clean your six!

So I want to clean out my engine- 110k, and I heard of this thing called Sea Foam. Where are you supposed to put it? I also heard that you can use ATF, but the guy telling me this had only done it on carburated engines, so he didn't know where I should put it either. any other ideas? Where do you put the stuff?

I have seen two types of Sea Foam,one is a spray that i used in the throttle body.The other is a liquid that you dump in the gas and it cleans the fuel system.
Are you looking for one to put in the oil system ? I don,t know about that one.
Wayne

According to the can you can use everywhere, gas tank, oil additive before changing it, dump into the throttle body. Just follow the directions and get ready for some smoke when you dump it into the throttle body and restart it. I'm normally skeptical about stuff like that but seafoam seems to work. I have not used the spray, actually never even seen that type, only the liquid in the can.

so you dump it into the throttle body? While it is running? through a vacume line, or straight in?....I don't want to screw this up.

I don´t know, maybe it´s just me, but dumping something down the throttle body and moving all the crap through the intake valves, through the cylinder and out the exhaust valves, is just asking for it. Doesn´t take much of a carbon flake to hold the intake valve open enough to cause serious problems or the exhaust open enough to perhaps etch the seats.
Every time I´ve taken the intake off and seen just how much crud there is in there. I´d be hesitant to move it through the engine all at once. Also some serious buildup above the valves in the port area.
Same thing with the inside of the motor, moving years of gunk all at once doesn´t seem like a good idea. I´ve had pretty good results, with changing to a synthetic oil, first couple of changes come out pretty dirty and clumpy, after about the third, most of the buildup is gone.
Always popped into my mind a saying of my Dads, the easy way isn´t necessarily the quick way. Be a bummer to cuase more problems than you fix. If the junk has been in there for years and isn´t hurting anything, may be the best solution is just to leave it there.
If I think it needs cleaning, I take it off the engine and clean it.
The last time I cleaned the throttle body, the only piece I didn´t remove (TPS) sure enough screwed up.

I agree mostly, what the top engine cleaners do is get soaked into the carbon and literally expand it off the surfaces. The engine being hot at the time helps this. Years ago we did the same thing with water but with water too much could warp a head, I know, I did one on my mother 6cyl mustang. The cleaning it does while running thru the fuel system does help but then so does valvolne and chevron techron.
As far as an engine flush goes, Synthetic is the way to go, you just have to keep an eye on the dipstick, when you can't read the hash marks on it it is time to change the filter.
As far as cooling systems go, those 15 min flushes are the equal of sand blasting IMO, thats the main reason I lke the 7 hour flush from prestone. It disolves the mineral build up over that 7 hour time and keeps it suspended. The few times I've used the fast flushes I've ended up replacing the waterpump within a couple of weeks because it leaks, I think the fast flushes blast the seals away.
I do prefer GM top engine cleaner but it can be hard to find....

Sea Foam is very big on another message board I'm on for Ford F-150's. The 4.6 v8 is famous for alot of build up. Generally, you put it in through the vacum from the brake booster to the intake while the engine is running. Once you get the prescribed amount in you shut it down and let it sit 15 minutes or so. Then fire it up and watch it bellow smoke till it evens out. Alot of guys on that other board sware by it. I used it (not on my jeep) and had very good results and would not hesitate to do it again. The stuff has been around a long time in the marine industry and is sensor safe. Hope this helps.

What the hell are you guys cleaning? And why? The inside of you engine is bathed in oil constantly, so why are you cleaning it? Why do you need to clean the carbon off your valves and pistons? So it can screw up your Cat converter? Change your coolant every year and you won't have to flush it. I work on diesel engines and we don't put any of that snake oil, engine cleaner, crap in any engine. I've never seen any proof that any of that stuff works, or is beneficial. Don't waste your money.

Its a fact that cleaning the throttle body can improve gas mileage and it also helps keep a steadier idle. What I've noticed is that once you clean the TB everything seems to just clean itself out. if you really feel the need to clean everything go for it.. It can't hurt enless you do something wrong. I have never used sea foam or anything like that basically I like to remove things to clean them. Taking everything off can be a lot of fun though. And synthetic oils are definatly better if your going to clean everything switch to synthetic. Lasts longer
and burns cleaner!

