I ran across a can of Seafoam at our local Rural King and am wondering if it is something that would be a good additive to protect the gas. My 54 F-100 had to be stored in a friends garage for about a year while our house was being built. At the beginning of the storage period, I put "Sta-Bil" in the gas but when I finally got the engine started it ran very poorly. It has a 223 six with the Holley 1904 carburetor. I had rebuilt the carburetor about a year prior to the storage period but since it ran so rough when I went to bring it to the new garage I decided to rebuilt it again for the second time, drain all the gas from the tank and replace both fuel filters. Now, I am ready to put new gas in and get it started once again. There are several gas stations in the area that sell Non-Ethanol gas so I am also wondering if I should use that instead of regular gas? I think my poorly running engine was due to year old regular gas gumming up the carburetor while sitting in storage, even with the Sta-Bil in the tank. Any opinions on the Seafoam and Non-Ethanol gas?

 

I'd go ahead and throw in the can of Seafoam and I'd use the ethanol gas too with Techron as yet another solvent. You might have to change your filter(s) afterwords if there a lot of rust in your system.

 

Never had a problem with year old fuel, so long as it's non-ethanol at least. But, it's always been garaged, and the tank kept mostly topped off. Wide temperature extremes, in direct sunlight say, and then cool nights outside will tend to draw heavy condensation in an old-school vented tank that isn't kept nearly full. Fuel stabilizers have to be used right away, ideally at the time of fill up in order to be most effective. Don't try to treat fuel that's already been in the tank 6 months for example.

SeaFoam isn't sold specifically as a fuel stabilizer? I would use a product that is sold for the purpose. StaBil seems to work and is widely available, I have used a product called PRI-G that seems to work well but doesn't seem very widely sold. Also consider that the fuel stabilizer itself also has a shelf life. Sta-Bil goes bad or won't be as effective if it's old, the manufacturer says 1 year.

 

I'll mention my recent experience with Seafoam FWIW. I have a 16 HP Honda V twin powered generator that I bought new. The unit has been well taken care of and has very low actual hours usage. The hours are mostly exercise hours with light loading. The fuel has always had Stabil. I would replace the fuel when it got a bit older and burn it in a mower.
A year or so ago the generator would start easy, ran a short time and started randomly backfiring and afterfiring. My first thoughts were fuel system so I pulled the carburetor and found it to be clean with no fuel deposits, gum or corrosion. The internal surfaces of the carb had a yellow tint, much like cadmium coating. These internal surfaces did not feel squeaky clean like a fuel system part normally feels.
I began to suspect valves and poured some Seafoam into the oil and dribbled some through the carb intake while running the engine. After a few minutes, the engine smoothed out and has run fine through several heat cool cycles. I attribute the Seafoam solvent with freeing the valves.
Many small engine mechanics swear by Seafoam.
BTW, we need to GTG FTF. We can't be that far apart. PM sent

 

I have used Sta-bil and Seafoam for years. Recently I needed a fuel treatment for my yard equipment and happened to be in Lowes at the time. They did not have either Sta-bil or Seafoam in stock on the shelf but they did have this stuff. Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment Gas and Diesel Additive As it was less than $10 a bottle I grabbed one and headed home. I have to say that I was very impressed. First start of the season on the weed eater, hedge trimmer, blower etc has never been easy. Well with this stuff mixed in the tank every piece of usually stubborn yard equipment fired up with only 2 or 3 pulls. One week later my neighbor was struggling with starting his power washer. He had already removed the float bowl and blown out the main jet etc all to no avail. We put a few drops of this in the float bowl and an ounce in the tank and 2 or 3 pulls later it fired right up. I have never seen it advertised and really just by luck bought it but I am a very happy customer. Give it a try.

 

Sea foam is great stuff

 

I will add an enthusiastic second to F1 Mike's endorsement of Star Tron Enzyme fuel treatment...this stuff is as close to magic as anything I have seen. I have a 2002 Chevy 2500HD that had been shuttering at idle for months. I used Bardahl and Lucus fuel treatments to little avail. When I saw this Star Tron spotlighted on the "TruckU" TV program I thought that I would give it a try. I put a couple ounces in the tank and drove about ten miles to my buddy's place, by the time I got there the engine was idling smooth as could be. Made me an instant believer! The real beauty of this fuel treatment is that it counteracts the negative effects of Methanol in all our gasoline these days. I run it in all my vehicles now, cheap insurance and better performance.

