shotcaller88

First time Seafoamer here. I put a full can in a half full gas tank of my '05 6MT...just hit 50k. Then I did half a can with the sip method. I let it sit 15 minutes. Then I revved the engine a bit before taking off. Tons of smoke came out. Once I took off, I didn't see anymore smoke at all. At a red light, I tried revving it again and still didn't notice anymore smoke. I drove around at 4k for a while and then did some runs up to ~5500. There was a lot of traffic, so I only got up to about 65mph. I plan to dump the last half can in my oil later this week...a day before I change the oil.

gotkilled

iTrader: (1)

just did this over the weekend. i reved the car up to 5k-6k while in the garage and a bunch of smoke came out. there was little to no smoke on the freeway or during spirited street driving. cars definitely feels a lot more responsive.

also bought another can for my dad's 10 year old camry daily driver. the gains were very noticeable, especially during idle. idle went from 1.6k down to 800rpm and engine is a lot quieter. there was a bunch of smoke coming out while i was letting the engine sip the seafoam. it started to smell pretty bad too..lol

subinf

kragen had cans on sale a few weeks ago. i think they were 6 bucks each.

gotkilled

iTrader: (1)

nooo...i missed out. i bought my first can for 8.99 at wally mart and 9.30 for the second bottle.

i should get a couple of extra bottles to just stock up.

blkonblk05TL

couple questions..
so how much seafoam do i put in the gas tank at a quarter full before i start, and then how much seafoam do i put through that vac line while running the car (after putting seafoam in the gas tank).

i obviously plan on changing my plugs after this, but wouldn't you want to change your engine oil after seafoam?
i would imagine it would get contaminated with the seafoam and gunk that it frees from your internals.

shotcaller88

1/2 bottle in the gas tank (1/4 full)
1/2 bottle thru vac line

no need to change plugs or oil. If you add 1/2 bottle to the crank case, then you do want to change your oil after ~50 miles.

blkonblk05TL

i see, so will doing the seafoam treatment through the gas tank and vac line do all the cleaning one would really need?
btw i have 52k on my odo.

shotcaller88

I think that's what most people do.

Here's what I did @ 50k

1 bottle in gas tank (1/2 full)
1/2 bottle thru vac line @ approx 1200 rpm
1/2 bottle in crank case

I think Seafoam does work. It just seems there's no hardcore proof (of any of the methods). It's up you what you wanna do.
Some people recommend redoing the vac line method after 2k miles if it's your first time seafoaming.

01tl4tl

seafoam and personal experience say repeat after a month for noobs- then good for a year
1 can in 1/2 tank (most people refill long before empty so 1/4 tank isnt really much gas with cleaning dose in it
2 oz per gal is cleaning dose- 1 oz per gal is maitenance every 5000 miles

as much of 1 can to intake TB vac port as engine will take until stalls
let sit 10-15 minutes- start and idle- NO high revving!!
when stable rev to 2000 drive slowly- when you can rev to 4000 -clean sounding- then hit the freeway at 4000 15 minutes

when ready to change oil:
warm engne and shut OFF
1/2 can to oil and drive 30 minutes or as desired- min. 30 driving for max results
There is sludge in the engine,, you can verify by using a new filter and driving 100 miles- cut open filter and unreal stuff comes out

vac and gas method do not add mass quantity of stuff to oil- a slight bit of blowby cleaning but not enough to worry
You can run seafoam in the oil up to 500 miles/month for severe cases, so your miles and mostly clean TL will not have any issues

Bonus is better compression and some cleaning of egr ports via oil method

01tl4tl

more methods at www.seafoamsales.com

eduardmc

iTrader: (1)

well i'm a believer. i was really scare since i heard bad stories about getting check engine light, messing the O2 sensor etc. i did just like everyone else, the intake 1/2 can slowly (about 10 minute) turned off the engine and put 1 full bottle in the full tank, let the engine sit for about 15 minutes, turned the engine on and let it sit idle for about 5 minutes. i did not see any smoke and thought that this thing did not work. when i started reving i saw the street full of smoke. then started driving and did not see smoke coming.

10 minute of driving and i notice my car was MUCH more responsive, and idle like is a brand new car. when i'm outside the car the engine is super silent and when the car is set to P it feels like is actually off. no vibration what so ever.

my car have 130k and im pretty sure this was the first time done to this car. i will do this again after 1000k, and do the oil in my next oil change.

seafoam best product of the decade.

