Seafoam!

Anyone who's used seafoam has seen the giant cloud of white smoke that pours out of your tailpipe after you introduce some of the motor treatment into your engine. It makes for a big show but does it actually help?

 

Seafoam claims to

• Lubricate upper cylinders, fuel pumps, turbochargers, drawn-through superchargers, and fuel and exhaust system components.  
• Eliminate moisture in your fuel system
• Clean gum & varnish fuel residues from fuel system components.
• Clean carbon deposits from combustion chamber
• Stabilize fuel
• Liquify gum and varnish deposits or internal engine contaminants
• Remove carbon deposits,
• Free sticky valve lifters and rings,
• Improve idle quality, pinging and hesitation problems.
  
  
  

A squeaky clean engine internally sounds great right? My integra's got at least 250,000 miles on her and I'm sure the carbon buildup on the valves is insane. I haven't torn my motor apart since I seafoamed it but personally I saw a few improvements, mainly a more stable idle and better gas mileage. These benefits are less likely to be seen in a newer motor with less wear and tear but if you want to try it Seafoam is really simple to use. You introduce it  into your motor in three places, let your vehicle sit and then drive around the block a few times.

A third of the can gets poured in the crankcase through the same cap you pour new oil in, a third of it goes in the gas tank to distribute it through your fuel system, and the other third slowly gets sucked in through an intake air hose. (Can be your brake booster vaccuum lines, any air hoses coming off the throttle body or if you have a spray bottle, remove your intake tubing and spray it directly into the throttle body.) You should mix at least 1 oz. but up to 2 oz. per gallon of gasoline. Mixing at less than two-thirds oz. per gallon will impair your results.
 
When you pull the vaccum line if you go that route the the idle will raise but then settle back to normal- just make sure the hose is sucking air IN, and not blowing air out. It helps to have someone else inside the car holding your RPM's right around 2000 as you SLOWLY introduce the Seafoam into your system. Once the entire third has been sucked in, turn the motor off and let it sit for a few minutes. Proceed to go for a drive- somewhere deserted because "smoke" will be POURING out of your exhaust pipes- after two to three miles the smoke should clear.

Precautions should always be taken using non-OEM items in your vehicle. Seafoam can foul spark plugs apparently although I've never had that happen, and you need to change your oil as soon as possible after seafoaming. The company claims it won't harm engine components, seals, gaskets, catalytic converters or oxygen sensors.