Seafoam question.

[Bwayney]

Wheres a good vacuum line to put seafoam through on the 1.3 carbuerated engine?

can someone point out the line. this is a picture of my engine.
[IMG][/IMG]

[crazyrog17]

the large one next to the oil filler cap that goes to the air filter.

any one else's opinion?

[Charlie1717]

I did it through the brake booster line

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-use-sea-foam-through-brake-booster-line-169035/

Worked fine for me!

[Festiva Time]

What's the reason for put it in the vacuum line? I put half in the gas tank (after a fill-up), and the rest in the crankcase, thru the oil filler. Changed oil ( & filter) after 1,500 miles.

Kirk

[Aaronbrook37]

Sucks it into the intake stream so that it combusts with the air fuel mixture, acting as toothpaste for the intake, combustion chamber, and exhaust. In fact, Seafoam will actually do the MOST for your car via this method.

[bhazard]

Why not just pour straight into the carb?

[MTec007]

Why not just pour straight into the carb?

good question.. any answers?

[Aaronbrook37]

That would be one solution, but the only problem is that it'd be too easy to overload it. Remember, Seafoam is a foreign product in a very highly-maintained mixture of fuel/air. When you pour too quickly, the engine bogs and dies. I've heard horror stories of bent rods and even head damage. The point of the vacuum lines is to very slowly let the mixture do its thing. Find a nice beefy vac line... the most popular choice is the Brake Booster Line. With the vacuum line pulled off, the engine will go bonkers and likely die, so you have to use your thumb to keep it alive before you're ready to pour.

Basically, you want to permit the engine to drink it (preferably from an open container you can throw out) and when the revs drop, you slow down. Get it in as quickly as possible without bogging the hell out of the motor. Essentially, think of your control of the vacuum line as your car's clutch before you get on the gas to go. You have to find the sweet spot where your engine will start kicking butt without falling apart and dieing.

The other advantage is of course permitting you to keep your air filter in place, because the risk of contaminating a small vacuum line is much smaller than a (relatively) large carby aperture.

[Charlie1717]

That would be one solution, but the only problem is that it'd be too easy to overload it. Remember, Seafoam is a foreign product in a very highly-maintained mixture of fuel/air. When you pour too quickly, the engine bogs and dies. I've heard horror stories of bent rods and even head damage. The point of the vacuum lines is to very slowly let the mixture do its thing. Find a nice beefy vac line... the most popular choice is the Brake Booster Line. With the vacuum line pulled off, the engine will go bonkers and likely die, so you have to use your thumb to keep it alive before you're ready to pour.

Basically, you want to permit the engine to drink it (preferably from an open container you can throw out) and when the revs drop, you slow down. Get it in as quickly as possible without bogging the hell out of the motor. Essentially, think of your control of the vacuum line as your car's clutch before you get on the gas to go. You have to find the sweet spot where your engine will start kicking butt without falling apart and dieing.

The other advantage is of course permitting you to keep your air filter in place, because the risk of contaminating a small vacuum line is much smaller than a (relatively) large carby aperture.

That's the way to do it.. It's much easier with two people too. You can have a friend hold the rev at 2,000 or so to help keep the car going. Then after you put in 1/3 or as much as you want in shut the car off and let it sit for 10 minutes then hock the line back up start it up and watch the show. After the smoke dies down take it for a drive and drive it hard a couple times to get it all out.

Also before you put it in it helps if you start the car and let it idle for a few minutes to warm up the car.

If you put some in your oil I believe you will want to change your oil much sooner than later. like around 50 miles or something I don't remember but that's what I've always been told.

It's easy and effective! Good Luck!

[econoaddict]

Answers from the source.

how-to-use-sea-foam-motor-treatment

[blkfordsedan]

You are correct that dumping too much into the engine can cause it to hydro-lock, bending rods, etc.. However, it would require someone with no self control and/or common sense to dump that much in at one time. If they can't gently and sporadically trickle it in by hand over the carb throat then they really shouldn't be doing it at all! If they do have the ability and coordination to keep the engine running with a vacuum line off and their thumb over the hose while they feed it, they should be able to trickle it in the carb.....

But to reinforce your point, those people do exist! I agree that the brake booster line is the safest and feeds most all the cylinders evenly. I usually use the brake booster line myself. The biggest danger of using a vacuum line is that some people will just drop the hose in the can and let the vacuum suck it out like a straw- which can cause hydro-lock. It even says not to do that on the can label but people still do. I have a small oil funnel with a twist valve at the bottom to regulate flow. It works good for this type of stuff.

Putting it directly into the intake or carb will help clean the intake runners, valves and combustion chambers quickly, as well as the catalytic converter. Dumping it in the gas tank will do the same thing but at a slower (and probably safer) rate. Too much carbon being knocked loose can cause the rings to stick. With fuel injection, adding it to the tank will not really clean the intake runners since they are only air passages but it will clean the injectors and backs of the valves. Adding it to the oil works good for cleaning ring lands and oil passages in a nice, slow and safe manner. Adding it to the hose that goes from the valve cover to the air cleaner assembly won't accomplish anything except filling the bottom of the air cleaner housing up with Seafoam. You need to have a direct line to the entire intake manifold.

A final word of caution: Engines with excessive carbon/sludge buildup are sometimes better left alone! Several unwanted events can occur when carbon & gunk gets knocked lose. You may end up with the cleanest engine in your neighborhood that burns oil, smokes and has no oil pressure.

[Aaronbrook37]

The way I do it is to take a small plastic container - something like a cup or a tin - and fill it with 1/3-1/2 a can of Seafoam. I don't do the oil part as often as the fuel tank and vacuum source. Then I'll hold the cup in one hand with the hose in the other. Just like vacuuming your interior, but with liquids haha.

PS - you may not want to do this at home if you have crazy relatives and neighbours. Also DON'T do this if you have a hole in your exhaust. I learned this the hard way... literally 75% of the smoke came back up through the engine bay and I had to hold my breath while doing it. Fix your pipe with some muffler tape if you have to, then Seafoam. My mom thought that I had blown the radiator and lit my entire car on fire the first time I did this. A strong breeze helps a lot. Doing it on a cold day will make the smoke show a lot more awesome... I did it in December once, and that was totally crazy.

[scitzz]

Me likey the brake booster line....

[TominMO]

You could use a plastic syringe to more easily control the rate of insertion. They are also useful for removing old brake fluid from the reservoir. I get 'em free with my cat's medication. Drugstores should have them too.

[darkdan]

What's the reason for put it in the vacuum line? I put half in the gas tank (after a fill-up), and the rest in the crankcase, thru the oil filler. Changed oil ( & filter) after 1,500 miles.

Kirk

Seafoam is too weak to do anything in the gas (it's just pale oil, rubbing alcohol, and lighter fluid).

Seafoam also is not a good lubricant, so I wouldn't recommend putting it into the crankcase. Especially for 1,500 miles.

However, through a vacuum line on a hot engine it does have some benefits. If it reaches the piston in liquid form the solvency can have some effect directly on carbon on the piston. Also the "thermal shock" of the cold Seafoam hitting the hot carbon can cause it to rapidly contract and break free from the piston.


But I'd never put it into the gas or oil. There are much better products for that ( www.auto-rx.com and www.lubecontrol.com come to mind).