All you need to do with the Seafoam is .. warm the engine up..... then pull the vacuum line going to the power booster.... place it in the can and allow it to suck out between 30-50% of the can and then turn the engine off... Let it sit for a period of time... some have allowed it to sit overnight... I just allowed it to sit for an hour. Idea is it allows the stuff to soak in more.... start the engine and keep her rev'd around 1500rpm.... Dude it "Will" smoke like an MF for a few minutes... mine did it for like 12 minutes and drove all my neighbors into their homes. Put the rest in the tank.... or if you feel froggy do it a second time the next day....

The same idea is used with the ATF, Diesel, Kerosine except you go a different route.

Best stuff to get is the GM Topend Cleaner at a Chevy or GMC stealership.

The seafoam is good stuff, just poor it down the throttle body, it ain't gonna hurt nothing. May not be necessary, but wont hurt anything.

What ive done before is pour berryman's B-12 chemtool into your oil before an oil change. Let it run for about 10 min. then change your oil and filter. You can get it by the gallon size and it will have directions on the can. The only time ive used atf was before i would rebuild an engine. Basically use it as motor oil and let it run for a bit. ATF has a detergant in it so it cleans up the crud nicely, but you would at least have to drop the oil pan to get all the crud out. If you do clean your TB make sure you get a TBcleaner and not carb cleaner there is a difference. just some opinions...

RichP said:

I do prefer GM top engine cleaner but it can be hard to find....

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hadAjeep said:

What the hell are you guys cleaning? And why? The inside of you engine is bathed in oil constantly, so why are you cleaning it? Why do you need to clean the carbon off your valves and pistons? So it can screw up your Cat converter? Change your coolant every year and you won't have to flush it. I work on diesel engines and we don't put any of that snake oil, engine cleaner, crap in any engine. I've never seen any proof that any of that stuff works, or is beneficial. Don't waste your money.

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I own a shop , we work on gas and diesel Mercedes. To answer your questions....if the motor hasn't had the oil changed regularly or has a ton of miles on it, it is beneficial(I've seen regualr old motor flush work miracles on an abused motor). carbon build up on the vavles and pistons can cuase several problems; hard to start hot, poor valve seating,etc....To really cure this problem BMW and Volvo offer factory cleaning set ups that require removing the intake, bolting a plate on, and are ya ready for this....blasting the valves(with them closed of course)with crushed walnut shells. I too never really bought into the "snake oil" and I still don't buy into the synthetic oil thing(change it every 3000 and ride on).And I've never seen any of them clog a converter.Heck, every time we get a car in the has blown a head gasket and mixed coolant with the oil we use motor flush and it works great for cleaning all the "milkshake" out of one.
I understand though if your working on diesels, they look dirty from the day they left the dealership. Change the oil and check it and its black as hell after 2 minutes off running. :laugh2:

Being a curious type, the last time I cleaned my intake and the area around the intake and exhaust ports (with the valves closed/got to turn the motor over by hand), I saved the stuff in a bucket, when I was done it was about 1/2-3/4 of a cup of solids. After straining the oil (flushed out of the intake) and spray cleaner, through a paint filter, I got another 1/4 cup of solids or near solid.
Have cleaned out enough pans, to see what builds up on there, often a couple of cups of sludge and some solids. Much less with a synthetic oil. Have scraped most of a cup of sludge off of the inside of a valve cover.
I used to use motor flush on a regular basis (not since changing to synthetic), have seen guys, have to remove the pan, to clean the crap out of the oil pump pick-up, after using a motor flush. Some of the oil passages to the main bearings and lifters, arn´t very large.
Doesn´t seem smart to spray something down the intake and move the crap downstream, all at once, through the pistons and hopefully out of the exhaust or add a can of oil flush that will move gobs of gunk into the pan all at once.

all that crap that passes thru the engine and out thru the ex valves has to travel into the cat converter. get enough carbon in those honey combs and it will plug, or blow chunks of it out your tailpipe and eventually "gut" out the converter. All I'm saying is if your motor is worn out, this stuff in a bottle won't help.