g_murray

Well it was a WINDY day, here in the North-East, yesterday. So, after work, and in the dark, I figured I'd do the Seafoam Fandango.

Tools: One can of Seafoam, one plastic straw.

After letting her come up to op. temps, I took off the stubby black rubber 'bung' - by the intake manifold pipes (top of the engine) -- then slipped the plastic straw over the connector. LOTS of 'vaccuum' here folks.

Then I put the other end of the straw into the can of Seafoam and let the engine 'sip' the contents over time.

Friggin' Christimas! ...the amount of SMOKE was unbelievable !!! And I ain't kidding! Thankfully, because of the wind, most of it was 'dissipated' quickly but it was literally as thick as the stuff that spewed out the back of James Bond's Aston Martin ! I couldn't even see my own driveway mere feet away.

I, as expected, got a CEL (misfire on cyl. 4) - which I 'cleared' using my code scanner (yeah, I know, the readiness monitors will need to be reset -- no biggie - next insp. isn't until July 06).

I also then drove the car around the block a few times with all the windows plus sun/moon-roof open - so as to get rid of any 'smoke smell' that might've crept into the cabin during this adventure.

NOW - putting my hand to the exhaust pipes AFTER the Seafoam Fandango - I can actually 'feel' the 'beat'/'pulse' of the engine-firing -- rather than before -- where I would just feel a 'wind' of (lethargic?) exhaust fumes coming from the (driver's side) pipe. (Not sure if this is significant -- but I thought I'd 'report' it nonetheless.)

Does the car feel/drive differently? Well, in that short drive 'round the block -- not that I noticed - but I'm sure the 'insides' 'look' a lot better now.

Gerry

kkim

Gerry,

Let us know if you feel a difference later after a long run. I've used Seafoam on my other cars, but frankly have been afraid to try it on the pcar for fear of doing some damage to some very expensive parts. Glad to hear my worries were for naught. However, I would like to know if it does make some sort of difference.

Smoke is amazing with this stuff, yeah?

GabiOsz

To which rubber "bung" are you refering?

Mike J

He might be talking about the vacuum hose on the top back (i.e. back of the car) of the engine on the top of the varioram manifold?

Does having all the carbon crap going through the exhaust system cause a lot of loading on the CAT and O2 sensors? That is the only stuff that I can think of that might be damaged by such as process.

I have been getting a wierd idle miss and poor leakdown results. It could be carbonization as well as worn valve guides. My oil consumption is higher but not over the limit (not sure what it is right now since I did not track it and the car has been off the road getting the top fixed for months now..).

Anyways if I know that the CATs and O2 Sensors can take it I should try this before I take the engine apart...

More details would be great!

Cheers,

Mike

kkim

Mike,

From my experience w/ this product on non pcars, the results in 3 out of 3 cars were smoother running engines that were more willing to rev after treatment. Whether the results were from actual cleaning out of engine deposits or this stuff cleaning off the cat screens by burning stuff off(hence the large amount of smoke) is unknown, but it did make a difference. Ventil Sauber is a similar product that has been used in Euro cars for years with great success. my $.02

Arrwin

Great! Please let us know how it goes and if it eliminates the CEL, then you can help me with it if/when my time comes.

Good luck!!

Mike J

I doubt if it will eliminate the SAI CEL since the openings are on the exhaust side of the valves. However this might help with the carbonization of the top of the pistons and the combustion chamberin general. For those of us whose cars are city driven there is a real tendency for these cars to carbon up inside...its hard to wind these cars out on city streets since I would not be able to get out of 2nd gear.

