Sea Foam

[Broker]

Anyone use it? If so, let me know if it made a difference and how it felt afterwards. I'm about to put some on my gas on a 99 LS400, and was also going to run some through the intake.

Also, where exactly in the intake should I put it? I haven't even really looked yet so I don't know if it's real simple or not.

Thanks

[Sweet95LS400]

I have used it before in the fuel tank, intake and oil. Works pretty well. I wouldnt use it too often, but maybe once a year or so as part of a ritual cleaning. Definately produces a lot of smoke when used through the intake.

[kcpth]

I just started using it. So i couldn't tell u n e thing yet. I've heard many great reviews about them... not only from LOC (Lexus Owners Club) but also people outside... like Autozone. I use to use Chevron with Techron... but we'll c how this stuff works since it has many uses too. I know this is an LS forum... but this is wut one of the guys on the ES forum did. U might not necessarily want to do ALL the things he did wit Seafoam.... but he seems to like it a lot too.

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...topic=25167&hl=

Well i hope this helps a bit. Good Luck

Tom

[nc211]

Wow, those before and after pictures on that thread are amazing!

I don't know...I'm really thinking about doing this before I change out my oil again next month. Maybe put half in like the Toys said, and just let it idle for a few minutes, then drain it out and put in the new stuff. I agree that leaving it in there for 3,000k miles might not be the best of ideas, although SK had a great point about it vaporizing at 108 degrees. But, just not too comfortable with it in there for that long.

[branshew]

Wow, those before and after pictures on that thread are amazing!

I don't know...I'm really thinking about doing this before I change out my oil again next month. Maybe put half in like the Toys said, and just let it idle for a few minutes, then drain it out and put in the new stuff. I agree that leaving it in there for 3,000k miles might not be the best of ideas, although SK had a great point about it vaporizing at 108 degrees. But, just not too comfortable with it in there for that long.

If you want to add something to the oil that will produce similar results, try AutoRx instead. It works completely differently. Seems to me like naptha would work good in the gas tank, but I wonder what it would do to your seals, etc on the oil side?

You do know that Ronsonol lighter fluid (in the yellow plastic bottle) is made of Naptha??

[nc211]

...wait a minute....are those two before and after photos the same engine? the piston "butterfly" pattern looks the same, but it's the outer settings that look completely different. Look at the grooved placement markers and such...they're totally different....or am i missing something??

[kcpth]

u can always PM him n ask him. He's very good at answering. If i c him on.... i'll ask him to respond if u would like.

Tom

[maxed_out]

I have used it and I like it. Noticeable perforamnce difference for me. About once a year. I use it in the rest of the stuff like boats and lawnmowers.

One can in the tank and another in the crankcase. Cant say I ever used it to clean the TB...but I think it would work. Theres lots written about it and some folks go nuts for it. Some posts I've read on boating forums live and die by the stuff.

[monarch]

I havn't used Seafoam or additives of any kind for 468,000 miles. Instead I prevent fuel injector or intake valve deposit problems from ever developing by using a top tier, high detergent premium gasoline like Chevron or Shell. About every 30,000 miles I also scrub the throttle plate clean manually using a toothbrush, throttle plate cleaner and some old rags.

[Toysrme]

Yes, that is my engine the first time I tore I apart VS the second time I tore it apart.

I - on purpose - did not clean the pistons themselves any time I have taken the heads off to se what effects things like seafoam, or water injection would do in the combustioin chamber.

Tons of random shots here:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v414/Toysrme/

http://photobucket.com/albums/v208/DNoel/

Original @ 94,000 miles

VS

@ 104,000 miles a few thousand miles of running normal

Cylinder #6 close-up.

Just so people don't get confused at what they're looking at...

The fluid/wet look on the first one can't be helped. I had to vacuum coolant out of that cylinder, but pay attention to the carbon. Nasty... Notice that the #4 (middle) cylinder is spotlessly clean. That is because that was the cylinder that kept blowing the head gasket @ the coolant passage for that bank from having a warped head on that passage.

Water Injection (LoL coolant)

So... nc211 to answer the question, yes it is the same engine. The reason the #4 cylinder can not be compaired is because of the massive water cleaning from driving around with a blown headgasket. As is obvious in those pictures, any comparison on that is a completely moot point.

Seafoam owns the intake tract. 2+ applications in the intake will get the majority of the carbon out of the intake track in the head/valves & combustion chamber.

Water injection owns carbon hardcore. It's a pain in the wahoo, but after having run water injection on & off both N/A & FI'ed. I can say it's worth it.