01tl4tl

since 1950

01tl4tl

do a full bottle in half tank for cleaning dose- 2 ounces per gallon of gas

full can to full tank 1 oz to 1 gal, every 5000 miles for maitenance dose, keeps things clean between yearly dose

01tl4tl

the only time you get a CEL is when you fail to do a good afterdrive and goo is allowed to cool on the O2 sensor- which self cleans with next few drives and heat cycles -then self clears the warning light

If you have plugs that are 100kmiles and not firing very strong, that would allow crud to cool on them as well..but you would be changing them anyway at 100 so who cares

eduardmc

iTrader: (1)

this morning i got a CEL, i guess i didn't do a well spirit drive, when i turn it on and rev a little i still saw little smoke coming out (indoor garage) drove to my father shop and he removed the CEL light, drove to work (25 miles) at 4000 rpm opening VTEC every now and then. will turn on my car in a few hours.

Also the CEL code was for the O2 sensor, and even he said to drive it around hard and the CEL will go away.

01tl4tl

dont even have to do 4000 to clear it on a later date, but wont hurt!

Driving normal will cause heat to melt the goo and clean off the O2 sensor
Seafoam is safe for the sensor and cat- dont sweat it

a good afterdrive is let it get stable as I detailed before- then 15 minutes in 3rd gear 4000 on freeway should blow all the residue out

01tl4tl

repeat in a month for noobs then good for a year

myron

iTrader: (4)

I just did mine this weekend too, and I was a little scared. I did 1/3 of the can in the gas tank, 1/3 in the oil and 1/3 through the vacuum hose. Car was idling normaly and once it started sucking seafoam it almost stalled on me but I had a buddy rev it up a bit and it was all good. Then I let it sit for 15-20 min and started it with no problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9dIDaFf8ck

then I went for a drive and and changed the oil. I notice the deifferece for sure from this. engine is more quiet and smoother and I can feel that it pulls a little harder.

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

^^LOL! I love the smoke shots down the street. I bet your neighbors were wondering wtf was going on.
When I did mine last year, I thought I had gotten most of the smoke out in my driveway. Then I took it out for a "spirited" drive. First time I accelerated from a light, the soccer mom in the minivan behind me had eyes like saucers! She literally had to come to a stop b/c of all the smoke enveloping her. HAHAHAHAhahahaha!

eduardmc

iTrader: (1)

well after my morning spirit driving to work, i went to check on my lunch brake and saw that everything was fine. no more CEL . The car feels MUCH better and pulls harder, just like you said i'll be doing the intake in a month and then every year.

myron

iTrader: (4)

hahaha you can't see it in the video but there was a car coming from down the street. He actually stopped till the smoke clared out, then he drove by slowly looking at what we were doing.

01tl4tl

try following the max cleaning directions of:
as much of 1 can thru the Master vac port at TB/IM as it will take and still keep running, ok if it stalls 2-3 times during the process and one last time-- then the 10-15 minute soak time Start let idle with slight throttle till runs clean to 2000 rpm, start slowly down street at 2000 until runs smoother and sounds ok, now 4000, hit the freeway and 15 minutes 3rd gear 4000 rpm
Can use side roads and 2nd gear 4000--its the heat of higher rpm that melts goo and pressure blows it all the way thru with no CEL issues
Smoke is largely the oil in seafoam with heat in Cat, not crud blowing out the back
Some of it is crud, most you wont see in mirror but its happening

We did a gen3 at a zine meet, great pic as he leaves and it looks like a rear wheel burnout

I try to respect my neighborhood and warm the car on the freeway
Stop at food place on an exit- use their parking lot and have the car pointed into the wind so smoke doesnt blow back at you
Place with open field next to it is what I am saying~
The frontage road is great for the initial blow out then hop on freeway for half the time, turn around and use vtec full throttle up to speed,,,blast home

once its cleared out and 4000 is good I do a few trips to 5000 to get cleaner running thru the parts in action during that time
Same for oil method to keep sludge from the vtec sliders. a known gen3 issue- some trips to 5000 and back to 4 then 5 then 4

1 can in 1/2 tank of gas is cleaning dose of 2 oz per gal of fuel

that 1/3 can it says on the label is if you have almost no gas in the tank, seafoam doesnt mention that on the can but the website has great directions

Thats going to get you results you can measure!

for oil 1/2 can and drive 30 minutes then change oil an filter

jnforsyth

seafoamed my 73K TL today. bought it from a dealership in mid-Feb. i don't know if they did anything like this at the dealership prior to selling it but i doubt it.

i was getting about 19 MPG on my 2 mile trip to work and daily city driving habits.

1/2 can (8 oz) to about a 1/3 tank of gas.
1/2 can (8 oz) to vac line using 'sip-sip' method (about 7 minutes)

let the TL sit for about 20 minutes. started up with no rough idling. let it idle <1000RPM (lower by a few hundred compared to before seafoaming) for about 5 minutes, then took off on some spirited driving for about 20 minutes. only came across smoke when i took off out of my driveway onto the street. it was a BLANKET of smoke. with some mist after that for the next mile or so.

no CEL lights, no knocking, started right up. i'll be anticipating some better gas mileage in the next few weeks. thanks for this write up, i never would have known/had the courage to attempt it without all you guys paving the way before!

