Finally I decided to use seafoam on my 97 auto GLE with 189700 k. The car wasn't maintained well by the previous owner.

I parked at the Autozone parking lot and used half can trough the brake booster line and the other half in the crank case trough the oil filler cap. Waited 15 min and started the car. First there was minimal white smoke from the exhaust for 5 min, but after I revved the engine it started smoking like crazy from everywhere, from exhaust tip, underneath the car and from the engine- I guess near the intake manifold passenger side(probably bad gasket).

It smoked so much that almost the whole parking lot was filled with white smoke and some autozone customers who were installing parts they just bought there were so frightened that they were ready to run away from the parking lot because it looked like the car is gonna explode . This seafoam treatment was really scary and I didn't expect so much smoke.

After 25-30 min it almost stopped smoking so I took it for a 5 miles drive.
It felt ok, some minor hesitations when idling in N. I felt better responce from the accelerator but nothing significant.

I will wait to see if it improves gas mileage.

 

your not really supposed to expect anything major from it. just maybe smoother idle thats about it and also the satisfaction in the back of your mind that you kinda got rid of a lil bit of carbon. thats about it lol.

 

um... i don't think you're supposed to pour it in the crank case... I wouldn't at least. Use auto-RX if you wanna clean that out.

 

i missed the crank case part. I agree with ^. Although it wont hurt, i recommend you change your oil asap! so w/e the seafoam cleans up u get rid of it soon.

 

I just seafoamed this past Sunday. We did 1/2 a can thru the BB line and 1/4 can in the gas tank. The darn thing smoked like hell, but after driving for 5 mins, it stopped. The feels "smotther" as far the acceleration goes, and idles better in P.

 

I didn't notice anything better after seafoam either, but it's good for finding exhaust leaks.

 

well, then you probably have to do ALOT more than that to fix or see any differnces. a seafoam is not going to fix all your problems, and something that was not maintained well seafoam may do nothing for until you fix things first.

 

heh, don't mean to scare you but the guy who i bought my 98 se auto from, never maintained it, i mean i seriously doubt it had an oil change in along time. The sludge buildup in the oil pan and valve covers was ridiculous. to make a long story short, the head gasket blew when we were about 1000 miles away from home, and were forced to drive it back. Full rebuild of the engine and its been great so far.

 

Finally I changed my oil today and it was black! Only the last half quart drained was brown color.
Since my previous oil change 5 months ago I drove 800 miles.

My car wasn't maintained well by the previous owner/s (I'm the 3rd owner) and it has 189k miles. I think he never changed oil in 5 years that he had the car - he said he was just adding some oil. So now it's my second oil change since June 2006 when I bought the car.

Also I used MAF cleaner to clean the MAF sensor, I don't feel any change in performance but I guess since it's cleaner now may be my mileage will improve.

 

whoa, dude...good thing you seafoamed. You might wanna do it again right b4 the next oil change.

 

I don't know about you but the oil was black on all the cars i've done oil changes on. Still doesn't prove anything.

 

u wont reallynotice any dramatic power increase. what u just did was eliminate some carbon build up internally. what u may notice is a better idle or accleration.......but nothing major

 

I am wondering is there anything we can add to crankcase just before oil change which *safely* removes extra carbon.

I have tried Auto-Rx on my perfectly fine Volvo and my car is now burning oil horribly (one qt per 500miles),

I am 3rd owner and I have same story, previous owners didn't maintained car, oil changes probably once a yr. After I drive for 15-20 miles and stop I can hear lot of knocking inside motor for good 10mins. Its like some loose crap inside motor is jumping up & down.

 

Well, Seafoam website claims that it's safe to add it to crankcase. If you search for other .org seafoam threads you will see a lot of people adding it to crankcase.
I wanted to try AutoRx but it would take me a long time to complete the procedure so I wanted something that will give results quickly like seafoam.
May be it's not as powerful as AutoRx but people tell that it works.

 

I'm thinkign of adding seafoam to my gas tank....what are the results that people have had with it....how much to add to a full tank?

 

I love that people think that doing a seafoam treatment is a magical way of fixing every problem with a car. It cleans some carbon buildup at best, some dispute that it actually does anything. It doesn't claim to fix anything, just clean. Your engine probably runs just the same, it just runs alot healthier now.

