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Seafoam

13K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  NitroM3 
#1 ·
Hi everyone. This is my first post here, and will also serve as my introduction. My name is Dmitry, I drive an '03 toyota tacoma, but my dad has an '05 Mazda3 5-speed hatchback. Let me first say that I love the car, it drives very well, especially how the tranny shifts, but I have a question about it. It now has almost 7k on it, and when we went to run seafoam motor treatment through the intake to clean off carbon from the pistons, cylinders, valves, etc, I could not find an acceptable vacuum line. On my toyota, I simply use the vacuum line going to the brake booster. Its very easily accessible, easy to remove, and replace. On this car though, the brake booster is hidden behind the battery box, and the hoses don't use simple spring clamps, but some kind of elaborate connectors that I've never seen before. Those of you who have done it, which vacuum line did you use and how did you get to it? Thanks a lot.

Dmitry
 
#2 ·
Dmitry,
Hi, and welcome to these forums.
I am not familiar w/this exact product, but w/only 7.5K why bother? A modern car running as lean as they do would not need such a treatment so early in it's useful life. You might actually be causing more harm that doing good.
If you need a line as large as the brake booster hose, you may have to cut it and insert a tee fitting then cap it off when the treatment is done. Or, if not, there are several smaller lines, including an unused one near the ETB in the intake (where I connected a vacuum gauge) that may be accessed.
Short of that, connect a fitting into the top of the airbox itself and use it.
These are just some of many possiblities, I'm sure. As I'd said, I'm not really sure if this product is in a pressurized can or it just needs to be pulled in by engine vacuum, but I am sure there would be a way to do it.
If you can, post some pictures of what it is you are trying to do and maybe I, or some other mechanical sort on this forum, could help you more.

 
#3 ·
Thank you for your reply. Seafoam is a petroleum based product that is designed to be used as a fuel injector cleaner if added to the gas tank, and it can also be added to the crankcase to remove sludge buildup and clean that part of the motor. There is an aerosol form of seafoam available, but the stuff I'm using gets sucked up by the engine vacuum if using it to clean the pistons and valves. Check out www.seafoamsales.com. I already poured 1/2 can (1/2 pint) into the crankcase a few days ago because I plan on switching the oil to Mobil 1 this weekend and want to remove any sludge that may have formed. Its the car's second oil change. I don't suspect there to be any sludge of course, but its good to clean it up before switching to synthetic anyways. As far as carbon on the tops of the cylinders goes, gasoline is not the cleanest burning fuel, and its full of various additives and impurities, so carbon does build up quick. This car is also driven for no more than 7 miles a day, 5 days a week, so it does not run hot enough for a long enough time to burn off build-up and deposits, especially in the winter. For example, my mom drives her 2005 nissan altima 50 miles a day just to work and back, and its also our family car, so we follow roughly 10k mile oil change intervals with mobil 1, and the oil coming out of her car is the same color as the oil coming out of my dad's mazda3 at 3k miles. I don't think its ever bad to clean the engine as long as the engine is healthy and running well. If I had a 150k miles motor that was never cleaned before, I wouldn't run seafoam or even synthetic oil on it because it may clean off the carbon that was plugging some hole, and cause a leak or drop in compression.

The criteria (for me) for running seafoam through the induction system is that the vacuum line must enter the intake after the throttle body due to the fact that before the throttle body the intake tube is flexible rubber that will probably absorb most of what I put in it, and the butterfly valve of the throttle body itself will prevent most of the seafoam from reaching the motor because the alcohol component of it quickly evaporates. After tracking down an online version of the service manual (2.0L version but very similar), I figured out a way to pull off the brake booster vacuum line from the throttle body itself. I measured the fitting to be 3/8 inch, so now I will have to go and find a hose of that size that I can stick in there and use to slowly pour the seafoam while the motor is running. After doing it on my toyota truck at about 7k, I did notice an improvement in the pickup of the motor. If you have any questions on what seafoam is or where to get it or how to use it, please feel free to ask.
 
#5 ·
Snake oil?? Seafoam is not even oil nor is it an oil additive! Snake oil are those "miracle" products that claim to do all of the amazing things you've probably seen on TV. Seafoam is nothing more than a cleaner. It cleans carbon build-up, fuel injectors, and sludge in the crankcase. I pour it in the crankcase and change the oil a week later. Using engine vacuum to pull it through the induction system, it is the same induction system cleaning service that dealerships charge $60 for, except they use BG44K instead. Therefore seafoam does not fit the definition of snake oil. By your definition, fuel injector cleaners and other engine flush products are snake oils also. Check out the forums at bobistheoilguy.com on this topic and educate yourself there if you don't belive me. But keep in mind that just because I'm a newbie to this forum doesn't mean that I'm a newbie to cars. Its not like I'm telling you to pour prolong or zmax or that slick50 stuff into your oil.
 
#11 ·
Hi everyone. This is my first post here, It now has almost 7k on it, and when we went to run seafoam motor treatment through the intake to clean off carbon from the pistons, cylinders, valves, etc, I could not find an acceptable vacuum line. On my toyota, I simply use the vacuum line going to the brake booster. Its very easily accessible, easy to remove, and replace. On this car though, the brake booster is hidden behind the battery box, and the hoses don't use simple spring clamps, but some kind of elaborate connectors that I've never seen before. Those of you who have done it, which vacuum line did you use and how did you get to it? Thanks a lot.
Dmitry
I understand the thought to be preventative in the maintenance. As for the use of chemical cleaners like SEAFOAM my personal opinion is you would be better to use simple water introduction into the intake system when the engine is at operating temperatures and let the natural abilities of water vaporized steam clean the intake valves and combustion chambers. Any and all chemical cleaner will effect some things for the good and also some things not so good. Spark Plugs DON"T like or react well to concentrated chemical cleaners and the only way to clean them is generally a short WOT pass. Not something I would recomend in most cases for a variety of reasons most are common sence related.

Just to be clear about my qualification for suggestions I made, I run Water and or water/meths systems successfully on many of my present and past vehicles. I also routinely use plain water through an intake line to clean the combustion chambers . On my 2018 Mazda3 2.5 Sky Active engine with only 1500 new miles I am already designing a water injection system for it.


Things easy to do...
Change your engine oil and filter more often then recommended.
Have you engine oil analyzed at least every other year or 4th oil change.
Scope the intake at least at the 25k miles to check for carbon build up.


Black Stone Labs
https://www.blackstone-labs.com/
 
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