Put a 16oz spray bottle on it's fine mist pattern

Crank engine

Pull brake booster, or other LARGE DIRECT (NOT PCV) hose off the intake manifold & insert/hold spray bottle nose to it so it doesn't vacuum leak & stall.

The ECU will piddle around to re-establish an idle (Nearly instantly if you seal it as good as possible)

Spray fast enough to make the engine idle drop & keep pumping fast enough to keep it a slow, slow idle. (It drops because the mixture is effectively getting richer. If you're pumping to fast, it'll go from idling slowly, to simply becoming so rich it stops. It will not flood, or hydrolock in any case...)

Do that a few times a year, whoa momma. You'll get & keep spotless pistons like I have. ;)

You'll get a killer idle by doing anything in the crankcase too. It's amazing how much difference ther is, even when the blakc & bottom end is nothing more than "normal" for oil us/stains/varnish. I like Seafoam & Marvel Mystery Oil. I also like Kerosene flushing the oil system. It's just so much faster, cheaper & less hassle LoL!

I'm not really into fuel injector cleaning. To me that's more of a once in a blue moon type of thing, but 2 each, his own.

monarch that's cool. I bet if you took more parts off, you'd cacoon in your pants at the carbon ;) Good lord, nearing a 1/2 million miles & look at what is happening to these engines sub 100,000 miles LoL!

[SKperformance]

I love the stuff and bought a case last year spring . I use it in all 4 of my cars and it works great.

On my 98 LS it had the most smoke and the biggest initial change after the first intake usage.

The fuel mileage and power gained noticeable.

I used a water bottle and one of the vacuum lines right by the throttle which sucked the bottle flat with the amount of suction.

It does vaporize quickly so having the car warm enough to turn the fan on in auto mode for the HVAC is where i would turn off the car and have it ready to begin suction of the seafoam.

Do it as fast as possible and leave it to sit for 10 minutes then throw the remaining can in the gas tank.

[sapper_daddy]

man i want to know more about this kerosene flush.........and all those pics were done with out acutally taking anything off of the motor just making it pull it in to the intake, amazing but why did you take apart your motor leave it dirty then put it back together to clean it the seafoam way? not trying to be a jerk i am truly just wondering what transpired so i can understand how to get my motor that clean

[monarch]

monarch that's cool. I bet if you took more parts off, you'd cacoon in your pants at the carbon

Can you tell me why should I be concerned? Is my '92 22R-E engine power down after 468,000 miles? Answer: NO. Is my fuel economy down? Answer: NO. Is my idle smoothness down? Answer: NO. Is my engine compression down? Answer: NO. Does my engine ping? Answer: NO. Do I still pass the tough bi-annual California smog test with lots of room to spare? Answer: YES. So I don't understand why I should be concerned about the cosmetic condition of my combustion chambers or intake manifold. Sure I imagine there is carbon in there and it's been there for the last 100,000, 200,000, 300,000 and 400,000+ miles. And it'll be there when I top 500,000 and 600,000 miles too.

Same situation with my carbureted 1989 Corolla 4A-F motor with 248,000 miles. No additives ever used and no noticable decline in power, fuel economy, idle smoothness, still passes smog, etc. So I don't understand what specifically I am missing by not engaging in "blowing out the carbon" rituals with Marvel Mystery Oil, Seafoam, Chemtool, and similar products.

[Sweet95LS400]

Often times when you lose power gradually you wont notice it. If it were a big and sudden change then it would be more apparent. I think the point that these other guys are making is that they didnt realize how much of a differance these products made until they actually used them. It may or may not be an issue of longevity, I am not a mechanic and do not know. I can attest, however, from my own usage that using some of these products has never harmed anything and has seemly helped. But then again, I dont have a car with 400k + on it

[nc211]

I hear ya' TIDE!

I don't think I'm going to mess with the intake applications, as I'm sure I would get some pretty awful remarks from the neighborhood community for "smokin'" them out. But the engine oil application will be done next month for sure. Toy, I'm a little lost though on what that will do? Will my cylinders be that clean as in your picture from just the oil routine? Is the intake method good for cleaning up the egr system and prolonging that part of the system "god, I don't want to buy another one"? I put some seafoam in the gas tank a few months ago before I hit the highway for a long weekend trip...stuff was great.

In short...I just want to do the oil routine...put half a can in the old oil...idle for 10 or 15 minutes, and then flush it out, replace with new oil and filter, and be on my marry way. Think this will have great results? I really don't want to leave it in there for the 3,000k mile duration to the next oil change.

Yes, that is my engine the first time I tore I apart VS the second time I tore it apart.

