Sea foam

I have been thinking of running sea foam in my gas tank. I have the 4.7 v8. I have read good and bad stuff about it. Will it hurt my engine or even work.

 

It's good stuff. Make sure you follow the directions.

 

Yeah, it's not going to hurt the engine. Pour the whole bottle into the gas tank when you are doing a fill up and drive like normal. It's basically a fuel system cleaner when done that way.

 

I put a couple ounces in the crank case like a day or two before an oil change too in addition to a bottle in the gas tank every once in a while (not too often).

 

I tried to run some in the intake manifold tube ended up hydrostatic locking up a cylinder and had to pull the plug.

 

It’s good stuff. Been using it for years. Just make it part of your oil change routine (assuming you do 3K or 5K intervals).

 

Heh. I might be the unlucky one with Sea Foam. Poured a can into the gas tank of one of my cars, halfway through the tank, the catalytic converter clogged up.. car wouldn't run. Expensive mistake.

Used it in my boat (hey, no catalytic converter there!) and it knocked a bunch of crap loose somewhere and clogged the living shit out of my generator fuel injectors. Another expensive mistake.

I usually only hear recommendations for it, so I will be the outlier... Caveat emptor.

 

Mang, Ya I just tried it I would say no. I cant remember adding anything to the fuel really. But, I had to replace injectors at just over 300k miles.

 

I have been running it for 20+ years now with zero issues. Just follow the instructions on the bottle and don't go crazy with it.

 

That's odd that Seafoam would do that. Usually, octane boosters that contain leaded additives will cause these issues.

 

Project Farm is incredibly thorough in his testing here are a couple videos he did with Seafoam......the latter being the long term follow up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFat4aMcYg&list=PLjT3B9r2z3fXjicpbrH4ras9VDX7gGSMe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prXiQgVVnDY

 

And another he did regarding the Seafoam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agAWXnT4-EQ

 

Used it once, followed directions…meh. This product strikes me as snake oil. People say it’s great, what’s your evidence? It “runs better?” I’m going to need a little more than that.

I watched the first video above and the guy says how it’s like a new engine then takes off the throttle body and shows how the Seafoam didn’t clean much of it so he has to do it himself. Not exactly ironclad proof.

I clean my throttle body anyway and just have a tough time believing in any similar product until somebody runs a real test. Show the stuff it’s supposedly cleaning before and after. Yes, a lot of work perhaps to pull internal components but I would think Seafoam would do it themselves to prove it works. Does anyone know of such a test? I have an open mind if there’s evidence to support a different conclusion.

 

As mentioned above I usually put some in the crankcase a day or two (or like 50ish miles of driving) before an oil change. It would be nice to know if it really helps keep sludge down or whatever. I’m rocking 245k miles on my engine at the moment. But for $10/can every 8ish months it’s not exactly hurtin the bank account either.

 

There are plenty of YouTubers that have done the tests with tear downs showing before and after. Project Farm is usually really good about this. Scotty Kilmer says it's crap but I also think he is crap so whatever. It doesn't hurt anything, at least in none of the vehicles I have ever used it in. I've done the crankcase, added to fuel system and added via vacuum line on several vehicles without issues. Did it work, no idea since I never tore the engines down. But they ran fine after. It's probably not needed in a vehicle you know the maint history on and know is well running and has had regular oil and filter changes.

 

I watched Chris Fix’s boroscope inspection video and stand corrected, that Seafoam product appears to have made before and after difference. Whether it was significant enough to justify the effort and expense, I don’t know. Being a follower of “if it ain’t broke…”, however, I will leave the Seafoaming with others.

 

It will not hurt if done properly, but you will feel yourself better