Seafoam

[MrClean]

Well I put a can of this stuff in the car, and filled up with Chevron's Techron 93. The slight pinging I had at high rev before is gone, running Bama's 91TQ tune with no timing backed out (and it feels strong).

Question: I have a dyno-tune appointment for later this week, and I still have a ½ tank of fuel that contains approximately ½ can of Seafoam...does the Seafoam raise the octane rating of the fuel? Should I ensure I burn through that fuel (about 100 miles of driving) and refill with fresh Techron 93 prior to the dyno-tune? Or is the Seafoam just a cleaning agent that doesn't affect the octane rating either way?

 

[cekim]

Don't know if that one raises the octane - cleaning agents certainly can raise it.

Ideally, you'd burn through 2 tanks to be sure you are driving what you will be driving day-to-day after the tune...

Barring that, I'd run it down as far as you can and fill up - then go as far down as you can on the second and fill up prior to the tune...

 

[freebass55]

Yeah, I would try to get that stuff out of there before the tune. Why did you put that in there in the first place?

 

[MrClean]

Yeah, I would try to get that stuff out of there before the tune. Why did you put that in there in the first place?

I put it in to clean the system out...at the suggestion of someone on this forum or TMS.

 

[cekim]

I put it in to clean the system out...at the suggestion of someone on this forum or TMS.

If it actually works, no harm in cleaning thing out - you just want to get back to the gas you are going to be using before the dyno as much as possible...

Given you N/A-ness, I wouldn't be surprised for the tuner to find "something" that is causing all that pinging in which case you will have plenty of margin by the time he is done.

 

[MrClean]

The pinging isn't a whole bunch, it's sporadical at high RPM...like I said above, since the Seafoam and Chevron 93, it isn't doing it, but I'm thinking I'm going to go ahead with the dyno-tune anyway...so I'll go out and drive tomorrow for an hour and burn through that tank refill, drive a little more, and on Thursday I'll drive the 45 miles to Fastlane, and find a Chevron on the way up there to fill up again before the tune.

 

[cekim]

The pinging isn't a whole bunch, it's sporadical at high RPM...like I said above, since the Seafoam and Chevron 93, it isn't doing it, but I'm thinking I'm going to go ahead with the dyno-tune anyway...so I'll go out and drive tomorrow for an hour and burn through that tank refill, drive a little more, and on Thursday I'll drive the 45 miles to Fastlane, and find a Chevron on the way up there to fill up again before the tune.

1. I have once or twice forgotten to short fill the car on the way to track - 80mph in 3rd/4thcan burn off a lot of gas

2. You should not be seeing ping. I have spent plenty of time in the 6500+ RPM range this summer with tune all over the place and never had a ping...

 

[MrClean]

1. I have once or twice forgotten to short fill the car on the way to track - 80mph in 3rd/4thcan burn off a lot of gas

2. You should not be seeing ping. I have spent plenty of time in the 6500+ RPM range this summer with tune all over the place and never had a ping...

It's entirely possible I'm mistaking ping for ocasional valvetrain noise....apparently there is a TSB on that...

 

[matt texass]

also marc ive seen alot of people mistake it for injector noise our injectors seem to be alot louder than previous years.

 

[MrClean]

From what the Fastlane website says, they can probably tell if it's pre-igniting:
"The dyno also features eight channels of input and can monitor engine outputs such as two 0-30psi boost inputs, one –15-+15 psi Vacuum/Boost input, two Motec wideband air fuel monitors, one EGT, two additional temperature inputs as well as an advanced weather station for the most accurate testing available. We also use the SCT LiveLink advanced data acquisition tool for ultimate data required for accurate tuning, and testing. In conjunction with SCT Livelink we also use SCT Advantage tuning software to custom tune your performance cars and trucks."

 

[freebass55]

I put it in to clean the system out...at the suggestion of someone on this forum or TMS.

Is that stuff really good for the engine? I am always skeptical of putting anything like that in my gas tank.

 

[MTAS]

Is that stuff really good for the engine? I am always skeptical of putting anything like that in my gas tank.

I posted a lengthy deal over on TMS about Seafoam. I use it prior to changing the oil in both of our vehicles - my wife's '01 Escape V6 w/116K on the clock and my '05 GT. The Escape greatly benefits from it IMO - it runs as strong today as it did when new. I still run 5W-20 Motorcraft Synthetic Blend, the oil level is less than 1/8" below the full mark just before changing it, and it's still transparent. I put a 1/2 can in the intake (via brake booster vacuum line) and a 1/2 can in the gas tank.

 

[MrClean]

Is that stuff really good for the engine? I am always skeptical of putting anything like that in my gas tank.

Well, I wrote to Seafoam last night asking if it raised the octane rating, and the answer this morning was an emphaticl "NO". The fact is my car stopped the (admittedly minimal) pinging with it. Seafoam claimed in the email that the pinging stopped because it had cleaned out the carbon deposits in the cylinder that would cause "hot spots" and lead to the pre-ignition.

I posted a lengthy deal over on TMS about Seafoam. I use it prior to changing the oil in both of our vehicles - my wife's '01 Escape V6 w/116K on the clock and my '05 GT. The Escape greatly benefits from it IMO - it runs as strong today as it did when new. I still run 5W-20 Motorcraft Synthetic Blend, the oil level is less than 1/8" below the full mark just before changing it, and it's still transparent. I put a 1/2 can in the intake (via brake booster vacuum line) and a 1/2 can in the gas tank.

When you put it in the intake via the brake booster vacuum line, do you do it while the engine is running? Maybe you can attach the link to the thread on TMS...and thanks for chiming in.

 

[SixtySix]

Seafoam claimed in the email that the pinging stopped because it had cleaned out the rabon deposits in the cylinder that would cause "hot spots" and lead to the pre-ignition.

Can we have a translation please? Sounds like Gobbledegook to me?

 

[MrClean]

That's "carbon deposits". The carbon can reportedly lead to pre-ignition by igniting the charge prior to the piston being at TDC.

 

[SixtySix]

Ahhhh! CARBON deposits. Now that makes some sense. I was wondering for the life of me what the hell RABON was. It sounded like the equivalent of a kanooter valve.

 

[MTAS]

When you put it in the intake via the brake booster vacuum line, do you do it while the engine is running? Maybe you can attach the link to the thread on TMS...and thanks for chiming in.

Here's my post from November 2006, http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=56187&highlight=seafoam and yep you do it while the engine is running, otherwise there's no vacuum to suck the stuff into the intake I'd say the most important thing to remember is to take your time when having the hose suck the stuff up. It might seem like a long time just having it slowly slurp it up and making sure the engine stays running (it might shudder and act like it's going to die a few times), but it only takes a few minutes. Once it's all done, shut it off for 15-20min then go for a balls out drive and drive the piss out of it. The thing could (and probably will, though not guaranteed) smoke like a mosquito fogger. Our Escape smokes big time for a few minutes, then it's fine.

I'll throw this in - the first time I did the Escape there was around 100K on the clock. I did it, drove it and noticed that it seemed smoother under load (WOT in passing gear) and seemed to rev easier. However I don't drive it every day so I really didn't have a good frame of reference. I had my wife take it for a spin and she noticed right away that it was much smoother and had noticeably more power. She was doing about 35MPH and floored it - the thing spun up so fast it squealed the serpentine belt! (which it had never ever done before) It was about a week later that I changed the belt LOL.

Also, for those who might be really bored there's a thread over on Stangnet about Seafoam that's gotta be 50 pages by now - it's been going on for years.

 

[MrClean]

Thanks!