I've always said to others seafoam doesn't do **** and now I have proof. I've always wondered, where is all this carbon coming from that seafoam is suppose to clean up? And how is it possible that seafoam is strong enough to clean carbon, but gentle enough to not damage the gasket's on a motor, like the oil pan gasket and valve seals.


So I went out and bought a can of this lovely stuff which came to $12.00 after tax. I just picked up a winter beater with 402,000 kms and it needed to have it's headgasket replaced since it was eating coolant and smoking really bad. No other better time to prove the only thing seafoam cleans is the inside of your intake manifold and pcv valve/hoses.

So me Flexin5, Engsr & B18C5er started up the beater and proceeded to unhooked the brake booster line. Next we used about 3/4 of the bottle in through the booster and poured the first into the crankcase through the oil fill cap.

Then Flexin5 and Engsr ripped the **** out of the civic, smoking up the entire shop and street. The car was redlined and they came back a little later. Immediatly after the engine cooled down, we started the process of taking the head off.

Seafoam is crap and here's the pictures.

These pics were taken after the little pool of coolant was cleaned off the top of cylinder one.







Cylinder 1



Cylinder 2



Cylinder 3



Cylinder 4




Cylinder 4, 3 ,2 all still have this magical carbon stuff on it, while cylinder 1 where all the coolant was leaking into is clean.

Same goes for the head, you can even see the fouled spark plug in cylinder one from all the coolant that was drained into it because of the leaking headgasket.

Just as expected from a motor that has had a blown headgasket. The carbon that's on the piston tops now is actually normal and isn't harmful in anyway to the motor.

Those that go on about the smoke, it's all normal because your putting in a uncombustable substance into the air/fuel mixture. The same white smoke will happen if you, spray coolant into the throttle body or even water.


Oh can't forget...



Seafoam = placebo

Next time, I'll be buying some cheap coolant instead.....J/K


Modified by wildoutwhitegsr at 12:50 AM 11/22/2006

 

well, considering that seafoam isn't an abrasive cleaner and is only a chemical solvent then there is no way it is going to be able to clean 1/8" of carbon off of an engine with 100k miles after only a couple uses.

Use your head and quite being retarded.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hatch77 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well, considering that seafoam isn't an abrasive cleaner and is only a chemical solvent then there is no way it is going to be able to clean 1/8" of carbon off of an engine with 100k miles after only a couple uses.

Use your head and quite being retarded.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Basicly he is right u can not expect it to clean the engine like it is brand new again. especialy with that kind of milege on it. One attempt will not always do it either. at my job i ran 2 cans of honda top engine clean and used it threw more that just one side of the manifold this way it will find its way into each cyclinder . should of seen the black crap that was left on the curb after the smoke cleared.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hatch77 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well, considering that seafoam isn't an abrasive cleaner and is only a chemical solvent then there is no way it is going to be able to clean 1/8" of carbon off of an engine with 100k miles after only a couple uses.

Use your head and quite being retarded.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Use your head, the proof was posted and if you've read anything about seafoam in the last while, you'll know it does ****.

My B18C1 piston's after 200,000 kms and no seafoam treatment.



Carbon inside a internal combustion engine is normal, cleaning carbon doesn't help do anything unless you have excessive carbon deposit's which mean's there's something else wrong with your motor, like it's burns oil.

Way to go with your informative post though and backing it up with proof.

 

I suppose that depends on what you were expecting it to do. My engine had carbon buildup on the head/pistons/exhaust ports after 500 miles. Big deal. Seafoam also got rid of my CEL for EGR (on the lexus), so I guess it depends on what you think its going to do and whether you think "carbon buildup" is normal.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92DAIntegraXSI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Basicly he is right u can not expect it to clean the engine like it is brand new again. especialy with that kind of milege on it. One attempt will not always do it either. at my job i ran 2 cans of honda top engine clean and used it threw more that just one side of the manifold this way it will find its way into each cyclinder . should of seen the black crap that was left on the curb after the smoke cleared.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I never wanted or stated I wanted to clean the engine back to new. It's a fact of life that carbon will build-up fine on perfectly running motors with nothing wrong with them.


I'm tired of people saying "oh my car smoked like crazy, it must be cleaning out the engine really well."

Almost all the black stuff that will come out of the exhaust, is the oily residue that left unattended in the intake manifold and pcv system that the owner has never figured to clean out.


People wonder why they have idle problems and how seafoam fixes it. It's simple, the thottle body has holes both for map sensor/fitv(if u have one) and the intake manifold for the iacv sensor, if those holes are clogged or restricted by anything of course your cars gonna idle like crap. Same goes for when you pcv system isn't working.


Modified by wildoutwhitegsr at 1:49 AM 11/22/2006

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95 integra &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I suppose that depends on what you were expecting it to do. My engine had carbon buildup on the head/pistons/exhaust ports after 500 miles. Big deal. Seafoam also got rid of my CEL for EGR (on the lexus), so I guess it depends on what you think its going to do and whether you think "carbon buildup" is normal.</TD></TR></TABLE>

See and that's what the product should be used for. To clean unattended oily deposits within emssions systems like the egr for newer vehicles. Or the pcv system on integras, civics etc if your pcv valve is too hard to reach like on the gsr, etc etc. But trying to clean the carbon off the piston tops and the bowls in the head, come on.


I'm just tired of seeing people saying "my car's smoked really bad, must be a lot of carbon."

