What did Seafoam do to my idling?

[Jester1994]

Hey guys, I have a 97 5.0, I recentl yused seafoam about 2-3 weeks ago, I put it through the brake booser line just as the directions specified and only receieved a small amount of smoke, nothing compared to pictures of Aldive's or others I have seen/heard of. when I drove it around the block after, there was no other smoke coming out as well.

Before I used seafoam, I had no issues with my performance, idling or anything, I just used to to try to clean up the engine and see if I would notice a difference. Well, I certainly do now. When I am stopped in traffic or just idling whil ein drive. Every few seconds, the engine seems to slightly hicup, or seems to slightly mis-fire. It is nothing serious, but you can feel it slightly shake your seat just enough when it is in drive and you have your foot on the brake sitting there.

Could this be just a coincidence? Or did hte seafoam unevenly clean some areas? Should I run another bottle (I used a spray seafoam bottle the first time)? My X has 101k on it now, and the plugs were changed about 5k-7k ago. The fuel filter was changed probably a year ago or more, about 18k ago.

Any info is appreciated!

 

[BuffaloXplorer]

I thought the spray-form of seafoam (Deep Creep) was supposed to eliminate the need to do it through the BB line? Just spray it through the TB...

Anywho - you could try cleaning the IAC Valve, MAF, IAT Sensor and go from there...or just run some more seafoam. Could be a batch of bad gas too...

 

[Jester1994]

Yeah, I will be filling up again today to drive from Mass to NH then to Maine, so I'll fill up, mabe grab some dry gas since that is the cheap-o first solution to mos things. But I'll basically see how she runs. If it is stil going on, I'll have to clean up a few things, IAC, MAF, maybe run some more seafoam.

I ran it through the brake booster line since I didn't disconnect the TB, what's the easiest way to insert seafoam it in the 5.0 that any of you guys have found? Pictures?

 

[pmill]

You know what I did is just take the intake tube off the air filter box, remove the other little hose that connects after the maf, loosened the screw on the throttle body and turned the whole intake tube upwards. Then I put my hand over the big hole at the end of the tube and let the seafoam get sucked in through the smaller hole in the intake tube. I ran a little over half the can through that way, then the rest through the brake booster to get plenty into both sides of the manifold. Worked fine for me, and cleaned the hell out of the throttle body while I was at it.

There was some leftover fluid around the throttle body and intake tube, but I just wiped it up while waiting for the seafoam to do it's thing. I smoked up the whole neighborhood then drove around with it smoking for a couple miles. It took a long time to burn completely through.

That was probably a thousand miles ago and the thing still idles and runs perfect.

 

[Creager]

sea foam rocks man me and my buddies used to pour a bottle in carburetor throat of my old pinto and we huff the fumes coming out the tail pipe man aint nothing like a rush man its better then body suspension man you need to try it.

 

[mechanix]

*ponders Creager's post*

On to bigger and better things. What might of happened is the Seafoam broke a chunk of carbon loose and it is stuck to the face of a valve. Usually this will break free over time. Might want to use it again to see if it clears it up.

 

[Jester1994]

Yeah, I think I will try it again, I'll either put half of the can in through the BB line again and half through the intake maybe. Or I'll get the fluid bottle instead of the spray next time and try that.

It's weird, it still runs fine, there is just the slightest tumble or misfire when I am stopped in gear the slightly shakes the truck every 5-8 seconds or so. A little hiccup.

 

[nascar_intimid]

you might have a spark plug going bad due to the seafoam? pull them and check them and regap while they're out. It's just a thought.....

 

[huskyfan23]

Use the Motor Treatment next time. I use Deep Creep as a penetrant.

 

[Tony H]

Anyone use this stuff and notice a Emissions improvement at the Inspection station?

I JUST pass Emissions in NY and I was wondering if I should give this a go as added insurance next year.

PMILL, that was the liguid type you used? You let it ooze down the Intake pipe? If you dumped it, wouldn't it stall out the motor?

 

[IslandSport94]

Every 5-8 seconds? Could be the AC cycling. Have you checked for trouble codes?

 

[DirtyDog]

Every 5-8 seconds? Could be the AC cycling. Have you checked for trouble codes?

Ya that's what causes my rough idle every so often.


So how long does the smoke come out of the tail pipe for? Also where do you get this stuff? I don't think I've ever seen it before.

 

[Jester1994]

Every 5-8 seconds? Could be the AC cycling. Have you checked for trouble codes?

I doubt it, I don't think I've even had the air or auto settings on every time I've been driving either. This hicup or misfire is too short, quick and seems to shake the engine a bit.....so that would lead me not to include the A/C cycling. It is probably something ot do with my seafoam cleaning, I need to do it again, or maybe what ever is lodged in par tof a cylinder or plug will dislodge itself. :fire: