Top End Cleaner/Seafoam--Opinions?

Jeremiah,

I don't believe in fix-its in a bottle. If you have a serious engine problem Sea Foam (or whatever) will not help you one bit. On the other hand Ford sells their own brand of "sea foam". I think it's called "carb tune up" or some such thing. I was a driveability tech at a Ford/Mercury/Lincoln and have seen some situations where it will free up a sticking valve or eliminate a cold start problem when valves are caked with carbon (carbon absorbs fuel and diverts the rest of the fuel in an unwanted spray path).

One example that comes to mind is when I had a 98 explorer that came in with a cold start problem (160000 miles). I would start it at 7AM when it was cold. It would run like crap almost like it was only running on 2 cylinders. Then after 10 seconds it would completely clear up. I could not look at any PIDS because the symptom went away fast. I was convinced that this was a carbon build up problem. If someone were to ask me to describe a carbon problem this would be a text book symptom. Decarbed the engine and it still happened. The 4.6/5.4 engines are hard to decarb so I tried it a few more times. The symptoms got worse. So, I stuck a borescope down the #1 injector hole. Their was still a bunch of carbon on the intake valve. So I pulled off the intake and cleaned the valves with a pick and cleaner. Got everything back together and it ran worse than ever! Would act up 3-4 times a day and for a longer duration. At this point, I was able to isolate the problem. The EGR was actually opening then closing after a few seconds. This just goes to show that it improved manifold vac that much.

I'm also reminded of a story of a Pontiac that had a miss fire. I suspected a sticking valve. If you have ever worked on a DOHC quad 4 you they suck. That and your suposed to have special tools to work on them. So I did a decarb. The miss went away.

Like I say I'm not endorsing the product but it also seems to not hurt anything. I can tell you that the hotter you get the engine the better. I'm not saying take a belt off... Run the engine at fast idle and suck the stuff through the brake booster vac line. Then let the engine stall and let the stuff sit for at least 15 mins. Make sure you are in a well ventilated area because you will definately have white smoke. And a lot of it.

Mike, just the man I wanted to grab on one of these threads...............

Are there adverse effects of seafoaming with Cats and O2's? I seem to recall that it says it's safe for one or the other but figured you know for sure. I get kinda hinky seein all that smoke and possible pieces of carbon going into the cat's substrate.

Jeremiah - I will say that back in the day (way back), before a plug change, I'd run some aerated water through the carb - basically the same function as Seafoam and other top end cleaners. Dont know if it helped for sure, but it seemed to.

I occasionally use Seafoam but I'm kind of a weenie - some folks bog the motor with it till it stalls - I wont do that. I will let it sit on the piston tops for a bit though.

Good luck.

I have done it to my truck and my car....the car did smoke a little but the truck smoked alot more. it made the idle better in the truck and ran/reved smoother but didn't notice much on the Mustang.

HISSIN50 said:

Mike, just the man I wanted to grab on one of these threads...............

Are there adverse effects of seafoaming with Cats and O2's? I seem to recall that it says it's safe for one or the other but figured you know for sure. I get kinda hinky seein all that smoke and possible pieces of carbon going into the cat's substrate.

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JT,

If I remember correctly, it is sensor friendly (I tried to see if an empty can around here but it's been a while since I used the stuff). Even if you run lead based fuel, it takes 1000+ miles for your 02s to go out. I don't see any major problems with using it once or twice. The cats on the other hand may be another story. By defination a catalyst is someting that changes something else without being consumed. In a perfect world we would not ever have a catcon failure. However, this is real life. So we do get things like excessive HCs. I've seen cat failures because someone simply liked WOT too much. So for this I'm going to have to say that it is probable that it may damage the converter. But if it's used only once..... I really don't know what this stuff is made of so this is just an uneducated guess. Most of the things of this nature are labled as "petrollium distilates".

seafoam's main base is gas line anti-freeze My boss tells me

giddyup306 said:

JT,

If I remember correctly, it is sensor friendly (I tried to see if an empty can around here but it's been a while since I used the stuff). Even if you run lead based fuel, it takes 1000+ miles for your 02s to go out. I don't see any major problems with using it once or twice. The cats on the other hand may be another story. By defination a catalyst is someting that changes something else without being consumed. In a perfect world we would not ever have a catcon failure. However, this is real life. So we do get things like excessive HCs. I've seen cat failures because someone simply liked WOT too much. So for this I'm going to have to say that it is probable that it may damage the converter. But if it's used only once..... I really don't know what this stuff is made of so this is just an uneducated guess. Most of the things of this nature are labled as "petrollium distilates".

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Thank you Mike.

I figured since it was perhaps used upon occasion at the dealership, you'd know if Ford wanted the H-pipe disconnected prior to Top-end cleaner use.
You and I are of same mind - it might not hurt (and there's plenty of things that can take out a cat) but it's probably wise to not accelerate the process.

Thank you very much for the reply. And it's great to see ya back in here.

Roland, as I recall, E/G takes out sensors. So I kinda doubt it's primary ingredient is that (but I have no idea). I bet there's some toleune in there and other solventy type stuff (PD's that Mike mentioned).

I'm not familiar with seafoam but I just ran some "top end cleaner" made by GM through my v6 Taurus that was pinging even on good gas. A lot of smoke and pinging got worse for a bit but now seems to have went away. It said to shut down the "AIR" system if equipped but if I'm right, this is the air injection to the cats. My Taurus doesn't appear to have an air pump like my mustang so I ignored this instruction.

Like I say ford makes a similar product but it's curious that it's labled as CARB cleaner. My boss told me that the tech line told him to use the stuff.... I think the reason being was for the longevity of the cats. But you can take that at face value because I'm only 50% sure on that one.