Carb cleaner, SEA FOAM?? or...............?

[Starcraft5834]

What are your thoughts on Sea Foam? benficial or no? I had my 3.0 liter checked by marine mechanic and tuned up before I bought my boat.. does Sea Foam clean up carbs or not? is there any products recommended highter, thanks for input.. js

 

[Don S]

Re: Carb cleaner, SEA FOAM?? or...............?

Instead of using snake oil products, rebuild the carb. Then install a water separating fuel filter and change it yearly.
3.0L engines don't come with WSFF from the manufacturer, just the strainer type in the fuel pump and the carb.

Gas additives of any kind are not going to clean out your carb.

 

[Starcraft5834]

Re: Carb cleaner, SEA FOAM?? or...............?

It has a new fuel filter on it....

 

[Don S]

Re: Carb cleaner, SEA FOAM?? or...............?

Is it a water separating fuel filter? and is it installed in the line from the tank to the fuel pump?

I see people say they install a fuel filter only to find it wasn't what they thought and they stuck it in the steel fuel line between the pump and carb, and that is a huge no-no

Here is a typical fuel system the way it should be.

.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Carb cleaner, SEA FOAM?? or...............?

You will not find anyone that says SeaFoam is anything but good. It's actually a mixture of diesel fuel, naptha and alcohol (Heet.) It's pretty expensive stuff to purchase, but it does work. It's universally available at all national auto parts stores.

Unfortunately, the 90/10 gasolines in current use do chemically break down, and they do attack rubber parts in the fuel system.

Bass fishermen running Yamaha motors just about all use Yamaha RingFree Plus. It's expensive on front end, but a quart really goes a long way. And it'll work in any marine engine to de-carbonize engines and offset the 90/10 fuel problems.

If you use your boat weekly, you can keep fresh gasoline in your boat. Then, RingFree Plus could be used periodically and a the end of the season. Another trick is to use 100% gasoline all the time with a good additive like Startron.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Carb cleaner, SEA FOAM?? or...............?

The carburetor of your 3.0 can benefit from Sea Foam, but if it's goofed up it will need to be opened and rebuilt. The Seafoam helps with cleaning carb, valves and combustion chambers.
We don't have access to 100% non ethanol gas here. If that's also true for you, anti ethanol treatment can be a good move. I like Startron for that.
When the mechanic did your tune up and didn't suggest carburetor service, that's a good thing. My guess is it runs fine. I work in auto repair and some of what I do translates here. If my guys worked on something like that they would have test run it afterward to be sure the work was correct. If it didn't run right, I'd be recommending finding out why. Did the mechanic say anything?
As far as fuel, it can be a real issue in boats.
Plug yourself into this scenario.
I have the water separating filter that Don described, it catches water and solids coming from my tank. My first year and 2nd years on my then 19 year old boat I used Startron in my fuel, and I always stabilize the gas each winter.
Water can react with ethanol fuel causing phase separation, which leaves unusable, potentially clogging, crud at the bottom of your fuel supply.
My 4th year was last summer. I ran over 150 gallons through the boat last year and I was feeling like I could trust the fuel, but I still had never totally emptied the tank which would be proof.
I ran the fuel level down low last fall, I was trying to get out any old junk that may have been in there. The hope was to catch it in the water separator/filter. So I dumped out the separator this past fall and it was clear. That's a good sign for which I am happy. One of these days I am going to pump it all way down just to be sure.
With a separator you can check fuel in a clear glass container. If it contains water, the heavier water will sit at the bottom. I haven't seen phase separated fuel, but I know what good gasoline looks, pours and smells like.
Since fuel is picked up from the bottom of the tank your filter tells you a lot.