Let’s face it: our DA Integra’s aren’t getting any younger, right? Even my 1992 is almost 20 years old, and years like that tend to build up a lot of carbon deposits. Sea Foam’s line of products are extremely helpful, but many people have difficulty using them. So here’s the most basic of threads to help with their most popular product: Motor Treatment.
If you still can’t figure it out, you shouldn’t work on your car.
The first thing to do is pick up a few supplies. I went to Advance Auto Parts and picked up the Motor Treatment. It comes in sizes ranging from 16oz to 55gal, so pick your poison. I bought the 16oz, so all measurements I use are based on that.
Before I begin, My disclaimer is that I know what I’m doing and if you follow my advice and screw anything up, it’s not my fault and suing me isn’t going to happen. Everything in this thread is meant as a guide, so any person or property damaged by following my suggestions is on you, not me or Sea Foam.
The first step is to get a cup. This is to ensure that the engine gets the right amount of treatment, not too much. Pour out ~1/3 of the 16oz bottle into the cup.
Start the car, get someone to rev the motor, keeping the RPMs below 2000 for now.
Locate a vacuum line that feeds the throttle body or intake manifold. The brake booster works well. I pulled it at the intake manifold so as to make it easier to take pictures. It made the process a little bit more difficult, as a length of hose is really helpful for sucking the fluid into the cylinders.
Pull the vacuum line. The car will surge, then settle a bit. Use the accelerator to keep it running if needed.
Make sure the vacuum is pulling toward the intake, (sucking in, not blowing out).
While someone holds the RPMs high enough the car won’t stall, allow the vacuum to begin sucking the Motor Treatment into the intake manifold and subsequently the cylinders. IT WILL SMOKE, DO THIS IN A VERY WELL VENTILATED AREA.
As soon as the liquid in the cup has been sucked up, have your assistant cut the motor.
Reconnect the vacuum Line, making sure to return the clamp to its original position.
After ~15-20 minutes, restart the car. IT WILL SMOKE. BADLY. This is not to worry, it’s not your head gasket or some sort of catastrophic failure, it’s the sea foam product.
Go for a drive. Continue beating on your car, drive it hard, make sure that the car has an opportunity to go WOT (wide open throttle) for a while. When the smoke stops coming out the back (or returns to normal if it burns oil), park it like usual and enjoy.
“3) Locate a vacuum line that feeds the throttle body. The brake booster works well…”
Not trying to nit-pick, but that hose you’re using doesnt feed the throttle body, it feeds the IM. Just saying, for those that are trying to follow word for word, may be confused.
[QUOTE=unified112;2191827]“3) Locate a vacuum line that feeds the throttle body. The brake booster works well…”
Not trying to nit-pick, but that hose you’re using doesnt feed the throttle body, it feeds the IM. Just saying, for those that are trying to follow word for word, may be confused.[/QUOTE]
Sorry. I used the easiest hose to photograph that fed the intake assembly, and it turned out great. The great thing about Seafoam is that as long as it goes directly through a vacuum line into the intake manifold and the cylinders, it works fine.
Seafoam burns out of your exhaust, which means the short answer is “it depends”. I’m not sure how long it took me, but it was driving about 2-3 miles before the smoke completely went away. I also used less than 1/3rd because my cylinders aren’t all that bad.
Just Sea Foamed mine the other day for the first time and WOW!!! Tons of smoke! It was a good thing there was no traffic behind me because it would have been dangerous for them to drive through. It was thicker than any fog i’ve ever seen. But it cleaned up in bout 2-3 miles as well. Sea Foam ftw.
Oh okay that’s not too bad then now do you guys feel a difference after using it? Also isnt there different ways you can use it? I believe on the bottle it says you can do the gas tank, vac lines etc. I have a bottle of it, bought it n was going to try and see if it help out my idle since I read it says smoother idle etc. Is it true?
Again, it depends… If you have a lot of power being sapped from carbon deposits, then yes. If you just rebuilt your motor or it’s just really clean, then probably not as extreme.
