i want to use seafoam but im worried my car will have alot of problems. i have a blown valve cover gasket, and a leaky oilpan. if i use seafoam like im supposed to will my car leak more?

 

no it wont leake any more...instead of doing the seafoam..get the leaks fixed first...its not good for the car to be running like that

 

my friends gt smoked a lot more than mine did (like hugggee, thick white clouds) ... but we did like 3/4 of the can in the vaccuum line instead of like 1/3 like mine ... do u think the more smoke in his was cuz his is a gt, or cuz more in the vaccuum line??

 

because he did most of it through the vac line

 

no

fix it

 

You guys are braver than me, first if you have carbon in the intake you got more problems than just needing a cleaning.. Backed up carbon is from reversion (not good). this could come from a number of things, wrong cam, exhaust headers (primary length), most common oil being sucked in though the pcv. If you have carbon and the car dont idle good think about what is in the intake that helps determine idle and how the car performs. like maybe the Intake Temp Charge (ITC) sensor. Pull it out and clean it, i bet the car will get better. Seafoam is a band aid not a fix. jus cause the can says its ok dont mean it is. Cars should have VERY VERY little carbon if any on the pistons and comb. chamber only. if you have more than normal you too rich or you bought the wrong cam and if its in the intake you got reversion..fix it correctly people!!!

 

Not trying to start a flame war here, but your completely wrong.
I have a good friend who works as service mgr. at my local high volume Ford dealership, they offer a service just like Seafoam but of course way more expensive, I believe it was 69.95 or something similiar. It is just not our modded Stangs that can use this service! I have personally used it on my 2003 GT, my fiances 02 Durango (yuck i hate dodges) and my friends 96 LT1 Z28! Now I don't think your logic will apply to my stang or Durango as we dont have aftermarket cams heads or internal mods. And if thats not enough, I work at one of Georgia's biggest Saturn dealerships and our service department offers an identical service!!! Got a buddy in the service dept. that has recommended Seafoam to employees to save cost! So do some more research before you give that negative of a comment about a product you know nothing about!!!

 

seafoam is bad...

look at it this way...

If you went to the gas station, filled the tank, and your car started to smoke like hell... would you say, "oh yay! thats great for my car!"... or would you say ,"wtf" and get pissed...

Now most of the time Seafoam will not kill an engine or wear down anyparts etc...

However if your motor has a bad head gasket, or head, etc... say good bye to the motor...

I've see a few people put seafoam in their car and seize up the motor...

Seafoam also puts estra wear and tear on the motor...

If you want to clean out the motor... the best way to do so is the way it has always been done. Buy a rebuild kit and some carb cleaner, sit down, and rebuild the motor the correct way...

People will say, "well ya know what? ya know what? huh huh ya know what? I used Seafoam and it did a good job"

Well they don't know what they are talking about...

cobra331 was pretty accurate with what he said

 

Ok let me repeat myself, No Im not a mechanic, Im a simple car salesman, yes I have several friends here at my dealership, and many at several other surrounding dealerships that are GM and Ford techs. If it was such a harmful service, why in the hell would big dealerships intentionally do it??? IT IS NOT TO INTENTIONALLY KILL YOUR CAR!!!

It is to help it, and if its GM approved and Ford approved (a service using chemicals almost identical to Seafoam) why would they itentionally harm warrantied vehicles??? That doesn't make sense.

Lets use this as an example... A customer comes in with late model car still under powertrain warranty, they complain of issues that the service writer and tech decide can be improved by using a similiar carbon removal chemical. They use the chemical and it tears up the motor... Guess who pays GM OR FORD OR whatever big brand is providing the warranty!!! Now that is not good buisiness and believe me I know service managers, THEY DO NOT LIKE DEALING WITH THIS KIND OF SITUATION, no matter what!!! They then have to battle with the manufacture to get paid on labor and parts that the dealership fronts!!! So if your friends blew up their engine, maybe it was a POS waiting to pop!!! Ive used it for years with no problems on alot of different makes and mileage vehicles!!!

 

lmfao... get a grip spanky...

I watched a friend put it into his motor. I said, "hey there spanky! Thats a bad idea, you need a new head gasket."

Motor seized...

Sure it cleans the motor... 98% of the time nothing bad happens... but that doesn't mean its good for the car...

The safest and best way to clean a motor is to rebuild it.