Cheers,

Mike

g_murray

Hiya,
See the 'black arrow' on the pic.
With a little twist this 'stubby' rubber plug/bung will come right off and you'll hear a 'whooshing' sound as the outside air is now being drawn into the manifold.
Use the 'drawing of outside air INTO the engine' to draw the Seafoam or Berryman's B12 INTO the engine !
Note! I ain't kiddin' about the smoke. Do this in such a way that the exhaust fumes will blow DOWNWIND otherwise the inside of yer car is gonna stink!
As requested by the other guyz -- I'll "report" if I notice any improvements.
Latah,
G.

g_murray

Hi Aarwin,
It's EZPZ -- believe me. The 'hard' part is introducing the liquid in a 'controlled' fashion into the manifold. For that the *plastic flexible straw* is invaluable. The BEST straws are the ones that they give you for a milkshake -- coz they're STRONG -- and have an 'accordion-like' bit 3/4 along the shaft.
Seafoam, for some odd reason, can be hard to come by. A good alternative is Berryman's B12.
The important thing in this little operation is to let the engine SIP the fluid -- so that you don't get hydro-lock.
...and did I mention the smoke?!
As our compadres surmise -- this will do bubkis for the SAI CEL -- but should do wonders for carbon on the pistons and to clear deposits on the 'intake' side (not combustion side, per se) of the intake valves.
When I attached my code scanner I did NOT see any 'pending' codes -- just the one 'active' code for the misfire on cyl. #4 -- which stands to reason coz - believe me - the engine DOES 'stutter' as it 'sips'.
Latah,

G.
P.S. Have no problem doing this with/for you - if/when you want to - it's literally a 15-25 min. job. Just PM me with your home addy (incl. zip. so that I can add it as a waypoint into my Garmin296 gps) so that I can saunter over to Forest Hills.

JasonAndreas

When I ran seafoam (exhaust system removed) last summer/spring my car looked like a Jordan F1 after a few laps. It was awesome, along the entire 300' driveway there was nothing but smoke. Anyway, as soon as I get my transmission back I will put the engine back in and drop the heat exchangers to take pictures of the exhaust valves and the top of the pistons. The last time I took a look was Octobober (2004) and they were a little "dirty" even though I had been running Techron religiously.

Chaos

What are you on about Seafoam ?

GabiOsz

Ah ha, pre varioram cars won't have such a plug, wondered why I hadn't seen one.

Good write-up thanks for the info.

g_murray

Hi y'all,

Took her out on Sat. and did 100+ miles -- then took her out on Sunday and did 210+ miles.
Ran like a dream. (Avg. speed, (which includes 'residential driving') according to my Garmin296 GPS was 59 mph with a top speed of 89 mph -- which, I know, was on I-84 -- west of Danbury, CT -- heading towards the Hamilton Fish Newburgh Beacon Bridge!).
Northbound on I-684, I spotted a red 911 Cabriolet (CT plates) -- so I sped up and then 'drove side by side' with the guy for about 4 seconds -- but he didn't look over and smile/wave :-( -- but decided, instead, to 'sweep' into the inside/exit lane then accelerate then sweep back into the middle lane and speed off.
My wife looked at me and remarked -- "That's NOT the way "you guys" normally behave!"
(I had no answer for her).

Latah,
G.

kkim

G-

So, are you saying the car runs better now than before the seafoam treatment?

g_murray

Truth be told -- my car had already been running 100% -- prior to my Seafoam Fandango.

To put it another way -- I did not notice anything 'detrimental or bad' in the running of the engine/car this past weekend (as said 300+ miles over Sat./Sun.) post Seafoam Fandango.

Conclusion: Since I purchased it (some 3,000 miles ago) I've normally been running a can of Berryman's B12/Seafoam _in the gas tank at every fillup_ ---- so I can reasonably assume that this has kept any 'bad' buildup of carbon to a minimum. I can assume, then, that the seafoam fandango either didn't do squat (coz there was no REAL buildup of carbon to begin with) OR it did find (and eliminate) 'some' -- but not as much in comparison, say, to a car that has NOT been treated (regularly) to such decarbonizers.

Net result - probaly the seafoam did do its job -- but that there was not much of a job for it to do in any event! AND nothing 'bad' was done to the engine to boot.

Having had other cars which I've also treated to the Marvel Mystery Oil / Berryman's B12 / Seafoam / Techron fandango ---- and they all ran 'fine' (and some still are!) -- I've nothing bad to say against these products but have to admit to having 'zero problems' -- and, actually, mostly positive experiences -- inasfar as idling/emissions/gas mileage etc. etc. as a result of their use.

Do I plan on continuing using Seafoam/Berryman's B12 in my 993 and my other car? -- heck yes --- Do I recommenend these products? -- (based on my experience(s)) heck yes.

G.