01tl4tl

for the gas- 2 oz per gal is super cleaning dose...tank capacity 17.sum

I try to use 1 can in 1/2 tank so it has a longer time to work thru the injectors,
as I dont run the tank way down after the low light- there are 3 gallons still in tank when that comes on--
once you add fuel it dilutes the mix
iirc seafoam says less than 3/4 oz per gal is not effective and more than 2 to 1 doesnt do any more cleaning,, so do your math

next time make sure you do a good warm up drive and some 2000 rpm blast while adding seafoam to vac nipple/port- it will make smoke from the heat in cat reacting to oil in seafoam-
most of the stuff coming out the tailpipes you cant see in the mirror- but blast around at 4000 and some rpm romps will make it happen

expect further increase with time~

Try to get some dry out driving time- 45 minutes once a month on the freeway cruise if you have such a short commute-ie 2 miles and errands
the TL hates that and needs the fluids and exhaust to get fully heated by long freeway drive- indicated temp is not actual temps of parts~
It will increase the overall cars health

donaldso718

Is there anyone in NYC that can give me a hand with this? I'm a complete noob at this stuff. I want to seafoam my 05 84K TL. I'd be willing to meet up anywhere in NYC. Please pm me or email sodonald@gmail.com

o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

Seafoamed for the first time on Tuesday.
I was expecting quite the smoke show but the TL did not deliver [as compared to the amount of smoke others claimed and have documented]. Nonetheless, there was quite a bit of smoke coming out of the exhaust.

I started with 1/3 bottle in the vac line.
Followed by a 1/3 bottle in the crank case.
I followed up with 1/3 into the fuel as I left the vehicle to sit.
After waiting 15 minutes... I fired up the TL and gave it a few revs.

Eventually all of the smoke was gone. I drove off with no smoke [says my friend who helped]. Took it out to drive on the freeway and noticed results immediately.

Acceleration has improved.. the idle has dropped what looks like 150ish RPMS.
The shifting became a lot smoother. In fact...
I had did the "GM-SMFM" manual tranny fluid two months ago. There were almost no improvements to my 3rd gear [I had went from SMFM to Honda's and back to SMFM]. My 3rd gear grinded a lot more than it used to.
Seafoam had seemed to somehow rectified that issue.
Now... all of my gears are smooth shifting.
The car idles more quietly... and it appears that my exhaust note has increased a bit. Or I'm just going crazy.
Also... there is not a lot of annoying jerking if I de-accelerate while leaving it in a low gear. In fact... I can be in a high gear with low RPM before the TL starts to want to stall.
The next day, Wednesday, I changed my oil. I'm now using Amsoil "Dominator Racing Oil".

Overall... the TL is like a different vehicle. Much better than the first day I bought it.
The coming Tuesday I will be changing out my SMFM.
Can't wait for the 4000mile-reseafoam.

01tl4tl

ok you got a few things wrong but can improve next time- in a month/1500 miles not 4000 miles
then good for a year/15

4000 is the rpm you are to use during afterdrive,
add to gas before anything so its working during warm up drive- foaming and burnoff drive- lots of cleaner going thru the injectors at 4000rpm!
read the last few of my post for more help

try the gas with max dose of 1 can to half tank, and intake 1/2 can to 3/4 can
Also clean the TB air plate inside the TB for better throttle response

01tl4tl

if all the smoke was gone before you drove- it wasnt hot enough in the cat/exhaust (heat+oil in seafoam= smoke)
and you sat for much longer than specified- a few minutes until it will run at 2000 rpm smoothly- then drive in low gear 2000rpm until feels smoother- and will rev to 4000 no prob-
now go 4000 rpm 10 minutes, some revs into 5000, some drop down and back up rpm

Do this on an empty road!!

01tl4tl

for the engine oil/crankcase:
1/3 can thru filler cap and drive 30 minutes solid- that gives the stuff the time and heat it needs to dissolve/liquify crud and send it to the oil filter for capture

Make sure engine is warm when you change oil so crud reliquifies- its turns to sludge in pan, get it good and warm and it drains out at oil change time

optional- install new oil filter, add 1/3 can and drive up to 500 miles then change oil and filter, I went 150 miles and was shocked how much gunk had been in the oil passages

donaldso718

So did mostly everyone get random warnings go on like check engine, o2 etc? I plan on doing this soon, but how would one go about clearing all these warnings if it does go off? Thanks!

