Seafoam Dilemma

[spieg16]

Hey guys, My 97 XLT with the 4.0 SOHC has 110,000 miles and ive never run any seafoam through it. I have an extra can of it lying around so i felt that it was time. The thing is i just got the plugs changed last week, and im afraid if I run the seafoam through Im going to foul them all. I didnt change them, because i just didnt want to be bothered to get to them, so I don't want to go back and spend another $100 to have another set of plugs in. The thing is though that I know my engine really can use the seafoam, so im not sure what to do. Any Suggestions?

Oh and if i do run it through, where is the best vacuum line to use because Ive heard that the Brake Booster line doesn't feed all of the cylinders evenly.

Thanks Jason

 

[marragtop]

Why do you think you need to Seaform the engine? If it ani't broke, don't mess with it!!

 

[aldive]

Why do you think you need to Seaform the engine? If it ani't broke, don't mess with it!!

Why? I Sea Foam my truck every month or so.

 

[BrooklynBay]

If you are afraid of messing up the plugs, you could add it to the oil, or gas tank. I think running it through the vacuum line is probably more affective. I've never used it on my engine, but decided to try it at 148k miles. I ran it through the power brake booster hose, oil, and gas, then changed the oil. The oil was super filthy! I guess it did its job cleaning everything out.

 

[Abom]

Why? I Sea Foam my truck every month or so.

Same thing like engine flushes, they dislodge old caked on crap, and then your engine begins leaking, or burning oil, etc etc etc. Father-in-law just did an engine flush on his Dakota, 3 days later it began burning oil like a ****. Never burned a drop beforehand.

I'm completely against all these products, I've had and seen nothing but bad luck with them.

 

[philo]

i ran a few cans of seafoam through the fuel tank on my last 3 fill-ups. i use the max 91 octane for Ca. she's running like a dream. i put a couple of ounces of lucas upper cylinder lubricant into the fuel on the last fill-up but have only driven a couple of miles.

switching out the oem filter and oil next weekend for 5qts. Shell Rotella T Synthetic 5w40 with a Mobil-1 Extended Life oil filter. no further additives.

i predict she'll run like a beauty throughout the harsh SoCal winter.

 

[dynamite196]

Same thing like engine flushes, they dislodge old caked on crap, and then your engine begins leaking, or burning oil, etc etc etc. Father-in-law just did an engine flush on his Dakota, 3 days later it began burning oil like a ****. Never burned a drop beforehand.

I'm completely against all these products, I've had and seen nothing but bad luck with them.

That's cuz it's a dodge how did he do the flush?

 

[spieg16]

So, I ran the seafoam through yesterday morning. I also cleaned my IAC and MAF this morning, the car is running like a dream now, smoothest my idle has ever been.

Jason

 

[Abom]

That's cuz it's a dodge how did he do the flush?

It's that 0w super thin crap that you add to your oil, let idle for 10min, then complete drain / oil change. He changed the oil twice in a row just to make sure any residual "flush" oil was gone.

I did it once on an Isuzu, bad idea. Did it once on a Cavalier Z24, 6 months later the engine began ticking loudly on the highway and 2 minutes later "BANG" and it stopped running. Close family friend owns a Ford F150 since new. He's been running synthetic oil since 25,000km, now at 49,000km. Engine began ticking violently. He took it to a Ford dealer (actually, to 3 seperate Ford dealers and 2 independant garages), and every single mechanic he spoke with said to switch bad to dino-oil, as it's the synthetic oil that's causing the problem. After being told by 7 places the same thing, he tried it, and sure enough, ticking went away.

I used to be a huge supporter of synthetic oils, and flushing engines, etc. Not anymore. I've seen so many engines fail within a short period (1 year or less) of switching to synthetic oil or doing some sort of flush. Maybe it's because of the climate difference we have up here as compared to year-round warm climates that some of you have in the southern states.

All I know is, I have yet to see a single instance where an engine with synthetic oil has not failed within 1 year of the dino->synthetic switch.

 

[daffy]

Seafoam

So, I ran the seafoam through yesterday morning. I also cleaned my IAC and MAF this morning, the car is running like a dream now, smoothest my idle has ever been.

Jason

Ran it through where, may I ask? I'm looking to pull it through the upper intake myself, I just haven't decided where.

 

[LOGJOCKY]

I manage a lube shop and we have people do engine flushes everyday and i never heard of engine knocking from them. or from synthetic oil for that matter. wonder why that happens. and what is this seafoam, ive never heard opf it before

 

[Nocturnall]

I've been sea foaming my 91 firebird for the last 5 yrs I've had it no problem. I had a 97 Explorer 4.0 SOHC that would bog down and run like crap ran sea foam through and it helped a good deal, same with my current 97 explorer 4.0 OHV. My father inlaw runs nothing but synthetic in his cars and has never had a problem...

I've seafoamed into the intake arm on my firebird with a spray bottle, mists it right in I would think that would get all the cyl's pretty well, on my explorer I go through the brake booster line and pvc line.

