster!!!!! It's like the largest vacuum line in the engine.
Get a manual. Fast.
If you read and watched the DIYs and videos you can see this plainly. It really is not that hard.

Humphrizzle

it seems like you're confused. The only technical part of seafoaming an engine is the upper cylinder cleaning.

-turn engine on until warm then turn off
-pour 1/3 seafoam into a separate cup
-disconnect brake booster vacuum line
-put vacuum line into cup
-turn engine on while someone holds the cup in place
-rev engine to around 2000-2250 RPM until the remains of the seafoam is gone
-run engine at the same RPM (2000-2500) until white smoke from the upper cylinder cleaner is ridded from the exhaust.

The gas treatment is just 1/2 container in the gas tank that works the same way as a fuel stabilizer.

The oil treatment is 1/2 container in the oil before an oil change to free up any deposits in your oil system to free up and to be released when you change the oil.

Hope this helped.

ray559527

ok thanks for the response guys, that helped. for the brake booster line i have watched videos of similar cars but i just wanted to know exactly which one is the vacuum hose on my car. i just dont want to make a mistake by assumming that, that was the right line. im a check my engine this week to see where it is and if i have trouble ill just ask an autoparts store to help me.

i definetely dont want to put any seafoam in my crank case because i heard it can screw up ur seals and make u leak oil if not serviced right and over 150k miles. my car is at 145k miles and i got it at 140k miles. i dont know if it has been serviced right and i dont want to take the chance since i already burn oil from time to time.

as far as putting the seafoam in my gas tank anybody have any objections to that or any information and opinions? im glad u gave me the info nealnanoHX but i always like second opinions on everything

so heres a part im a little confused. can someone answer this

if i dont put any seafoam in my crankcase. but i do put it thru the vacuum hose and my gas tank. do i need to change my oil within a day? or does it not matter?

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

If yu don't put any in the crankcase OIL why would you then need to change the oil within a day? Do you understand how Seafoam actually works?

nealnanoHX

Don not use the brake booster line!! You can suck in to much sea foam and hydro lock the motor. If you have ever mixed sea foam with motor oil and saw how it thins it out (like a solvent) you would not put it in your oil. Like I said Valvoline makes a really good 3 part top end clean and fuel system cleaner and engine cleaner that is used in the oil. Not saying SF will kill your motor if you pout it in the oil I just dont like adding a solvent to a lubricant.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

You can use the brake booster. You just have to be real careful when doing it.

Wrona

if you really reaserched and you did read DIY's and you still dont get it you should not do it

1/3 in the Brake Booster Vaccum line that goes to the Intake manifold
1/3 into the crank case let it sit for 10 mins start it up 3k RPM
1/3 into the gas tank

that is it that is how i did it and my car works just fine but honestly Seafoam is ok but BG44K will give you thesame results just 3 times more expensive

mike:

How does seafoam/bg44k hold up after a few months or years, with a decent amount of mileage put on the motor

Wrona

i do BG44K after 3 oil changes when i first got my DD Civic with 128k miles i improved my MPGs from 30 to 37 HWY

Jrivera227

I finally plan on seafoaming this weekend. Is BG44K the same type of Petroleum based product? If so can you find them at most auto part stores?

-Justin

Wrona

No you add BG44K into your gastank and only retailers like Napa sell it

mike:

WOW, sorry for the caps but wow lol, 7 mpg is a big deal, I get 30 HWY but on a motor with approximately 75000-85000 miles (jdm import so I'll never know the true mileage). I will definitively be looking into this product even if I only get 3 or 4 more mpg on the highway.

Did you have any problems before/after treatment. Low/roaming idle, burn any oil, etc.

So a can of BG44K in one tank of gas lasts for around 9000 miles?

Wrona

read this

http://www.wrxtuners.com/forums/f52/bg-44k-whoa-22270/

and no i just had low mileage but after i added it the next oil change i did i changed my fuel filter

ray559527

ok well i got all the info i needed. im a seafoam tomorrow

nealnanoHX thx for the info but i already bought the seafoam. im a give seafoam a try and next time im a look into valvoline. how is it applied? is the instructions on the label?

wrona, would u say bg44k is better then seafoam? if so why?

MauricesExoticP

If I have any questions about how clean a new to me engine crank case is I will change the oil out with Pennzoil Ultra, let that run for 3000 miles, buy another 5qt jug of the good stuff along with a 5qt jug of the lowest cost oil I can find, this time I do a quick oil change to the cheap oil run the car around for a 30 drive, then change the oil and filter to the good oil. In almost all cases this will remove most if not all sludge buildup in the engine and you shouldn't have to do much more than run a good oil with regular oil changes.

