hydrolocked from seafoam

[jd4242]

Just wanted to share my odd experience. ..I seafoamed my 94 4.0 ranger today, through the brake booster vacuum line..this is not my first time and im NOT a fan of it but because im about to put my supercharger on and dont have cats I figured why not....

I didnt go crazy and drown it or pour to fast or anything like that, I did however use about a 1/2 can. .it did not stall or anything out of the ordinary. .I introduced it with a warm motor slowly and shut it off for the minimum 5minutes. ..went to restart and it turned about a 1/16 and locked up....would not turn no more,( side note I have rear mount battery with a fused distribution block) I then blew the 125 amp fuse....

I didnt have any tools on hand so my buddy came and saved the day..I pulled the plugs, replaced the 125 amp fuse and turned it over a couple times..seafoam shot out the spark plug holes (really just the back two) but turned freely. ...

I cleaned plugs and it started back up..I ran it at about 2,000 rpms for about 45 minutes till I got tired and had to drive home..it literally smoked everyone out in traffic and stopped smoking about 15 mins into the drive..

I cleaned all the plugs and found a broken pulg wire so replaced all wires...I also put zmax in the gas and oil...it now runs very smooth and the slight miss I had is gone, probably from the bad wire..

But this has never happened to me or anyone I know..my guess is it wasn't vaporizing and puddled up then leaked down into the back two cylinders and caused a hydro lock on restart. ..I am very lucky it didnt cause any long term problems for now but figured I would share this...

As before I am NOT a fan of seafoam at ALLL!!!! I did it to my accord and it clogged my cats and messed up my O2....personally I would not suggest EVER introducing it through a vacuum line at ALL..especially if you have cats....

 

[Wolfie_85]

I Sea Foamed my '94 Explorer and had no issues (used the brake booster line). It runs a bit smoother than before. The smoking is normal. It didn't hesitate to start after, and I used about a third of the bottle.

Sorry to hear you had issues, but it worked well for me.

 

[jd4242]

I Sea Foamed my '94 Explorer and had no issues (used the brake booster line). It runs a bit smoother than before. The smoking is normal. It didn't hesitate to start after, and I used about a third of the bottle.

Sorry to hear you had issues, but it worked well for me.

I know the smoking is normal but not for that long.also it didnt ""hesitate"" it hydrolocked. ....like I said this isn't the first vehicle I've done it to, just last two I've had problems. .but never heard of this happening so thought id share it...

 

[Dono]

I won't be using seafoam. I used it once, and truthfully I didn't notice a difference anyway.

I guess if you are running your pcv lines in to the intake it can help clear some oil out that shouldn't be there. As for carbon, how about a nice steady highway drive for an hour? I really think that if you are having huge carbon issues, you have another bigger issue.

 

[jd4242]

Yea I was just trying to clean it up a little before the charger goes on.the lower was pretty covered so figured it wouldnt hurt.considering this motor has close to 200,000 miles on it im sure there is all kinds of build up..im just lucky it didnt bend a rod or anything. ..

Yummy

 

[swshawaii]

Wow, scary stuff. Not the first time I've heard this. Best advice if you must, add Seafoam VERY S-L-O-W-Y.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Dono]

On your new motor, Have you considered removing the pcv system and going to a catch can? That would eliminate what you are seeing.

Interestingly enough, I had a rear main seal leak that was actually marking up the garage floor pretty bad (My pcv valve was perfect). Now that I have gone catch can, there are no more rear main seal drips on the floor. Removing pressure from the bottom end does increase horsepower also. another benefit of no oil residue being recirculated is it lowers chances of detonation.
Just something else to think about.

 

[jd4242]

On your new motor, Have you considered removing the pcv system and going to a catch can? That would eliminate what you are seeing.

Interestingly enough, I had a rear main seal leak that was actually marking up the garage floor pretty bad (My pcv valve was perfect). Now that I have gone catch can, there are no more rear main seal drips on the floor. Removing pressure from the bottom end does increase horsepower also. another benefit of no oil residue being recirculated is it lowers chances of detonation.
Just something else to think about.

I run a oil separator

A crankcase should be under vacuum not pressure. Pressure comes from blowbye, heat and moving parts, as you know..engines that are sealed and under vacuum produce more hp than a catch can or open ventilation. .most of the track cars I see run a separate pump just for the crankcase

 

[Wolfie_85]

I gotta say I've never seen hydrolock as a result of Sea Foam either. But at least now I know it can happen. If I do it again, I will take some extra care.

 

[Dono]

I run a oil separator

A crankcase should be under vacuum not pressure. Pressure comes from blowbye, heat and moving parts, as you know..engines that are sealed and under vacuum produce more hp than a catch can or open ventilation. .most of the track cars I see run a separate pump just for the crankcase

Exactly. I'm just wondering why your lower intake looks so oily. Also, under certain conditions, doesn't the pcv valve close increasing pressure in the crank case? Im going back to my analogy that my rear main was leaking until I wen't with the catch can vent system. At some point, I may try to create some form of a vac system at the exit of my catch can.

 

[jd4242]

Exactly. I'm just wondering why your lower intake looks so oily. Also, under certain conditions, doesn't the pcv valve close increasing pressure in the crank case? Im going back to my analogy that my rear main was leaking until I wen't with the catch can vent system. At some point, I may try to create some form of a vac system at the exit of my catch can.

O its not installed in this truck yet.im going to put it in with the charger..yea but only one side closes, but then the other side gets vacuum and never closes

 

[Dono]

Different motors, but the pcv design is the same. All I can attribute my rear main leak to was pressure in the crank case. I have no other real explanation as to why the rear main quit leaking completely after the catch can went on.

 

[cloaked_chaos]

I have used seafoam a couple of times and my cats are clean as a whistle.