 

its like taking nyquil for ur cold. but we all know that nyquil wont make ur diarrhea go away. with that being said....seafoam will remove some carbon build up but it wouldnt clear up ur faulty ecu codes

 

After I seafomed through brake booster and crank case, I changed my oil and filter at Mobil1 station with Exxon 5w30 regular oil and a cheap filter.After that I noticed that there are black particles on the end of the dipstick every time I check the oil.
I take out the dipstick , wiping it and every time I insert it back and take out there are black particles on the tip.

Is this a bad thing ? Did anyone experienced that ?

 

Seafoam is Smoke and Mirrors. Literally. If you want smoother Idle, Clean out your TB. change your fuel filter. Use Mobil1 or German Castrol or dare i say Amsoil (the Pure Synthetic one). Make sure your knock sensor is good. As for the chucnks, get a used oil analysis. If those are loosened carbon or sludge deposits, that is good. well not really because a) the filter should be trapping those and b) because if they are on the stick they can get up in your engine. If those are metal pieces.................well i am sure you know how bad that it. i haven't used AutoRX but have heard good things about it. I personally dont believe in motor flushes as that short flushing time can cause even more damage since it thins oil etc. Use any one of those 3 oils i suggested and i guarantee you that you will feel a difference. Make sure you use a Mobil1 filter.

 

Not to mention, using motor flushes will often cause oil to start weeping, especially if conventional oils were first used. Conventional oils will wear on the seals of the engine but the combination of heat and viscosity breakdown seals up the gaskets where the oil has eaten away. If you switch to synth years later, EXPECT oil to start weeping out of your oil pan gasket, and your oil pressure switch. Mine did just that when I switched to XD1. The reason is that the oil have natural cleaners which clean away at the conventional oil damage to the gaskets. Because it also has great viscosity properties, it will weep through the damage areas where conventionals break down before they get a chance. And switching back to conventional will not stop the leaking.

I also switched to synths in my gearbox and guess what? The reverse switch started to weep gear oil around 6 months later AND my main gearbox gasket started to weep oil too. All because I went from conventional to synthetic. I was forced to change both becuase the previous owner was an idiot and knew nothing about cars.

I have to disagree - Seafoam is not smoke and mirrors. It's a cleaning additive that is kerosene based that is great on breaking down gasoline and oil residues that build up in our injectors, fuel pathways, and engines. I've used RedLine in both my cars AND Seafoam in my motorcycle, lawn mower, and through the brake booster on the Maxima. No problems, only smoother idles.

There is a good chance, however, that SF will cause your O2 sensors to throw false codes. But those go away after a week or two.

 

I changed my oil just a few weeks ago. I noticed the black particles on the dipstick a few days after the oil change. I think it looks like sludge deposits.

The filter should be trapping them but I suspect that the filter they put in is not good for a maxima, or not filtering properly. They put a cheap filter there, I don't even remember the brand because I never heard of it.

Do you think I have to replace that filter ?
If yes, can I replace the filter without replacing the oil ? I mean how hard is it to replace the filter when the oil is not drained ?

 

you can replace the filter without changing the oil and top up. if they are sludge, that is a good and bad thing. good because it was loosened, bad because it is obviously still floating around. dont use FRAM filters. WIX, Mobil1 and a couple of others. you may also want to try Auto-RX.

http://www.auto-rx.com/rms13/index-2.htm

if you use Auto-RX use regular oil for the cleaning/rinse phases. the go to syn after.

 

this sounds hiliarious !! lol ! tell me you got it all on video ?

 

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/seafoam/0.htm

 

No, unfortunately I didn't take my camera with me, but anyway I was busy in calming down the frightened autozone customers in the parking lot who were going to flee for their lives

 

My question is: Should the filter catch all the particles ? I don't know if the filter bad or not. I can go to the dealership and get a genuine filter , I guess it will cost less then $10, but I never changed the filter by myself and I don't know how fast the oil is gonna drain when I remove the filter.

 

yes the filter should catch the particles. you dont have to get a dealer filter. get a purolator. the walmart filters are good too. the supertech. how fast will it drain? not sure as i have not taken one off with oil still in. it is fairly high above the case so i dont think it will leak at all aside from what may still be in the filter itself, but dont quote me on that.

 

I will find out the genuine filter price, if the difference is a few $$ I will get it at the dealer instead of mobil1/purolator.

 

to the best of my knowledge the mobil1 is better. but also may cost more

as an aside, i wonder if anyone on here has ever used water to clean out carbon deposits in the combustion chamber as opposed to seafoam??

 

oil is supposed to be black when you change it. if its still brown and looks like it did when you put it in, then it isnt doing its job. oil is supposed to lubricate and clean