[deuce228]

I have been on a few boards and several people have done seafoam treatments and said how great it was after. I want to hear if there are any horror stories.

Has anyone ran into problems after doing a seafoam treatment on an engine?

I have the wagon with a 5.7L and I am considering doing a seafoam treatment after the mechanic does the rear main seal. My biggest concern is doing more harm than good on this high mileage engine. The car sat for a while and I believe the rear seal dried up, thus my beautiful leak that needs fixed, so I am sure other things have dried up in there also.

 

[77Impala]

I have used it and no problems.

However before you decide to clean the inside of the motor please check in the oil fill port and see what is inside there. If you see metal and no small black crud in there then do not waste your time with any engine cleaner.

If you see black crud then yes you may want to run some cleaner.

Almost all engines since the early 90's will not form crud until they are worn out unless they did not have regular oil changes.

 

[deuce228]

The lifters have a good amount of black on them

 

[77Impala]

Then your right about running the engine cleaner.

 

[Erik]

I don't think I've ever heard of anybody running into problems using Seafoam. That doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I used it a long time ago. No problems at all, but I also didn't notice any difference in how the car acted. Things were reasonably clean to begin with.

 

[Heavy_SS]

I don’t know if its problem or not, so I don’t think I qualify.
I had a Subaru that was a work car that I had put 100k on in 4 years and I used Seafoam in the intake manifold. I did as the directions told me. Run the whole can through a PVC valve behind the throttle body while the car is running. Pour a small amount in a time so the engine doesn’t kill. There may be some smoke coming out of the tail pipe, this is normal. The more smoke, the dirtier your intake. Well I had a fair amount of crud come out the tailpipe. I let the car run for another 15 minutes to clear the smoke, again as directed. When the smoke disappeared I revved up the engine to see if anything else comes out, it didn’t. I put it back in the garage.

My first mistake was this was a Sunday evening. I got in the car Monday morning and didn’t see any exhaust smoke coming out of the tail pipe. So all was good. Now had I let the f-ing car warm up like normal things would be different.
I was running late for work. I pulled out of my town home complex when it happened. The motor must of reached a certain temp and then that’s when the Yard Fogger turned on. I was laying more smoke out my tailpipe than you would see at a drag strip on top fuel weekend.

I knew I was going to get a ticket if a cop was in the vicinity. Shit you could see that for miles. I had people slamming on the brakes behind me, horns blowing faster than Elliott Spitster's whore. I was ready to get on the interstate hoping it would fade soon, not a chance. Thick cloudy smoke screen advertising “dumbass in the white Subaru.”

I turned around to go home and it finally subsided as I turned into my driveway. I didn’t notice any performance or mileage change or any benefit at all after all is said and done. Aside from it being very James Bondish to the fellow in the lifted Ford Ranger behind me. Gigiddy!!

 

[Erik]

LOL I think it's part of the process that you're supposed to run it for a bit because it always smoke like that. That was part of the fun when I did it.

 

[deuce228]

I think I'd fix that seal and leave it alone.

Why mess with it, if all you're might gain is more problems....

See thats what the other half of my mind is saying.

I might just see how it is after i get the seal fixed and the tune up done.