To Seafoam, or not to Seafoam....

OK, it's me again hehe. I've read almost every single thread on here about this magical can of goodness called Seafoam. I really love the lucas injector cleaner and use it religiously, however, am open to other products as well. I am going on a THREE day run this weekend, and am considering running some of this Seafoam into my tank to crisp things up a bit before i go. I've read only one negative thing about this stuff, and that's the fact that it can possibly screw up O2 sensors while it expells all the crud out the exhaust. Is this actually a real-world fear, or more of an "it could happen, but it's not the normal result". The Jeep runs ok now, but I'd like the sharp idle and more acceleration some folks talk of after a use (also the white cloud sounds like a lot of fun!), but SHOULD i chance this stuff before the run or should i wait until after, just in case something goes awry? Any input helps, thanks!

!!!1

Okay, ALMOST any input helps .

Dude, use the search feature, cripes theres one on seafoam 11 threads below yours. trying reading before posting.hasta

I love sea foam but would never use it so close to a run as part of murphy's law if something is gona happen It will then

just did it this afternoon

96 with 212k miles on it...I don't think it's EVER been done on it, anyhoo pour 1/2 of the can SLOWLY into it at 2500rpm consistently and then shut it off...pour the rest of the can in and wait about 15min

restart it and RAG THE PISS OUT OF IT for a caouple of miles. The ensuing 007 smoke screen is the favorite of all vehicles behind you luckily for me I live in the boonies

another thing to performa after this is spark plug replacement because they will most definitley foul out or VERY close to it

Campus Safety yelled at me for Seafoaming today...frickin Rent-A-Cops :bs:
"You know theres a large cloud of smoke blowing over the campus?"
"Yes"
"Are you going to keep doing this?"
"Yes"
"Can you stop please?"
"No."
"Could you please not do this again?"
"I'm done for today, thanks for keeping us safe officer."
Ahh!

Finished my seafoaming for the day, no code light btw, feels great, its like a good bm for the Jeep...ohh I kinda made myself gag on that one...uke:

silent_bob_662001 said:

!!!1

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It doesn't hurt your O2 sensors bud. I've been running the cheapest crap gas I could find for my XJ all 204,000 miles of it excistence. I ran a can of seafoam through the vacum tube of the brack booster, another 2/3 can in the oil and another can in the gas tank. Results where spectacular(not to mention the smoke storm :roflmao The XJ runs noticably smoother and I think I got a bit of a power increase.

It also says on the can thats its O2 sensor safe, and I believe everything they spend that much to print.

LOL thanks guys, appreciate. I had read the threads, a ton of them, and like i said the only complaint i read was plug failure and O2 sensors going bad due to junk blowing past them I guess. Appreciate the help on this.

What exactly does the sea foam do?

Starboard M said:

What exactly does the sea foam do?

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removes carbon builup on the valvles and tops of of pistons - when poured into the intake

removes buildup and cleans the injectors and lines - when used in the gas

Starboard M said:

What exactly does the sea foam do?

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It's magic nobody really knows

silent_bob_662001 said:

Dude, use the search feature, cripes theres one on seafoam 11 threads below yours. trying reading before posting.hasta

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Dude read his original post....

Skwerly said:

I've read almost every single thread on here about this magical can of goodness called Seafoam.

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He was just looking for a clarification....no harm in that. I've read several of the seafoam threads myself and they can be confusing on if o2 sensors issues are gaurnteed to happen or if they're just a rare occurance.

Seafoam added to the gas tank and added to the oil as directed on the can will not cause any O2 sensor problems.

Adding any injector / fuel system cleaner to the gas tank can cause very limited, minor rough idling that comes and goes for that tank of gas as it cleans the fuel system and injectors. This is casued by slight variations in the fuel flow as the system and injectors get cleaned out. It usually smooths out after the first few gallons of gas on the first tank with injector cleaner.

You might try just running a tank of Chevron which has Technon in it, on your planned trip. Then try any cleaner experiments when you get back.

Running Seafoam as a liquid all at once into the vac hoses or throttle body is a risky process. Like paying russian rullet (sp?), many have survived it and gotten quite a rush out of it, but some have not.

Better to run it diluted with the gas through the gas tank.

I have used spray versions of Seafoam in the throttle body (called carburator cleaner), but added it very slowly, and it had a tiny diameter long tube nozzle that limited the flow or pour rate, and it tended to pre atomize the liquid, making it much safer, less intensive, and slower (therfore all the crap does not come loose at once at land on your O2 sensor). Doing it slowly does not loosen as much junk as fast as the suck up the bottle method. Also, just using the spray carburator cleaner through the IAC Intake area raised my Idle speed and I had adjust my idle throttle and TPS slightly after using it. Another to reason to wait tell your return from the long trip.

Thanks guys! Excellent input, exactly what i was lookin for. I tried to be clear that I knew just about all there is to find out from the threads here, but was just trying to get input on real-world possibilities of O2 or plug failure. Maybe he didn't quite read before posting .

I will also add that last time I had my TB off for cleaning I shot a good amount of carb cleaner into the intake to clean out some of the gunk inside. After putting the TB back and hooking everything back up I went to crank it up and as expected it took quite a bit of cranking, and a little bit of playing with the gas pedal to get the air:fuel mixture close enough for it to fire....but once it did, after a couple of seconds of running bad it smoothed back out and I did notice a difference in acceleration and a slightly smoother idle.

Something to consider if you're leary of seafoam in the intake. I'm considering trying the seafoam method to get everything out when I do my next tune up in about 6K.

Hey if my dad swears by the stuff it has to be good!