If you feel the need to SF the engine at this point feel free to follow the advice in the above posts. My personal opinion is that the product is kin to snake oil, a bunch of BS that a lot of people buy into because they want it to work.

Regular maintenance with quality products do a much better job at keeping a good engine good longer than any funky product could ever hope to do.

If after a few changes of good oil there is reason to believe there is a problem with the engine staying as clean as I would like it to be I will strip it down and rebuild it to new. At that point the engine is going to be in perfect running order and all issues from that point forward are directly related to my level of care for the car or lack of care if that may be the case.

Maurice

Nooch

Only thing I'm ever worried about is it working too well in the IM, knocking some carbon loose and getting that clogged in the cylinder. Or fouling out the injectors with some loose particle bs.

Also that is exactly why you don't rev the engine hard. If it does knock some big enough carbon buildup loose you can kiss your engine goodbye

MauricesExoticP

It's not likely going to foul out the injectors, but a bunch of carbon mud in your piston rings is going to increase wear on the cylinder wall and thrust side of the piston if you have loose rings in the first place.

Better to pull things apart and toss them to a machine shop to get them cleaned the correct way.

The SF thing sounds too much like the port and polish method of dumping sand into a running engine, um yeah do not try this kids, it will not work.

Do it right or do nothing, both are better than doing it wrong.

Maurice

Humphrizzle

Seafoam is not a port and polish. Seafoam is an injector and upper cylinder cleaner. do it right and you will be fine. I used my previous seafoam method for the life of my 2000 civic si with 293k miles with no rebuild, no loss of compression, no problems whatsoever.

just because you dont understand something doesnt mean it doesnt work. it means you are uneducated.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Wow. Some of you people are making this absolutely harder and more complex than it actually is-from the actual application of it to what it is supposed to do for your engine. If you have doubts as to the safety of these kinds of products then do not use them.

Humphrizzle

^^ exactly.

MauricesExoticP

I know that Seafoam is not a port and polish, what I was saying was an analogy.

As far as Seafoam being an injector cleaner, please think again about this claim. Few if any injectors become clogged by anything that regular gasoline will not dissolve and allow to pass, otherwise injectors are likely clogged, worn, or stuck partly open by solid contaminants that passed a damaged fuel filter. In the event an engine is not run for an extended period of time it is possible for fuel to gum or varnish but this will be dissolved within the span of one tank of fresh fuel.

As for Seafoam being an upper cylinder cleaner, again I'm asking you to rethink this, a healthy engine is not going to accumulate a quantity of carbon sufficient to cause problems, a byproduct of the combustion process is water, this water when created is located in the combustion chamber just prior to the exhaust event in the form of high pressure steam, this steam in effect cleans the chamber and piston top as the engine runs. In an engine that is excessively worn or has other damage the combustion event is less efficient and the creation of water is reduced. If Seafoam is cleaning excess caron buildup it is fixing nothing just cleaning up the mess that is the direct result of damage or excessive wear.

We put no less than 57k per year on our DD cars none see more than oil, filters, plugs and none are down on performance and all run clean.

Using Seafoam on a healthy engine is a giant waste of time and to a lesser extent money.

If an engine is so fouled that it is experiencing a loss in performance it needs to be fixed not cleaned because there is an issue that is causing the excessive build up of carbon, sludge, whatever, in the first place.

Seafoam puts on a great show, all that smoke and crap, it sure looks like it is doing something, but it isn't doing as much as you might think.

Plain old hot water sprayed into the intake while the engine is running at 2000rpm from a standard pump up sprayer or even an old windex spray bottle will clean the combustion chamber and piston tops very well. It works simply because as the additional water mist entering the engine is compressed it turns to steam which we all know is a very effective method of cleaning. This is still not fixing the issue that caused the build up in the first place but the result is a cleaner combustion chamber, valves, and piston top.

Take a look at the federal regulations that govern fuel additives and cleaning agents in gasoline, they are there for a reason and they work.

As far as oil go with the better brands that have good reviews for cleaning and maintaining a clean engine.

Stop using junk oil filters, and rock strainer air filters.

Change your oil on time as per the manuals instruction for your car or every 3000 miles if you are unsure.

Keep the maintenance up to date, plugs that are worn cause issues due to less than optimal combustion of available fuel which can lead to excessive buildup within the cylinders, or on the valves, and in very bad cases the rings.

You can clean a corpse all you want but in the end you have nothing more than a clean dead guy, no more alive than when you started. No matter how much you clean him, he isn't going back to work.

Maurice

Humphrizzle

i like that post.

i just use seafoam as a regular maintenance routine because i always have and have always had a great running car.

the thread shall die since the OP's question was answered multiple times.