Hey guys,

I've been scouring the web for tips and tricks before SeaFoaming my 6th gen. I've heard many ways of doing it including through the 'brake booster' line but I've also heard that this isn't the "right way" of doing it. I couldn't find, for the life of me, said "right way" so i come to you guys. I was already going to put 1/2 to 1 can into my gas tank and 1/3 into some vacuum line and some into the oil crankcase. Any tips?

 

well, i guess it would help if you told us exactly what you are trying to clean with the stuff. the back of the can has pretty good instructions for using it though. have you read it yet?

when i use the stuff, i usually put some in the fuel, and some in the crank case...but between the two, i usually dont use a whole can... at least not when i use it in the honda, since it has a relatively small gas tank.

i dont think ive really used it anywhere else, but 1/3 can into a vacuum line sounds like a lot to me. if i were to try cleaning the vac system (which doesnt sound like a bad idea, by the way), i would get an oral syringe and pop that into the line with the car running (creating vacuum at line), then slowly inject the seafoam.

 

Do you have a 6 or a 4?

In any case, the booster hose will get to both sides of the intake, so it will work just fine - I use this in my V10 Ford. For the 6 in my acura (no idea if it is the same in a honda), there is a hose in the front of the intake manifold that I take off and use a 3' section. For my 4 cylinder accord, I use a small hose next to the map sensor hose near the beginning of the throttle body. Anything will work as long as it will get to all cylinders.

I use 1/4 of the can in the vacuum line when hot, let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes, start and let idle for a minute or two and then drive it a bit until the white smoke stops. If your sled is really bad, then it won't run worth a darn for a while, so be careful if you drive it. Then, I usually do it again with another quarter.

I saw about a 2MPG increase with my 92 accord the first time that I did this. Even though I do it every 6 months since and it still blows white smoke like crazy, the gas mileage has not gotten any better... but as long as there is white smoke, I will do it the next time.

FWIW - my V10 ford with 160K miles hardly ever has even the slightest bit of white smoke - I guess that engine is relatively clean...

 

The back of the can suggests using the brake booster line....

Just read the can.

 

everytime i use seafoam my car bogs out the first couple of times trying to start it
but when we use it we usually run a what would be considered an "iv" into the intake maniold vacum line
that works well

 

so are you guys doing the injecting of seafoam with the car running, and warmed up? with it off and cold? when do you put the stuff in there? do you let it set for a while like said above?

 

alright, the seafoam website has a how-to... pretty much the same thing the can says, but with pictures. still pretty general though.

for cleaning vacuum system, it says that you should find a line that feeds all cylinders. it also says, "On many vehicles the easiest option is taking the vacuum line from your brake booster PCV." once you find a line, warm up the car, slowly add 1/3 can to the line, watch for smoke to start coming from pipe, shut off and let set for at least 10 minutes (although my can says 5), start it up and drive aggressively for 2-5 miles, or until the smoke stops.

when it says to use the "brake booster PCV", are they talking about the line that runs from the PCV valve to the throttle body area of the intake manifold?

 

No, they mean the line that runs into the brake booster. That line usually is fairly large 1/2 inch or 5/8 and runs from the throttle body to the brake booster.

 

okay, i didnt think that made much sense. pcv and brake booster are two different things, so i wonder why they word it that way?

 

The reason they say to use the brake booster is because it is usually a large vacuum hose and most times it is located in the center of the upper plenum. In theory That will allow it to feed the product to all the cylinders.

When I worked in a garage we never poured the stuff into the vacuum hose. We would start the car and let it come up to temp. Then we poured 1/3 of a can of seafoam into a bucket/bowl. Shut the car down, unhooked the break booster hose and stuck it in the bowl to have it pull the seafoam into the plenum. Once we saw smoke we would shut the car off and switch to the PCV hose. Start the car back up and let it suck some more into that port. Once the 1/3 of a can had been consumed by the engine we would let it sit for 10-15 min then take it out on the highway for a good cruise.

if you want to fog the combustion chamber and cylinders with a cleaning product ether of the two ports will work.

 

I did a couple of times on my other cars, through the brake booster hose and gas tank, don't want to put it in the engine. I'm waiting the day I will do the oil change then I seaform it and change oil/filter at once, don't want to keep that stuff in the engine for too long. I did it in early morning 4-5 am and run off on the 55 mph highway, I don't want my neighbors to be panic and call 911.

Danny T.

 

This may be a noob question but is there any way that someone could take a picture of the brake booster line and point out the side that we are supposed to disconnect to suck up the seafoam?

 

the back of the can says pour it in the fuel tank.

 

... keep reading...

 

you might check http://www.hondapartsnow.com/ for an exploded view. should be on the right (looking under the hood) side of the engine/intake. larger rubber line going to the booster. kind of hard to miss. most of the other ones in there are small.

no, i understand the concept of dumping it through the line, i was just confused over which one would be best, and more specifically, the wording of the web site. i think it should say "brake booster and/or pcv", instead of running the two together like they do. its confusing.

thanks for clearing that up though.

 

since i was out there about to pull my injectors and do a seal job, i snapped a pic for you of the booster line. the pcv valve is on top of the valve cover.

my car's a 91 accord w/ the f22a1

 

Yes the PCV valve is on top of the valve cover, and the other end of the hose connects to the front of the intake plenum. If I'm not mistaken it is the hose that is just below the P (PGM-FI) on the manifold in the right of your picture.

I would use the Brake booster hose

 

http://www.diymyhonda.com/civic/seafoam/

civic but you get the idea

 

yup, right under the P in "PGM" is pcv hose. in the pic, you can barely see it off to the left side, but its the dark black hose with a shiny new clamp on it.

booster line is the big one in the center of the pic. runs from the big black brake booster (whew... say that 5 times in a row!) to the intake, but it connects on the firewall side if it. if its like mine, you should be able to take it apart in the middle where the clamps are.