My motor was fairly clean, but it definitely helped the idle to level out better. The acceleration is slightly better, and my fuel economy bumped by 1-2 MPG. Ruling out other factors, I think the product is one of the best on the market. One thing I have heard though, and I can’t tell you if it’s true or not, is that it can faul spark plugs. I’ve never had a problem with this, but apparently some people have. All I can say is pour slowly and rev the motor a lot to clear the smoke.
If you read the instructions, you should be fine. There are effectively 3 common ways to use Sea Foam motor treatment.
1)The above method, which doesn’t potentially harm anything unless you screw it up and suck it into an area of the engine it’s not supposed to be in.
Add to engine oil. IF YOU DO THIS, CHANGE THE OIL AFTER NO MORE THAN 10-15 MILES OF DRIVING, AND DON’T DRIVE HARD. You must be careful about this, as it can cause failure of internal components. It WILL decompose the oil fairly quickly.
Fuel additive. Add to a full tank of gas following the instructions on the bottle as to how much to use. Or look online. Used in this manner, it acts like a fuel injector/fuel system cleaner, like any off-the-shelf product. This is known to be fairly safe, but again, experiences can vary based on skill.
[QUOTE=SynicalDa9;2192622]if use sea foam through a vacuum line, do I have to get an oil change after it?[/QUOTE] No. Short answer is no. The only time you should have to worry about that is if you mix it with oil, as it will break down the oil if left in too long. This is no harder than changing the oil, those that can’t do that (not saying you can’t) should leave maintenance like this to their mechanics.
Method 1, which is described here, runs little to no risk to your motor. It is O2 Sensor safe, mostly spark plug safe (unless you use too much), and oil safe.
Method 2 is something to watch. If done incorrectly and not changed out within 10-15 miles, it CAN CAUSE BEARING FAILURE AND OTHER SERIOUS BASE ENGINE PROBLEMS. This is ONLY for this method, as the product will wear down the composition of the oil. Use with caution.
Method 3 is to use as a fuel injector cleaner. However, I would rather use a dedicated and cheaper injector cleaner for this purpose. Add to a full tank of gas based on the directions on the bottle.
Hope that clarifies. If not, a google search should grant you the information you need.
[QUOTE=devondangers;2192719]No. Short answer is no. The only time you should have to worry about that is if you mix it with oil, as it will break down the oil if left in too long. This is no harder than changing the oil, those that can’t do that (not saying you can’t) should leave maintenance like this to their mechanics.
Method 1, which is described here, runs little to no risk to your motor. It is O2 Sensor safe, mostly spark plug safe (unless you use too much), and oil safe.
Method 2 is something to watch. If done incorrectly and not changed out within 10-15 miles, it CAN CAUSE BEARING FAILURE AND OTHER SERIOUS BASE ENGINE PROBLEMS. This is ONLY for this method, as the product will wear down the composition of the oil. Use with caution.
Method 3 is to use as a fuel injector cleaner. However, I would rather use a dedicated and cheaper injector cleaner for this purpose. Add to a full tank of gas based on the directions on the bottle.
Hope that clarifies. If not, a google search should grant you the information you need.[/QUOTE]
I asked cause I just recently did an oil change and don’t want to have to change it again if I use sea foam thru vac line and having to change it cause of it! Thanks for the info tho
I just did it today and tried the brake booster vac line theory. It didnt really seem to work very well, like it was all just going into the fourth cylinder and none of the others. Mainly because the hose goes into the intake right over that leg of the mani. I went out and bought a spray bottle, took of the air intake, sprayed 1/3 of the bottle equally throughout the manifold ( with carb at w/o of course), waited the time and started it and it seemed to reach all the cylinders equally that time. i was alot happier with the results. It was just a 1 dollar spray bottle and i sprayed in a stream with it.
That sounds like a much better method.
I will have to give that a shot instead of letting the oil-change place charge me 120.00 to clean my intake and fuel system.
I used the easiest hose to photograph that fed the intake assembly, and it turned out great. The great thing about Seafoam is that as long as it goes directly through a vacuum line into the intake manifold and the cylinders, it works fine.