 

Over on the corvette forum people swear by seafoam and techron, I've use both in my tank. They say the longer you can let the techron sit before running the better, in our vettes we have on going fuel gauge problems and this resolves the issue. Now there are other uses for seafoam too, you can use it in your crankcase through a vacuum hose and it will clean up oil gunk and deposits. A lot of white smoke,but that means its cleaning. Good luck,L8R ZFLASH

 

I used a can of it to store a 14 gallon container for a year or so. It seemed to work fine, but it's tough to know if the fuel would have been OK anyway? As I recall it was pretty spendy way of fuel stabilizing. Maybe 7 or 8 bucks on top of the fuel itself. Sta-Bil and the others are quite a bit less.

 

I've never been a believer in the "Snake Oil" type miracle additives but... A few years ago I needed my generator due to a power outage and it wouldn't start due to fuel gum up. I had not added anything to the fuel. So I changed the gas and cleaned the carb and got it going. When I put it away I made sure to add Stabil to the gas. A year or so later I decided to run the generator to make sure it was ok. I went to pull on the starter real easy just to make sure it was free. Not expecting it to start but on the first easy pull it started and ran fine. That made me a believer in Stabil.
In 2004 I bought a new pontoon boat. I wanted a basic 2 stroke motor but the salesman talked me into a 4 stroke EFI Mercury engine for about $1600. more. He said I would like it- no smell, easy starting,etc... And I did... Until it was about 6 years old when it quit.. Out of warrantee. After taking it out of the lake and to the dealer. I was told it was a ethanol problem and no fault of the manufacturer!! So after a $600 fuel pump replacement I was told to use premium unleaded fuel and Seafoam which I have since.
Now the ethanol free gas is available though it is much more pricey- about $4.29 as regular is about $1.79. I am going to use it even at that cost in my pontoon this year along with Seafoam.
Just this year I got my old 1998 Polaris snowmobile out and it would bog down and wouldn't accelerate properly. My snowmobile buddies said I would need to take apart the carbs and clean them. So, I tried putting in a bunch of Seafoam and taking it for a ride... It Worked!! it's run great all the rest of the year. So I am a believer in Stabil and Seafoam.

 

I have never been a real fan of any fix all in a can, But consistently have used Stabil and non ethanol fuels only, in my lawn equipment and boat motor. On rare occasion when things don't seem right ill throw in a bit of Chevron Techron.
Techron seems to have much more cleaning abilities over SeaFoam, IMO.
2 weeks ago I pulled my Mustang (The vehicle in my avatar ) out of storage after 6 years, Drained the fuel system, new battery, fuel filter - mechanical fuel pump and an oil change and it was up and running. flushed the brake fluid and cooling system and took it for a drive. The Fuel gauge is stuck at 1/2 tank so I threw in a bottle of Techron but so far no luck. Maybe ill try Seafoam before pulling out the sending unit.

 

Ive used seafoam a bunch of times. I had a 1988 bronco with the 302 and it was running horrible. I figured it needed plugs wires cap and rotor since they were all original. Those didnt help so i read up on the sea foam cleaning where you dump it into the air stream with the engine running to soak everything with the stuff. After half the can is in there you quickly dump the rest untill the engine stalls and let it sit for 15 min or so to dissolve all the garbage. When i started the truck again, in a huge HUGE cloud of white smoke, i drove up the road and the truck ran like new. Well as good as new as a 1988 bronco will run, no missing no stumbling.

For fuel cleaning im a big believer in marvel mystery oil. But just like sea foam its not a stabalizer, just a cleaner. I use it since its only $3 a bottle and treats something like 100 gal of fuel. The seafoam i think does a better job but is $8 a can for 17 gal of fuel.

 

Sea Foam is a fuel stabilizer and was designed as one when it was first made. It still list fuel stabilizer on its cans.

Here is something from their web page telling why it was made as a fuel stabilizer for outboard motors originally.

"Genesis

Sea Foam was initially developed for the outboard motor and marine market back in the 1930s. The inventor, Fred Fandrei, owned an outboard motor and it seemed as though every time he went fishing he would have engine trouble. The problems always stemmed from the gas and oil mixture, which became gummy and formed varnish between uses.

The thought of spending more time fishing than working on the motor prompted Fred, who was a District Manager for the Sinclair Refining Company at that time and had a good knowledge of fuel, to invent a product that would stop the gas/oil mixture from becoming stale. He worked with quite a few formulas before he finally found one that gave him the right results. His first test market was at Lake Freeman, in Indiana, near where he lived. When he went fishing, he would take along his formula in beer bottles and quart jars to sell to other fishermen."

 

Thanks for the info. Great story, too.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Good stories and experiences. I have also had problems in the past with small engines like snow mobiles, generators, outboards, weed-wackers, lawn mowers and now my truck starting. It sounds like Sea Foam works pretty good to keep these engines running on the gas we have available. I will try the non-ethanol gas and the Sea Foam. I just went to the Sea Foam website. Good information there also.