What are the benefits, or lack there of?

 

There are numerous people who have run Ford mod motors up over a million miles without using additives. The benefit of Seafoam is that the company making the stuff and the auto parts store make money from you.

Seafoam is roughly 4 parts diesel fuel, 2 parts naphtha (lighter fluid), and 1 part isopropyl alcohol. There might be some cleaning benefit if your engine is unusually gunky, but if you use good detergent gasoline and change your oil with regularity, nothing should be that badly gummed up.

George

 

Absolutely, I have on all my vehicles. I do it about once a year, one can per vehicle. 1/3 in the gas tank, 1/3 in the oil before doing an oil change, 1/3 in the brake booster vacuum line. It will clean build up out of your engine and help keep it running clean.I have actually rebuilt an engine twice, first time it has 200k on it, never sea foamed it, the valves and rings were dirty as could be. The next was at 300k and I had seafoamed it 4 times since. Absolutely clean. It wasn't for a mechanical break down why we rebuilt it the second time, but to put forged low compression pistons in for a turbo.
I also ran 3 full cans through a neglected 280Z. It smoked like a mother, but once all that stuff was burnt out of it, it ran like a champ.

 

Personally, I like it. One of the few additives I trust. I used it for years in my boat before they started advertising it for use in vehicles. The only bad experience with it I've had is using it in old metal fuel tanks. It worked too good, breaking loose stuff better left alone, clogging the fuel system and uncovering pinhole leaks in the tank.
Since I started using it my modern vehicles, I no longer get the emission trouble codes that seem to plague most "modern" vehicles.

 

Do you use seafoam only in the gas tank, or do you suck it through the brake booster?

 

There is no reason to use it once a year, besides bragging rights.
If your engine is getting that dirty in a year, you need to quit driving. Because it's you and not the engine causing the issues.

 

To each his own I guess. I add it to my fuel tank for the whole fuel system and prefer Marvel Mystery oil in the crankcase for cleaning sludge buildup. When I want a down and dirty cleaning of carbon in the cylinders, I drizzle water directly into carb keeping it running. In effect it steam cleans, them working as well as any additive.

 

I use detergent gasoline (Top Tier brands) and high quality oil and don't need additives. In 1970 when I was driving junk cars I bought all kinds of "miracle" additives. I'm sure that the snake oil companies did great by me. I will admit to adding some Techron to our cars maybe once a year if I think I got a funny tank of gas.

So with Marvel you're adding mineral spirits, fragrance, red food coloring, lard(!), and light oil to your crankcase, and with Seafoam you're adding lighter fluid, diesel fuel, and alcohol to your gas. A guy on the van forum has a number of vans at 1.3 million miles with no additives. I guess you think your vehicles will go farther than that; report back when you're over 1.5 million. Ours in Michigan rust away first.

Marvel was great for WWII bombers with radial engines and no detergent in the oil except for one that crashed because the Marvel in the fuel cut the octane to the point of detonation. At this point, I think oils have evolved a bit....

George

 

i use seafoam in vehicles that sit, and only in the gas tank after they go back on the road. . never anything in the oil system except for good quality valvoline all fleet 15-40 oil.

 

I only use it in the gas tank. It is real good for keeping gas good for a longer time that Sta-Bil in my opinion. I see mileage improvements, though small, half to a mile per gallon with Seafoam.
But, I drive old junk also. Even running good gas I have got watered gas in those stations before.
TOP TIER GAS what a joke. I have watched the same trucks drop gas in TOP TIER & NON TOP TIER stations back to back. Most gas deliveries these days are from generic labeled trucks. So don't fool yourself into thinking your getting anything better because it says TOP TIER.

 

agreed. all the station tankers fill up at the same fuel rack at the tank farms. the only difference in the gas is what you pay for it, and the little packet of additives they drop into the tank before filling at the rack.

 

Top Tier is a requirement that all grades of gas (regular, mid, and premium) sold at that station contain a certain amount of detergents that is far in excess of the legal minimum. The gasoline comes out of the same refinery and the same truck, but the additive package (detergents) will differ between Top Tier and non TT brands.

Many brands put a really good additive pack into their premium gas (and they used to advertise this--like Amoco "Ultimate"--to try and sell it to people who did not need the octane).

There is only a tiny bit of additive in Seafoam as well. I have no idea how much it costs but you can believe it's got a heck of a markup based on the raw materials there.

I use StaBil in my lawnmower gas and in my garage queen BMW when they sit for long periods of time; the alcohol in gas is definitely a bad thing when it sits for long periods of time.

George

 

I agree completely, But do those packages really make that big of difference? All my junk gets the best gas mileage our of 85 octane Union 76 sold at Golden Gate truck stops. I run mostly 87 octane 76 gas because it is the most common & cheapest here in Nevada & Arizona. But the 85 octane which I only find at that truck stop gives me the best mileage. maybe a 1/2 mile per gallon.

 

A number of automakers established the Top Tier standards and it is a legit standard. Costco (which is Top Tier in Michigan anyway) says that their regular gas has 5 times the minimum legal required amount of detergent so it sure seems to me that there would be a difference. If you are getting gas without alcohol at that truck stop that would definitely be a reason for better mileage.

I dunno if Union 76 is a Top Tier brand but if it has no ethanol, that would make a difference.

We're kind of off the Seafoam topic, but as I said, if you use gasoline that has a good additive pack, you should not need the extra cleaning additives. (A clear exception is long term storage of gasoline, especially with ethanol in it--I use StaBil when I store it.) In old carbureted engines, I used to use a can of Gumout when I bought a gunked up car--but I believe that back then, gasoline was dirtier, fuel mixtures were approximate, gas could evaporate from float bowls and make varnish, etc.

George

 

I see some Union 76 advertise Top Tier & others not. In fact most don't advertise Top Tier, the truck stop doesn't so I wonder about most of this as an advantage or not. It is kind of like the discussion of oils, confusing to me at best. Yet I have driven for 50 years & never blew or ruined an engine or gear box or rear end because of brand etc. Only from lack of any brand of oil. LOL
Does Seafoam really make that much of a difference is again a personal idea. It seems to make a small difference. But maybe it is all in my pee brain head.