Positives to Seafoam?

[suprageezer]

Wanna know how it works, soak some crusty (carbon coated parts) gun parts in it overnite. You'll see NOTHING happend.

 

[mattjk]

Wanna know how it works, soak some crusty (carbon coated parts) gun parts in it overnite. You'll see NOTHING happend.

but but but, it's not an engine!! :icon_conf

 

[suprageezer]

So very true, but if it can remove carbon from gun parts I would imagine it can remove engine carbon. Carbon from any source is pretty hard to remove, one cheaper way to do it is with a slow trickle of water into the intake at about 3500rpm. This brings the water into the combustion chamber as vapor where it condenses, permeating the carbon, then upon ignition the water in the carbon expands rapidly cracking the carbon deposits off. One negative in any of the juices that rely on that same process is, its possible for small chunks of carbon to get stuck between the piston and cylinder wall. Just some info I've read about this type of removal.

 

[Nick M]

Seafoam is not a quality product. I don't know why anybody brings it up. You can clean your valve deposits with plain water, if you do it carefully.

 

[da89soup]

My dad swears by this stuff as well!!! Right after I got my car movable I dove it 250 miles home to Minot, just to see if it would make it. When I got home my Father put some of the foam in my oil, gas, intake ect. I noticed no change!!!! But thats just my experience................:icon_bigg

 

[tekdeus]

I think the only way to really see if deposits are coming off is with a mini-cam down the spark plug hole before and after.

 

[lazarous]

Wouldn't be a bad idea in some cars to use this, because when you take huge carbon deposits off of the walls then it opens up tolerances no?

 

[suprageezer]

It's when the carbon chunks get between the cylinder wall and the piston and make nice deep verticle grooves. Then you dont have to worry about the carbon anymore cause you have a loss of compression attracting all your attention.

 

[jetjock]

Wouldn't be a bad idea in some cars to use this, because when you take huge carbon deposits off of the walls then it opens up tolerances no?

To show my tolerance I'll just say sorry, no. Also, you're misusing the term tolerances. Many people do but it still makes me crazy

 

[ValgeKotkas]

^O tell us what you know JJ

 

[lazarous]

you're misusing the term tolerances. Many people do but it still makes me crazy

well if I use it wrong and people still know what I am talking about than who cares? I just thought that taking off ALL of the carbon that has built up has to do something. Where there once was carbon there is now space, so logically doesn't that lead you to believe that if you have huge deposits, i mean huge ones, wouldn't that "lead to an increase in the play between the cyl wall and the piston?" [feel better I didn't say tolerence])

 

[shaeff]

^ because there are those people who DO care. and if those people are annoyed by the fact that improper terminology is being spread around, chances are that they won't open our eyes to their world of knowledge, thus brushing us off as quenched in our thirst for knowledge.

knowledge is power, friend. you can never have too much.

so, ask yourself this very question: "Am i thirsty?"

-shaeff

 

[ValgeKotkas]

^I don't get whatcha saying anyway... so i don't care So are you thirsty?

 

[jetjock]

+1 to shaeff

I care. Wasn't that clear? Lol, guess you don't care that I care though.

Carbon on cylinder walls? Sounds logical. Trouble is many things that sound logical aren't. That's why learning exists. Hopefully this will motivate you to do some unless you want remain one of the walking dead. It's not as if the country needs more you know...

 

[Reign_Maker]

Hopefully this will motivate you to do some unless you want remain one of the walking dead.

Hey, read that and tell me what's wrong with it... :icon_razz

But on a serious note, please be civil guys, we're getting complaints on this thread...

 

[johnathan1]

What are people complaining about? Jeeeeezzzzz...

 

[ma71supraturbo]

Where there once was carbon there is now space, so logically doesn't that lead you to believe that if you have huge deposits, i mean huge ones, wouldn't that "lead to an increase in the play between the cyl wall and the piston?"

Whenever you get a chance to take apart your first engine, you'll notice the cylinders are generally pretty shiny where the piston rings travel. Since the piston rings are constantly scraping up and down the cylinders, it doesn't really give carbon a chance to build up. Instead, the place you get build-up is inside the combustion chamber (top of piston, the combustion-chamber portion of your head, the valves, and your spark plug).


As far as carbon deposits having any positives, I think you're confusing two issues. There is some debate about whether or not oil deposits can form a seal in an engine. This usually comes up when people run some detergent-rich oil through an old, neglected engine and suddenly develop a leak. The debate usually goes round and round because the "proof" is always anecdotal.


There isn't any debate about carbon deposits; They take up room in the combustion chamber, effectively increasing the compression ratio. Since the deposits are not smooth, their jagged peaks can get much hotter than the head, providing an ideal location for preignition. And if the deposits are really bad, they can form between the valve and the valve seat -- causing a poor seal and loss of compression. So keeping carbon deposits down is something we try to do...


Now while I don't doubt that seafoam cleans up carbon, I'm just not sure what possible side effects it has. Personally I've had plenty of "luck" cleaning out carbon by the old hot-rodder method of misting a little bit of water into the intake (post AFM/turbo) and while holding the rpm up. Anyone who has fixed their own BHG can attest to fact that the cylinders around the blown portion of the gasket are cleanest (carbon gets steam-cleaned by the vaporizing H20). And plenty of people have run water-injection setups so it’s known to be safe (assuming you refrain from dumping in water and hydro locking the engine)

 

[Doward]

Something I DID notice a difference with was when I used fuel injector cleaner through my injectors. It's called Berryman's Injector Cleaner and you disable the fuel pump and run your engine on the cleaner by itself

Exactly how does it pressurize the fuel rail?

I dont, but I need to, lost alot of backpressure on my NA

You need backpressure... why?

Um...

Wow. Seafoam, I can't really recommend. I've pulled off heads from my 2.8L V6 after running Seafoam through it, and had practically no noticeable 'carbon removal'.

Water does work however - used it to clean up the combustion chambers in my '77 bird!

 

[Turbo. Targa. Life.]

With 0 backpressure the unburned fuel being exhausted would be sucked back up inside the compression chamber...or at least that's my understanding. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Nick M]

No back pressure is the desired result. But if the piping is too big, velocity is lost, and then so is scavenging.

It isn't back pressure that you want. There is a happy medium to velocity and pressure. Not that this has anything to do with seafoam.