I - on purpose - did not clean the pistons themselves any time I have taken the heads off to se what effects things like seafoam, or water injection would do in the combustioin chamber.

Tons of random shots here:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v414/Toysrme/

http://photobucket.com/albums/v208/DNoel/

Original @ 94,000 miles

VS

@ 104,000 miles a few thousand miles of running normal

Cylinder #6 close-up.

Just so people don't get confused at what they're looking at...

The fluid/wet look on the first one can't be helped. I had to vacuum coolant out of that cylinder, but pay attention to the carbon. Nasty... Notice that the #4 (middle) cylinder is spotlessly clean. That is because that was the cylinder that kept blowing the head gasket @ the coolant passage for that bank from having a warped head on that passage.

Water Injection (LoL coolant)

So... nc211 to answer the question, yes it is the same engine. The reason the #4 cylinder can not be compaired is because of the massive water cleaning from driving around with a blown headgasket. As is obvious in those pictures, any comparison on that is a completely moot point.

Seafoam owns the intake tract. 2+ applications in the intake will get the majority of the carbon out of the intake track in the head/valves & combustion chamber.

Water injection owns carbon hardcore. It's a pain in the wahoo, but after having run water injection on & off both N/A & FI'ed. I can say it's worth it.

Put a 16oz spray bottle on it's fine mist pattern

Crank engine

Pull brake booster, or other LARGE DIRECT (NOT PCV) hose off the intake manifold & insert/hold spray bottle nose to it so it doesn't vacuum leak & stall.

The ECU will piddle around to re-establish an idle (Nearly instantly if you seal it as good as possible)

Spray fast enough to make the engine idle drop & keep pumping fast enough to keep it a slow, slow idle. (It drops because the mixture is effectively getting richer. If you're pumping to fast, it'll go from idling slowly, to simply becoming so rich it stops. It will not flood, or hydrolock in any case...)

Do that a few times a year, whoa momma. You'll get & keep spotless pistons like I have. ;)

You'll get a killer idle by doing anything in the crankcase too. It's amazing how much difference ther is, even when the blakc & bottom end is nothing more than "normal" for oil us/stains/varnish. I like Seafoam & Marvel Mystery Oil. I also like Kerosene flushing the oil system. It's just so much faster, cheaper & less hassle LoL!

I'm not really into fuel injector cleaning. To me that's more of a once in a blue moon type of thing, but 2 each, his own.

monarch that's cool. I bet if you took more parts off, you'd cacoon in your pants at the carbon ;) Good lord, nearing a 1/2 million miles & look at what is happening to these engines sub 100,000 miles LoL!

[sha4000]

i just did the gas yank and brake booster oart of this deal a couple weaks ago but im wondering if i fouled my spark plugs b/c my mileage seems like its slightly worse but im going to change my air filter b4 i attribute it to my plugsbeing fouled

[blake918]

i just did the gas yank and brake booster oart of this deal a couple weaks ago but im wondering if i fouled my spark plugs b/c my mileage seems like its slightly worse but im going to change my air filter b4 i attribute it to my plugsbeing fouled

Someone on a different forum made a great suggestion of going to AutoZone and buying some really cheap plugs to use with the Seafoam as not to foul up these expensive iridium plugs. I'm going to run some through my intake as it gets closer to oil changing time since my intake is beyond filthy.

[kcpth]

hey thats a great idea! I have realli old plugs in. I was planning on changing my spark plug this weekend. Perhaps i should do it now... so i can mess around wit the current plugs now... n then change em. I guess i wont' b chaing plugs now... but rather next month or so.

Tom

[Toysrme]

Mocarch, why should I go over it again? I've lead you through carbon buildup on a previous discussion about Seafoam, or intake cleaning, or whatever brought it up. I'm guessing more than once also...

Damn it...

Carbon in the combustion chamber superheats becoming a major cause of pre-ignition while causing accellerated wear on spark plugs

It raises the compression ratio,

It keeps valves from sealing properly lowering compression

It destroys valves, or the valve surface from superheating

It can build-up on valves, severly decreasing the flow past them

It lowers intake velocity, consistantly decreasing power output 5-10bhp across all currnet Toyota v6's with EGR. (The same is true for any engine using EGR...)

It clogs the IAC/ISC/Throttlebody/EGR valves

There is no possible reason NOT to clean carbon out of an engine. If you don't want to do it, or don't like how people do it, that's cool. But it's simple ignorance to believe it has no negative performance, economy, or lasting effects on the engine.

^ Seafoam shouldn't fowl plugs, but who knows.