There's even some that claim horsepower increases

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wildoutwhitegsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I'm just tired of seeing people saying "my car's smoked really bad, must be a lot of carbon."

There's even some that claim horsepower increases </TD></TR></TABLE>


So very very true.....plus people act like they want the carbon to come out in big flakes or something. I'd rather have my carbon on the piston tops rather then clogging my cat or lodging bewteen the piston and cylinder wall.... .

 

[QUOTE=wildoutwhitegsr]

I'm tired of people saying "oh my car smoked like crazy, it must be cleaning out the engine really well."

Almost all the black stuff that will come out of the exhaust, is the oily residue that left unattended in the intake manifold and pcv system that the owner has never figured to clean out.


And you seem to think i dont know this? i do this everyday at work i kno wat it does ok ur point the 12 doller can doesnt work BIG F*cking DEAL. i did it twice to my car cuz it was never done in its 170K life, and yea a bunch of **** came out. i get wat ur saying about people like " o wow thats alota smoke i just got like 15hp again". they obviously dont kno wtf there doing. the stuff workes great to pass inspections and **** but w/e over and done with.

 

well, people may not agree with him... but i give you a for taking the time and doing a fairly nice write up.

 

BTW, my can was like $6

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92DAIntegraXSI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">And you seem to think i dont know this? i do this everyday at work i kno wat it does ok ur point the 12 doller can doesnt work BIG F*cking DEAL. i did it twice to my car cuz it was never done in its 170K life, and yea a bunch of **** came out. i get wat ur saying about people like " o wow thats alota smoke i just got like 15hp again". they obviously dont kno wtf there doing. the stuff workes great to pass inspections and **** but w/e over and done with.</TD></TR></TABLE>


Where did I ever personally insult you? Just relax, it's only the internet and I'm trying to help people out that expect gains and think that the smoke they see is carbon flying out the back.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95 integra &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BTW, my can was like $6</TD></TR></TABLE>


American's always get everything cheaper than us up North, isn't fair I tell ya


Oh more back-up info, since my post count doesn't seem to be high enough to please some.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1502112&page=3

 

dude, its 12$. i would use it for the smokescreen to play with.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wildoutwhitegsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So me Flexin5, Engsr & B18C5er started up the beater and proceeded to unhooked the brake booster line. Next we used about 3/4 of the bottle in through the booster and poured the first into the crankcase through the oil fill cap.

Then Flexin5 and Engsr ripped the **** out of the civic, smoking up the entire shop and street. The car was redlined and they came back a little later. Immediatly after the engine cooled down, we started the process of taking the head off.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Why would you put in your oil??? Never heard of that one...

When Ive seafoam'd cars we generally would do 1-2 cans through the vacuum port, holding the motor at a constant rpm (3500-4000) outside behind the shop. The cars have always ran better and smoother afterwords. was never looking for power gains just a clensing.

 

well i wouldnt expect seafoam to remove everything, but i guess it depends what you want it to do.

I know for a fact that it definitely reduces emissions. My friend bought a 87 prelude with over 200,000 miles. He took the test and failed horribly. I then ran a can of seafoam through the brake booster and some in the gas tank. He drove around for an hour that night, and went and took the emissions' test that day and came back and said he passed.. I compared both slips and the results on the pass was amazing.. his readings were 80 times better..

I just used it on my 92 integra gsr today, and the same results (i've used it before and knew the results on my car) but my readings were as follows:

HC 39 - (Limit 220)
CO 0.00% - (Limit 1.20%)
CO2 7.96%

And the engine runs a little smoother..

But I dont expect it to work miracles, but it does help to pass emissions. And I've never put it in my oil.. Just doesnt seem right.

 

if its not poisonous id drink it

 

I am sure it did some thing, what did it look like before you did it chief? You would have to hand clean the parts to get them spotless.

 

i have to agree, seeing it with my own eyes. i'm sure it'll help cleaning out the PCV system, however the missconception that people have that it'll make your motor look brand spankin new and get rid of all the carbon and give you 10hp is ridiculous. that SOHC had just about the same amount of carbon as my LS motor with 200,000km on it when i took it apart to re-build.

btw i'm the goof on the motor...haha

 

hand cleaning the parts is what i did, and wow it took days

 

you guys wanna get the tops of those pistons looking almost new?.........walk into your local GM dealer parts department and ask for a can of "cleans"

pour some into the cylinders and let it sit over night. then after its sits over night you put a little more and then fire the engine up and kick the **** out of it.........you think you can't loosen up carbon with a chemical? GM cleans is the **** when used properly.

I'm sure seafoam probably works almost the same way.......but a quick 10min soak in and drive around wont do much.

 

You pictures/post are worthless. Since when do any scientists perform experiments without establishing a control? If all you analyzed were the post-seafoam pictures, you have nothing to argue.

How do you know there weren't more carbon deposits? How do you know all the valves/pistons didn't look worse before you started. You don't.

Now, if you took pictures before you Seafoamed it, and the innards looked exactly the same, then this post might be worth considering.

 

thats interesting about the GM cleans...might have to try that

 

So there are more GM products
that are helpful to my honda eh?
And i was amazed w/the synchro mesh.
Anyone know how much that "cleans" goes for?

 

You guys might want to try Auto-RX. Most of the guys on bobistheoilguy go nuts for it. There are plenty of posts with before and after pics of oil pans, heads, and mpg reports.