Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

   SeaForm makes many claims about what it can do. 

 

Injector cleaner

Carburetor cleaner

Carbon cleaner,

Fuel stabilizer

Frees lifters – rings

De-icer anti-jell

Upper cylinder lub

Dries oil and fuel

Cleans carbon as you drive.

Cures hesitations ,stalls, pings, and rough idle due to carbon buildup.

Cleans dirty engine part internally by removing harmful gums, varnish and carbon.  WORKS AND PERFORMS INSTANTLY. 

 

   That’s quite a versatile list of claims.  Given the repeated claim for carbon it should do something when contacting carbon.

 

  SeaFoam says 1 pint treats 25 gallons.  That’s a mix of 200 to 1.  If it can clean at that mix it should dissolve carbon easily at full strength.  Below is a picture of carbon put in a class with full strength SeaFrom for several hours with occasional shaking.  There is no breakup of the particles. 

 

   The other picture of a head and piston with carbon.  The loose carbon was wiped off and the rags dipped with SeaFoam and rubbed on the head and piston.  The rags are slightly discolored but not from dissolved particles.  The discolor is just picked up particles of carbon a rag without SeaFoam will pick up. 

 

   Given that it did not dissolve carbon full strength and would not remove carbon with a rag directly on a piston and head it seems doubtful that at a mix or 200 to 1 it will do very much rushing over the head and piston of an engine. 

 

   SeaFoam does not seem to do anything. What went wrong here?  No dissolved carbon in the glass and only slight smudging on the rags with no removal of carbon from the head or piston after rubbing.  What’s going on?  If it does not do anything at full strength how can it work at 200 to 1 where only slight fraction of the 200 to 1 mix will actually contact the carbon when an engine is running

trouts2 wrote: --------
Borat is OK...it's just a minor personality quirk. I have my own ideosynchrosies but I find I need to work at taming them else I would have a lot less friends in the world. ;')

To make this Seafoam Test more scientific will take additional labor and another head gasket but will adding some in the gas tank and running the machine have different results? It may possibly work similar to water injection. Just my 2 cents.

Another 2-cents:

Just a guess here, but could it be possible that Seafoam requires heat in order for a catalytic reaction to take place? Like, say, in a combustion chamber?  As far as what the stuff does at room temp, it definitely does not seem to be any super-solvent.

I'm not a Seafoam advocate, nor do I use it very often. I've tried it, but haven't been impressed with the results. Your mileage may vary. Like trouts2 said, the can claims it does everything but put on your coat and light your cigarette for you - golly gee-whiz! I didn't buy the ad copy, but I've used it a few times based upon recommendations from others. Didn't hurt, but didn't seem to help much either.

I asked my brother (a marine mechanic) about this stuff once, and he told me it works OK if you have heavy carbon build-up, but there are cheaper - and more effective - decarbonizers out there. He also said save your money if you think Seafoam is going to unclog a dirty carb, refresh stale gas, or remove moisture from fuel lines. That's what he said. The guy's been in the business for over 18 years, and gets paid pretty well to know what he's doing.

Although I'm no advocate, I figure the stuff must have some worth for so many folks to swear by it. One thing's for sure, though - the manufacturer is making serious money on this product. I wonder if any un-biased organization has ever really taken Seafoam's claims to task? A future Consumer Reports project, perhaps?

My SeaFoam test was last week end on an old Arctic Cat W/ Kawasaki 440 engine. The sled was not run for about 6-7 years. we put fresh mix into tank and it fired right up then ran it for an hour or so, brought it back to shop we put Seafoam direct into carb till engine stopped- let it sit for 15 min. Started and it smoked for about 2 miles. It made a big difference in power and sound of engine. Where it would pick up frontend on acceleration .Cheapest tune-up I've come accross for carboned up engines.

   How did you determine there was carbon buildup problem to start with?  If there was one how do you know it was cleared after?  The additive may just have been in when something else cleared. 

   You let it run for an hour but probably not at high speed so not sucking much gas through.  You did not mention cleaning the carb.  Is it possible with the later running it may have passed some crud and it ran better?  Seafoam is fairly oily and may have helped pass some dirt through. 

Think I'll just sit this round out.

The machine was running  full  throttle after during warm up and for over an hour it's a 2 cycle and the only way to keep plugs clean is run them. The carb was NOT cleaned it was run dry before
storing . I FOLLOWED manufactures instructions on Seafoam can. When put up against another machine same course same day and only difference was Seafoam. Sled performance increased.
Seafoam works for me.

Works for some, no denying that. Not sure about the role Seafoam plays in these success stories, though. Many mechanics regard it as a decarbonizer, but the cocktail of additives muddies the water a bit. Whatever the mysterious substance is composed of, it sure does have a dedicated following. I'm not here to poke the tiger, just relating my personal experience.

Over the years I've read several stories about equipt that Seafoam revitalized after prolonged periods of storage or neglect. Maybe that's what the ad copy should say? I honestly didn't observe any gains in performance whenever I used it. Regular maintenance tends to keep problems to a minimum, though - maybe that's why I didn't see the results.

Seafoam did help an old street bike start easier, but I eventually had to remove the head for valve replacement. The head was really crusty, even after all the Seafoam. I had the head hot tanked, honed the cylinders, ring job, and treated the carbs to a kit. Nothing radical, just routine repairs. You want to talk about a performance gain! In my 2-strokes, it didn't dissolve the carbon as much as I had hoped, at least not in the two motors I later broke down. To be fair, both these engines were pretty tired, and had a lot of hours on them.

Take it for what it's worth. If your machine screams on this stuff, then buy it by the barrel. Can't hurt to try a can before removing any parts. Just don't get your hopes up too high.

I have used Seafoam many times along with a brass wire brush clean off carbon inside cylinder heads and pistons.  It works much better than a brush alone, or a brush with carb cleaner.