 

[Fredness]

All I know is, I have yet to see a single instance where an engine with synthetic oil has not failed within 1 year of the dino->synthetic switch.

Since they have been commercially available, I have used synthetic in every car I have owned and I have never had a leak, noise or problem in 10+ years regardless of how many miles were on the engine w/ dino. Sounds more like neglect than a problem with synthetics....

 

[dynamite196]

That 0w stuff doesnt' get flushed out simply by changing the oil a couple times, you need to drive it for a few hundred miles and then do an oil and filter change to make sure it's all out. I bet once you do that it'll stop smoking.

 

[Abom]

Since they have been commercially available, I have used synthetic in every car I have owned and I have never had a leak, noise or problem in 10+ years regardless of how many miles were on the engine w/ dino. Sounds more like neglect than a problem with synthetics....

I'm picky as hell with my vehicles. When I ran synthetic, oil changes were done every 4000km (5000km is recommended), or once every 2 months, whichever came first. It's most certainly not neglect.

Point is, I have seen nothing but problems with people using synthetic. The fact that dealerships, as well as 3rd party independant shops don't recommend synthetic oil (even though they make a premium selling it !) has to count for something.

I don't know, maybe it's the colder climate and sesons that we have. Like I said, whatever it is, I'll stick with dino-oil and not wreck my engine.

 

[spdy0001]

The fact that dealerships, as well as 3rd party independant shops don't recommend synthetic oil (even though they make a premium selling it !) has to count for something.

Yeah im gonna have to disagree with you on that one. How is that MANY mfg's ship your new car with synthetic and it is also recommended. Corvette comes to mind and im sure with minor searching many others will pop up. You can debate the whole syn vs dino oil for years but the results don't lie. All of your high performance engines run smoother and cooler with syn oil. Do you think if it will really hurt your engine they would put in to a corvette at the factory?

 

[xciton]

Yeah im gonna have to disagree with you on that one. How is that MANY mfg's ship your new car with synthetic and it is also recommended. Corvette comes to mind and im sure with minor searching many others will pop up. You can debate the whole syn vs dino oil for years but the results don't lie. All of your high performance engines run smoother and cooler with syn oil. Do you think if it will really hurt your engine they would put in to a corvette at the factory?

Ditto. With VW/Audi, ONLY synthetic oils are now approved for their engines. This was after a rather large sludge problem/recall just over year ago.

 

[dkolewaski]

Why would you change oil every 3 months in a vehicle.. Do they throw oil off the shelf every 3 months? Do you change the oil in a brand new car once you buy it since its been around 3 months since it was built? That is the stupidist thing ever is people doing it in months.. Milage or hours is the only way to change.. and Synthetic with good filter is good for 10 000km in most newer vehicles.

 

[Abom]

Yeah im gonna have to disagree with you on that one. How is that MANY mfg's ship your new car with synthetic and it is also recommended. Corvette comes to mind and im sure with minor searching many others will pop up. You can debate the whole syn vs dino oil for years but the results don't lie. All of your high performance engines run smoother and cooler with syn oil. Do you think if it will really hurt your engine they would put in to a corvette at the factory?

Now wait a second, this is a different ball game. Cars (or more so, engines) that are built and designed to run on synthetic only are different engines altogehter.

It's the same like saying a turbo car requires premium gasoline, so your naturally aspired engine would benefit just the same. As we all know, not true at all. Turbocharged engines are designed to run only on premium or better, and it would not surprise me in the least if synthetic-only based engines were built slightly differently as well.

Afterall, these engines ship from the factory with synthetic, yes ? Then tell me why if you buy a brand new car that uses dino oil (a Cobalt, a Fusion, a Focus, whatever), they say do NOT use synthetic oil until minimum 20,000km, otherwise the piston rings will not seat properly because synthetic oil has too many lubricating properties ? If a Corvette engine can run synthetic from the factory, then one can assume that the internals are different and can accomodate running synthetic from day 1.

I'm not debating that synthetic is a bad oil, I've read a book worth of information about the benefits of synthetic oil. Synthetic oil, on paper, is a much better fluid than regular dino oil. However, in practical application, I've personally seen with my own two eyes many engines cave in soon after switching to synthetic.

Again, let me restate, I'm not saying synthetic is a bad oil, I'm saying that in first hand use, I have witnessed bad results numerous times.

Oh, and just an update, 2 weeks since the oil flush on my father-in-law's Dakota, and it's burned about 1.5 liters of the synthetic oil. It's been re-filled to full and we'll see what happens by the weekend.

 

[dynamite196]

The problem people run into with synthetic is they dont change it often enough, I know the manufacturers may claim 10k oil change intervals. Look at it this way though, just because you put synthetic oil in does that mean ur engine runs infinitely more efficiently and doesn't dirty the oil? Of course not, that's where the whole sludge problem comes in. If you want to run synthetic and get the benefits fine, but you still need to change it at least every 5k usually more around 4k. Dont complain when you dont do any maintenance on the vehicle and one day it decides to blow up on you.