Been putting some mileage on lately and I've noticed a 2-3mpg drop. 04 Lariat with 15k on it.. So I figured I'd try a Seafoam dose. I ran the truck down on fuel till the fuel computer said 50 miles to E. Dumped in 3 pints of Seafoam and drove the hell out of it for 30 miles.. Just got back from a 365 mile trip and she took 18.1 gals.. The mileage came right back to normal from 16.8 back to 19.3mpg...

Seafoam can be found at NAPA's and Advanced Auto. It's an upper cylinder cleaner that will remove any carbon build up. I've been using it to decarbon outboards for 10 years. There's nothing better..

 

Anyone have any updates on this?? Or use any other products?? I notcied a reduction in fuel mileage myself. I also have the clunking in the rear end and some people say this can contribute to a decrease in fuel mileage.

 

My mileage is still good and the truck's running better than it did when it was new.. Friend of my brother's has an 04' Screw. He was down to 12-14 on the highway. Seafoam cleaned his and he's back up to 17-18...

If your rear was dragging you'd feel it when you roll to a stop.

 

i had the same clunk on my 04 150 and the bearings in the rear dif were all shot.

 

So how often are you supposed to use this stuff ??

 

I have an 05 and I was getting 19, now I am down to 15-16. I have 7500 miles - I figure it's MN winter that's bringing it down, but maybe I should try it. I don't drive it very hard.

 

Does anyone have a K & N filter system installed on a 5.4? I heard that some people lost miles and power except on the top end. It wasn't a Ford V8, but I didn't want to spend the money unless it will be good all around.

 

Like I said my mileage started to drop at about 14k, so did my brother's buddy's truck. Basically running a heavy mix of Seafoam is very close to what dealer does when they do the fuel injector cleaning thing. They run their juice through your injectors along with some fuel for 20-30 minutes then they let it run with just the cleaner juice. It burns all the carbon out of the injector tips, piston tops, head chambers and any carbon under the rings. Seafoam does the same thing, but you've got to run the tank down. When the low fuel light comes on you've got about 5 gals left in the tank. I used a 1 1/2 qts.(3 cans) Seafoam also makes the same stuff in a spray can called Deep Creep. If you want to can spray it directly down the air intake.. The point is to load the engine and leave it sit for 10-15 minutes. This gives it time to soak into the carbon and let it burn off when the engine is restarted. I did it that way with an 88' Bronco I bought with 100k on it. I sprayed it down the air intake. You'll have to hold the throttle open some so it doesn't stall while you are spraying. After I had 3/4's of can in I let it load up and stall by releasing the throttle and spraying harder. When I restarted it after 15 minutes there was so much smoke the neighbors were hanging out their door looking for a fire.. I did that three times till I wasn't getting smoke when I restarted. Before I did the truck was burning a qt of oil every 1500 miles. After oil burn went to about 1/2 qt every 3000 miles. The rough idle was gone and the truck had lots more power. http://www.seafoamsales.com/products.htm

That K&N air filter crap is just that. Do you really think Ford/GM/Dodge would leave fuel mileage on the table over an air filter? If K&N's were that good all the auto manuf's would be using them. If Ford was buying 2 million of them a year from K&N they would cost Ford less than 10 bucks each. They all spend millions on getting tenths of MPG to keep the EPA happy. Don't you think they'd spend another 10 bucks(or 50) to get what K&N claims they get??

 

You never know what the big three are up to. Fuel + Air = power, so if the mighty V8 can get more air, eaiser, you'd thnk it would give you more power with less work.

I'll have to try that Seafoam. Thanks for the details!!

 

Seafoam is great stuff. I use it on all my machines. 3 pints to ~2 - 3 gal of gas sounds like a pretty intense mixture. Even I, a big fan of Seafoam, would question if that is the best thing for the engine. Any machanics out there with an opinion?

 

Instead of just replacing the stock air filter, replace the whole thing. I saw a dramatic improvement in mileage and performance with the K&N Aircharger off road air intake. Takes about 2 hrs to install if you're working with two left hands like me. My intown went up almost two mpg. Highway at 65 mph lands around 21.3. I do expect these numbers to improve as the miles add up. (only 2150 miles to date.) Pics in gallery at
06/F150/4x2/My 1st Ford

 

See - now thats good - how is the power? Notice those changes if any? Knowing your hands are like mine, it's good to know that I could battle my way through the install.

 

Noticed a good performance increase Buda. More so from the aircharger than the exhaust refit. Although I did see some increase after getting rid of the stock muffler. What a monster that was.

 

Thanks - I hope I have the same luck