pitrow, sbclemens and SPreston2001,
Thanks for the help and the info. I now understand. I am very familiar with the cloud of smoke that you all reference, I use Sea Foam in my motorcycle and outboard motors about twice a year when I work on them.
I may have my next weekend project with my wifes '97 Expedition.

Thanks again,
Ginzu

 

Hey guys I did the Sea Foam in my brake booster line. I used about 1/2 of the can and let it sit for about 20 min, only thing is that it only smoked for about 10sec and that was it wasnt even alot of smoke. I was going to do it again in a few weeks what do you think? O ya it seems like the idle is smoother now. I used the rest of in in my gas tank.
Thanks ~Gage~

 

If you didnt get alot of smoke, then that usually means you didnt have alot of carbon buildup in your engine. I know people use a full can for each application (brake booster, crankcase, and fuel tank) when they do a treatment and they usually get a huge white cloud of smoke. Nevertheless if you feel a smoother idle, then you know it did its job.

 

You should be glad there wasn't a lot of smoke. Less smoke means less build up, so less smoke is good. Yamaha sells a product for their 2 stroke engines called Ring Free, but it's very expensive so a lot of people use Sea Foam as a substitute. 2 strokes are prone to carbon build up because they burn oil with the gas. They build carbon on piston crowns and ring lands. 4 strokes do this too, but not to the extent that 2 stokes do because 4 strokes don't burn oil with their gas or at least they're not desiged to burn it. The problem with EGR is it leaves behind a nice thick coating of tar and soot on your entire intake over time. Seafoam is like a chiminey sweep in a can, but even Sea Foam can't get rid of all the trash that a properly functioning EGR system can leave behind. EGR is the product of the EPA run amuck, but it is a big money maker for Ford mechanics and dealerships.

 

Ok thats good news then =) I did use Sea Foam Trans Tune for my 1988 Cougar XR7 and that stuff works great, I just now tried the Reg. Sea Foam. So should I use it in my brake booster line twice a year?
Thanks for all your help guys.
~Gage~

 

I did my first Sea Foam treatment at about 130k and also did not experience the big cloud of smoke. Which was something I was looking forward to since I'm easily amused. Ellanboggs has brought up a good point. I've your engine isn't burning oil, there will be less carbon deposits than found on an engine that does burn oil. Another factor that weighs in is the quality of gas that you run. Where I live we have "special" blends that burn cleaner thus producing less carbon deposits. So if you live in an area that has all that special stuff added to the gas, then that also may explain the lack of the big cloud. I think once a year in the brake booster and half a can in the fuel tank every fourth fill up would be sufficient.

 

I have never used Sea Foam and don't recall ever seeing it in the parts store, so my question is where is this purchased or maybe I need to look harder

 

I buy mine from Farm & Fleet, but Auto Zone, Advance Auto has it too. It comes in a white/red steel can.
~Gage~

 

Yeah your local auto parts store probably has it, you just probably never noticed it.

 

Last seafoam treatment was at 100k miles, there was hardley any smoke. I have been doing this with all my vehicles for a while and this is the least amout of smoke that has come from any of them.

 

i know it's after the fact, but you can most certainly lock up the motor doing this. it has been done. i have evidence. i did not witness this happen, but apparently a tech went to add cleaner solution similar to seafoam into an engine. used the brake booster line, which sucked up the whole amount almost instantly, and the engine died with 30 seconds. the piston is on our wall of shame....though it it very clean!! thats why i stated, per a techs instruction, to use a smaller vacuum line. takes a litle longer time wise, but less chance of damage.

 

As the saying goes, "God protects fools and drunks." It doesn't say anything about stupidity.

 

I did the Sea Foam in the brake booster ( 01 Expy- wife's ) vacuum line yesterday and not much smoke while injecting into booster line but after sitting for 5 min and started smoked like had major oil injection, my guess is my wife babies her baby.

 

Yeah it doesnt smoke much while giving it the treatment, but after it sits for awhile or after you begin to drive, it will begin to smoke.

 

I did the seafoam on my 90 ford f150 with a 351 and it was a good smoking fun time.. I had neighbors coming out of the house to see what the heck I was doing. It cleaned it pretty good I guess because it idles nice and smooth and purrs like a kitten now. Was having some rough idling before and it cured it. I believe in it.