seafoamed an 07 Escalade

[07marmalade]

Last night I bought a can of seafoam from autozone. I've done it to many of my previous cars before (around 5) but I thought when I did it to the escalade w/ 71.5k miles, it was a bit wierd.

I Unplugged the brake booster line and started her up. Like usual, it seems like its going to stall. I pour maybe 200mL into a cup for the booster to suck it up. I have my friend on the throttle. It sucks it up and the motor revs by itself (i thought it was my buddy but the whole time his foot was off the throttle). Halfway in the starts to knock, not the regular tick tick tick knock but a very loud explosion knock. Sounding like I was doing some damage. The engine was shaking bad in the mounts. I tell my friend to quickly shut her down to prevent any damage. The engine was still running for 3-5 seconds after he pulled the key out (wierd). A good amount of smoke is already out of the tail pipe. Wait for 15 minutes.

Start it up, not much smoke, not much more than a cold winter day. Drive around with some high revs. No codes. An hour later, my friend and I think that we didn't put enough since it's a 6.2L. Same process except this time it maybe sucked 50mL before it stalled. There was also a "service traction control" and also "service stabiltrak" error on the dash screen. Wait 15 min, start it up, no smoke. Drove around with really abrupt shifts.

I disconnected the battery for a few hours and seemed to wipe the service messages. I'm about to change the plugs now.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[arls544]

Using Sea Foam through a vacuum line is easy and safe if you remember one thing. Liquids don’t compress and can cause an engine to hydro lock if too much liquid is applied. Always regulate the rate at which Sea Foam goes into the engine. Never insert the vacuum line into the bottle of Sea Foam, always pour Sea Foam slowly into the vacuum line.

lifted that right from the "seafoam" web-site... I know you said you were pouring the solution in to a cup, were you using the line to lift (suction) the solution from the cup or where you pouring it in to the line?

http://www.seafoamsales.com/gasoline-engine-faqs.html

Also, from what I've read about using vacuum lines for intake, i would be careful to make sure I had a line that distributes evenly across all 8.

I've never actually used seafoam, I have been meaning to get to it on both the wife's tahoe and my... ahem... hyundai...
But I'll just be pouring that stuff in to the tank to be safe...

 

[07marmalade]

1st time around I was using it as suction. 2nd time, i was pouring it in.

 

[bjc7jr]

besides this issue, has how does this product work?

 

[07marmalade]

not noticing much change. Also odd is because all the other times I've done it, noticed much improvement, even in cars with less mileage.

 

[jcrack_corn]

the way seafoam works is very similar to how a car-wash works.

notice that when you wash your truck inside and out, or get it detailed that it "seems" to run so much smoother and better....

seafoam is snake oil, modern IC engines with regular oil changes are so efficient that you are not having build up......some varnishing naturally occurs over YEARS, but seafoam aint removing that, and every-day performance impact is negligible.

Follow the service schedule from the manufacturer and you will do just fine.

 

[ajay]

the way seafoam works is very similar to how a car-wash works.

notice that when you wash your truck inside and out, or get it detailed that it "seems" to run so much smoother and better....

seafoam is snake oil, modern IC engines with regular oil changes are so efficient that you are not having build up......some varnishing naturally occurs over YEARS, but seafoam aint removing that, and every-day performance impact is negligible.

Follow the service schedule from the manufacturer and you will do just fine.

Amen Brother!

 

[ajs800]

There's clear evidence that seafoam does work...I'll look for the article... they show an engine and fuel injectors removed after serveral treatments over its life and there was a clear difference. It was an independent test. I've noticed some improvement in my acura TL and previous G35...not so much in power, but fuel mileage, smoother idle, etc. I haven't used it in the tahoe, but I'd imagine due it's low compression, it will have less obvious results.

 

[jcrack_corn]

no....

lol at injectors! In 30 years i've yet to see a clogged injector on the business end (they *****rarely***** can clog on the supply end due to bad fuel).

in anycase, putting something in your crankcase will have zero effect on the injectors (big lol).

regarding compression.....no......compression is determined by head gasket, rings, cylinder length, piston stroke, dome capacity, and valve seal. Period.

regarding the "stuff" that comes out of an engine when seafoam (or KEROSENE) is put into it.....that is residue and grime that sits at the bottom of the oil pan, it is harmless, it is within the design spec of the engine.

regarding seafoam "cleaning" anything in the engine....what?....you cant be an efficent solvent AND lubricant at the same time. WD40 is a GREAT solvent, but a terrible lubricant because like all solvents it will evaporate. Oil is a great lubricant but terrible solvent. you need oil for your engine to live, you cant put enough solvent in it for it to matter (in terms of cleaning) before the engine self destructs.

IF you could, then we could shut all these machine shops down that steam clean oil passages and blocks during a rebuild.....would render that entire practice as silly.

/thread

There's clear evidence that seafoam does work...I'll look for the article... they show an engine and fuel injectors removed after serveral treatments over its life and there was a clear difference. It was an independent test. I've noticed some improvement in my acura TL and previous G35...not so much in power, but fuel mileage, smoother idle, etc. I haven't used it in the tahoe, but I'd imagine due it's low compression, it will have less obvious results.

 

[ajs800]

lol...No problem...believe what you want. I'm just stating based on what I've researched and experienced myself. Is it overhyped in terms of overall performance increase, probably, but knowing that there is some improvment in terms of keeping things clean, why not use it....it's not a snake oil and is basically the same stuff as the GM top end and BG treatments.

I have used it for the past 5yrs in my snowmobiles and jet skis that have powervalves and the stuff works. The powervalves are required to be removed and cleaned after so many hours/miles. i started adding seafoam a couple times each season and when I removed the valves for cleaning, they were night and day compared to before using the seafoam.

The "stuff" that comes out is is a byproduct of the hot exhaust and the oils in seafoam reacting to the heat...it means nothing in terms of actual cleaning. lol

Don't you think that residue and grime sitting in the bottom of the oil pan will have some affect on the oil? I know of someone that drops 6-8oz of seafoam in the crankcase before each oil change and since doing so is able to go just over 10k miles before changing. He had blackstone lab tests done each time showing the difference. Keeping the crud out prolonged the life of the oil.

There are all sorts of videos online where techs used boroscope cameras showing results...don't you think things will operate more efficient with clean injectors, valve stems, seals and piston tops, which when all working will create better combustion?

Here's a link showing two valves at 30k miles removed from the same engine....once treated with seafoam and the other was not. There are many cases like this and actual tech footage filmed by mechanics using the boroscoped cameras before and after the treatments.


http://volvospeed.com/Repair/seafoam.html


BTW, I am not sure where you got the idea that I cleaned the injectors by adding the SF to the crankcase. lol. I use 8oz in the gas tank...8oz slowly sucked through the intake...then 8oz in the crankcase just before an oil change. I do this about once a year or every 25k miles.