I would never use Seafoam, I don't care what a mechanic from a dealership says... half them guys are idiots (not saying your friend is an idiot)...

 

You two are both right...

True sea foam is a safe way to clean carbon build up and Ford and GM use a similar chemical to clean engine internals.

But...
If you know there is internal damage or a blown head gasket which you should be able to tell before you try sea foam your motor will overheat and will seize.

Same concept goes with my nitrous it burns up carbon build up because it heats my motor up if I have a blown head gasket then my motor also goes to crap.

 

True! So true, no respectible tech or car guy should or would try using seafoam on a motor that needs rebuilding or head gasket or any other problem like that... It just doesn't make sense, and for the comment greg made about techs being idiots! This may be true in some places, but i live in the Southeast and im surrounded by drag strips, dirt tracks and other race venues where these same "idiots" work in shops all week to pay the bills, then hit the tracks on Sunday to let off some steam. My buddy at the local Ford dealership has a small side business building 4x4 trucks and roll cages for off roaders/drag cars, my friend here at my Saturn dealership works on the side for a local car club that races their Redline ION's and has installed every single mod they have done, short of dyno tuning them all of the work has been done here! Now yes the Redline ION's are extreme dork cars but were talking high boost 250-300 hp 4cyl dork cars, and they run like they should.

Sorry to original poster for this getting carried away, and it is a great tutorial on how to use Seafoam. I will continue to use it, not as a bandaid on a broken car, but as preventative maintance on my Stang. And ill stay out of this flame war further.

 

After reading all this, I want to try out the seafoam. But I'm kind of iffy about throwing it in the vaccuum line so i'm going to try 1/2 in the gas tank and 1/2 in the oil. We'll see what kind of results i get from that.
But i was wondering how long after putting it in the oil do i need to change my oil. Just changed it out a couple of weeks ago and don't know if i can drive around for 2000 more miles with seafoam in there or if i need to change it sooner after putting in the seafoam?
For the gas, sounds like i should put it in when car's nearly empty and then fill it up with gas. Just like adding a fuel injector cleaner, right?

 

Do not drive on it for 2000 miles especially if your putting it in the oil. See it works as a detergent and oil already has a certain amount in it to keep it clean putting too much in there and then runng hard on top of that for 2000 miles would be murder to your motor. As far as putting it in through the vaccum line it's not that bad as long as you feed it in gradually you'll clean the intake of the carbon build up in there which might I add isnt a bad thing.

Theres no point in putting a injector cleaner and sea foam in the gas tank they both do the same thing.

What I would do for you is 3/4 can in the vaccum line and the rest in the gas tank that way you dont need the injector cleaner. Then change your oil and everything will be ok.

 

Yep thats always been my method. And has worked fine for years on many cars. I personally wouldn't choose to add it to the oil. That just seems like a bit of a risk, I don't believe anything that thins oil and acts like an extra detergent is a wise choice. But just make sure if you do you change it soon like icefreezen said.

 

You might have issues if you put too much into your intake. Other then that, seafoam ROCKS

 

I was very happy with my results, my car didn't smoke very much, and i even put all down the intake, but it smoke for a long time, just not very much, But my car sounds, and runs nicer now. I think it sounds nicer because some of the smoke helped clean my cats, like the bottle said it would a little.. but i was happy with SEA FOAM

 

The seafoam tutorial....
pour crap into car, mess up car, wonder why you were such a dumbass to actually read this post and do what it tells you to do.

 

Lmgdao @ the noobies...

 

Hey noob, I got a news flash for you, I'm 53 years old and have probably been working on cars longer than you've been alive, There was life before the internet, you half wit.

 

And I still would'nt put that crap in my car!!

 

Did someone say *****

 

C'mon bro, it's all in fun! I just wouldn't put that stuff in my car, that's all.
Back many years ago I read an article in Hot Rod magazine, must of been around 1979, that said the stuff was worthless.
As for the *****, I don't know what you mean by that, or the other A-Hole meant by that, but I am a professional bodybuilder, retired, and the only ***** I've got are my pecs, that still are good enough to bench press 405 on a good day.
Where's the love my fellow Stangers, you know that if we ever ran into each other in real life it would be all good!

 

that stuff must do something, because every spring we go through cases of it at my store. Most of the guys buying it are using it for outboard boat motors i noticed.

 

of course it does something, it separates you from some of your money!!