01tl4tl

the only reason to get CEL is failure to do a good blowout drive after- leaving crud on the O2 sensor and causing warning light- heat is what you need to make it work~

It will burn off in a few days or less of driving and self clear the CEL-
no need to reset anything but if you really want to force a master reset- pull CLOCK fuse on passenger side of dash
In the case of seafoam it isnt required, just do a good warmup- add the stuff slowly- wait 15 minutes and drive- see my post for more details and rpm suggestions

donaldso718

Thanks. Also, is it ok to do with 86K miles on my car?

HokAy

ive done seafoam around a month ago and now waiting for the 2k mark to hit and do it up again! shit is like a drug for my car lol. also been spreading the word about seafoam amongst my friends that have higher mileage cars like a e36 bmw <- that thing was a pia, too WAY too long to do lol but did and my friend felt the difference.

here's a question maybe 01tl4tl can answer, we did seafoam to a 02 honda civic si hatch Stick and if im correct when we took the vac off with the engine running it keeps revving? sorry me a noob on manual lol...anyways got the plastic clear tube to the engine vac line and began the operation and at the very end after all the seafoam was sucked into the engine, engine was still running i took the tube out and the car i guess suck/rev like there was no tmr lol and i saw massive smoke come out of his exhaust like somone was on the gas pedal but we werent. and some smoke came from behind the engine??? but we instantly shut the car off. did the rest of the steps and worked out fine jsut didnt know if that was to be expected if seafoam done to a manuel car was like this...

01tl4tl

86k- donald its time for you! anywhere after 30 and once a year/15 for best running car
new plugs if over 60, do a week after foaming- not required but makes car run better

dont have to wait full 2000 miles for 2nd time by noobs- 1000-1500 is ok too

when you remove a master vac line you cause a major vac leak.
that will make the engine surge as described- its normal some cars worse than others
Place thumb over open vac port and it should return to normal to stabilize engine as needed if it stumbles

when you rev the engine ~2000 while adding seafoam it will make a lot of exhaust smoke while its sitting there- ok to do that way- it blast stuff out-
thats what happened with the revving- good heat in the cat makes lots of smoke
Not indicative of actual crud, just good application by you!
I get some in first to get working- then some blast- then more just above idle,
Ok if engine stalls 2- 3 times- add slower~

smoke from behind engine: I would inspect for an exhaust leak
another ziner found a header prob when seafoam smoke came out of them!
While not marketed as a leak finder it sure works good at it!!

rainbowz

Hi, newbie here but I've been reading this whole forum for months now. I was apprehensive about doing this because I've never done anything mechanically on any car by myself. I used to be a self-described badass back in the day, racing cars for fun at Cajon speedway in California and now 20+ years later, I'm a single mom just trying to keep my car running good and saving money while doing it.

I did the Seafoam treatment this morning and followed the instructions exactly. I was able to get 3/4 of the 16oz can in the intake before she finally stalled out. After waiting 15 mins, started it up and wow... the SMOKE! I was amazed and horrified all at the same time while my 15 yr old son thought it was the coolest thing ever as he stood there and laughed. The CEL light did come on immediately when I started the car and remained on during the afterdrive but I'm not worried about it. I've taken good care of this car and know it will disappear in a few days (hopefully lol)

Thanks for the instructions, videos and advice!

spinna1689

this seafoam definately worked. i did the 8oz into the vacuum line and the other 8oz into the 1/4 full gas tank. car is alot more responsive, still gotta see how much more gas mileage i get outta it. gonna do it again in another 2000 miles like recommended. thx, great diy instructions.

01tl4tl

a month wait is fine/1000-1500 miles,

next time run a full can in half a tank of gas so it gets extra time at full cleaning does

1/4 tank and you refill before getting much cleaner run thru

djmanu

iTrader: (2)

jus did this today, 8oz in gas and 8oz through the vacuum. took about 25 mins for the vac since my car would stall a bit with too much. i let it set for about 10 mins then revved a bit in the driveway, had a bi of smoke come out, nothing crazy though. went for a drive and did some runs as per the diy. car felt a bit better in response but i hope to see more throughout the week. i guess for a 90k car, i didnt have too much buildup?

01tl4tl

you had crud- dont worry- you made a good investment
a bit too long on the input but slow and steady is better than rushed

the smoke is simply the heat in cat reacting with the oils in seafoam
You can make it smoke while adding if you want!

how much gas to 8 oz foam??
- cleaning dose is 2 oz per gallon or 1 can to just under half tank gas
you can do 1/4 tank and half can but run it down past the low light so as much treated fuel gets used before being diluted

noobs repeat gas and vac port in a month then good for a year

01tl4tl

you are not supposed to be revving it in the driveway..
start engine and let stabilize
then drive at 2000 rpm until it runs smoother (a few minutes/blocks)
when it will rev to 4000, then drive at 4000 5 minutes and do some blast from 3000 to 5000 to blow out crud