any opinions on this?


ive been dying to do this on my mercedes but i just got the engine rebuilt so i dont think ill need to do it.



on the other hand... the volvos got 240k miles worth of carbon and sludge and all that other crap in the engine.



has anyone else done this? if so how were the results? any issues?

 

do what exactly - put Seafoam in the tank? or something a bit more dangerous?

 

i mean like putting it in the oil, gas, and sucking it in through the pcv hose.

 

not sure what kind of improvement you're looking for. as far as I'm concerned, Seafoam (and the others), are reasonable periodic preventative measures - but I wouldn't expect a dramatic improvement if you're FIs are dirty, etc.

 

yeah well the thing is its never been cleaned out. we bought the car when it had 28k miles on, and now its got 240k so id imagine theres a crap load of gunk and carbon in it.


the one thing i hope it would fix is the weak start. in the mornings or when the engine is cold the car takes at least 10 seconds to turn over and then it misses like crazy and dies again. im thinking its sticky injectors.


the main thing im looking for is if anyone has ever had problems while using seafoam. i dont wanna compromise my moms car and cause problems. (if i break her car she gets to take my mercedes away )

 

I use Seafoam periodically in my '93 Volvo 245, just as a matter of preventing accumulation of FI deposits. But I can't say that I've ever seen noticeable improvement after running a can through the tank. I have, on the other hand, seen improvement after running Chevron Techron through - although it seems a little more difficult to get these days in the full-strength version.

I just finished putting my '98 Volvo S90 back together. I took the injectors off the car and ran them through an off-car cleaner that I threw together. They had good flow rate and pattern at the beginning of the cleaning - so (at least from my experience) 172K miles had done little to crud them up - and I don't think this car has ever seen a can of Seafoam/Techron!

There was quite a bit of carbon buildup in the combustion chamber. I'm skeptical as to whether Seafoam or Techron could do much about that. Nothing like hard driving to blow that stuff out.

Not a bad idea - but again, from my experience Seafoam hasn't provided any dramatic improvements for me.

 

its funny you mention techron because i was actually going to run a bottle of it through my mercedes tomorrow.



alright i might do the same for the volvo. i was interested in doing seafoam to the mercedes but i heard that on the 190E its a reallly pita because it saturates the idle control valve and causes it to jam. so you need to take it off and clean it real good. sounds like a headache to me. plus ive heard from a few people it made their car run worse


i think ill buy the techron and put it through both cars and see how it does.

 

Seafoam is an old product, designed originally for marine use where gas would sit in the tank and "varnish" up carbs, etc. The Harley Davidson boys use it regularly. Part in the fuel tank, part in the oil tank, and part sucked into the intake. Creates a lot of smoke, so it looks like its working.

Techron has been my personal "juice" for years. The full strength version. In 100's of thousands of miles on a variety of cars I've never had a fuel injector problem. So I stick with what I know. Just make sure you put it in a partly empty tank then fill the tank so it mixes really well. Not the cheapest around, but I'm a satisfied customer.

 

yeah i actually was pretty satisfied with techron when i used it on my mercedes. i put it in a half tank though and i forgot to mix it up.


so when cold the engine would stall on me quite often


seemed to actually make the engine a bit peppier though

 

hmmm....my 92 volvo 240 is doing the EXACT same thing.
didn't even think about the seafoam.
if it really works for your car and see improvements, let me know. =D
oh and tell me if you used seafoam or the chevron stuff.

 

I used AmsOil's PowerFoam and PI (Performance Improver) in both my SUV, S90 and my GoldWing. No carbon build up at all in any of these vehicles. In fact, with 106,000 on my '06 Sequoia, I have not had to change the plugs at all and my gas mileage and performance has remained constant over the years. I've used AmsOil products since the late 70's and use nothing else.

 

Replacing plugs is probably cheaper than those Amsoil products, and definitely a better way. Not sure why you wouldn't change plugs.

 

If the plugs are clean and perform why change them? Using a bottle of PI every 3,000 miles is much cheaper and ensures a clean engine. Now, I'm using it in my NTM '97 S90.