[Toysrme]

and all those pics were done with out acutally taking anything off of the motor just making it pull it in to the intake

Yeaaaaaah. There's a bit more off that engine than the intake LoL!

did you take apart your motor leave it dirty then put it back together to clean it the seafoam way? not trying to be a jerk i am truly just wondering what transpired so i can understand how to get my motor that clean

To see what things like Seafoam, and water injection could really do VS carbon.

AFA as kerosene flush. buy a gallon of the highest grade kerosene you have avalible.

Drop a quart in the crankcase & let it idle for 10 min. 20 will cause problems. 10 is great.

After that shut it off & ditch the oil. Pour another quart through to get everything on the bottom of the pan out.

Change the filter & go like normal.

If you *really* wanna do it, put $5 worth of super-tech in there from wall-mart & a cheapie filter, drive around a week, then put in your $18-20 worth of Mobil1 Synthetic & a Denso/Toyota filter!

Toy, I'm a little lost though on what that will do? Will my cylinders be that clean as in your picture from just the oil routine?

No it will not - to do that, you ahve to clean it via the intake, but by flushing the oil with anything, your idle will become extremely smooth.

You think a used Lexus motor is still smooth, hah! Wait till after you clean that bottom end out.

[monarch]

Toysrme, I don't have accelerated spark plug wear problems on my 468,000 mile and 248,000 mile Toyota engines that have never been treated with gasoline or oil additives.

I don't have lowered engine compression, fuel economy, power or increased emissions so I don't have valve sealing problems.

I don't have carbon build-up on my intake or exhaust valves sufficient to cause a severe decrease in the flow past them because my power, fuel economy and exhaust emissions are still excellent.

I don't have carbon buildup on the top of my pistons sufficient to cause combustion pinging or preignition.

I don't have carbon build-up on my EGR valve sufficient to cause a decrease in power, fuel economy or failing scores on the California nitrogen oxide smog test.

I think a very important reason for NOT cleaning the carbon out of an engine is that many of the world top automakers (Toyota / Nissan / Honda /BMW) urge owners NOT to use gasoline or oil additives http://www.saber.net/~monarch/nis.jpg Reasonably, the graduate degreed engineers of these automakers must know there are consequences associated with the use of these additive products. Reasonably, these automakers would also market there own brands of gasoline and oil additives if they thought there was a legitimate need and if there were no negative consequences.

[SKperformance]

wow ..........

Monarch i am not sure where to start with your rebuttal .

Carbon is a good and normal thing in your engine then keep it that way. I don't think you have anything more to add other than regurgitate the owners manual. I actually never found you annoying but a statement like

"I don't have carbon build-up on my intake or exhaust valves sufficient to cause a severe decrease in the flow past them because my power, fuel economy and exhaust emissions are still excellent."

is completely unfathomable.

How would you even know??? It is your best assumption.

This is just stupid to even go on with this.

Carbon is never something you want to leave in any engine.

Monarch you are just like those people knocking on the door early in the morning coming to preach about religion and how you should join or you will go to hell. They are down right annoying and so are you constant bible thumping of the owners manual.

It is something ...........whatever i am done.

[monarch]

a statement like: "I don't have carbon build-up on my intake or exhaust valves sufficient to cause a severe decrease in the flow past them because my power, fuel economy and exhaust emissions are still excellent."

is completely unfathomable. How would you even know???

In addition to my 1992 Toyota pickup with 468,000 miles, I have a 1993 Toyota pickup with the same engine, but only 74,000 miles. I bought both vehicles brand new. So the low mileage '93 engine gives me a point of reference to evaluate any change in '92 engine in regards to power, fuel economy, emissions, compression, etc.

[Lexusfreak]

Toysrme, I don't have accelerated spark plug wear problems on my 468,000 mile and 248,000 mile Toyota engines that have never been treated with gasoline or oil additives.

I don't have lowered engine compression, fuel economy, power or increased emissions so I don't have valve sealing problems.

I don't have carbon build-up on my intake or exhaust valves sufficient to cause a severe decrease in the flow past them because my power, fuel economy and exhaust emissions are still excellent.

I don't have carbon buildup on the top of my pistons sufficient to cause combustion pinging or preignition.

I don't have carbon build-up on my EGR valve sufficient to cause a decrease in power, fuel economy or failing scores on the California nitrogen oxide smog test.

Let's see pics. B) ;)

[Sweet95LS400]

My Lexus dealer offers the intake, throttle body, and carbon cleaning service as part of their 90,000 miles service regimen. I don’t know what products they use, but I cant imagine they would be removing carbon and deposits from the engine if it were harmful towards its service life.