SEA FOAM

[ZmOz]

Re: SEA FOAM

Originally posted by BillP:<br />Snake oil...<br />When putting that stuff in your car gas be ready to plug up the catalytic converter. The additives may not do it but the chunks of unburnt crud that hit the converter can. Read up on converters and ask your local registered converter shop about it. They love to see people dump additives in the gas or spray it into the carb. Too much and it plugs everything up. It's your guess how much is ok.<br /><br />Also, there is no way thinning your crankcase oil with solvents is good for a motor under full time use. Do you want starved lubrication? It doesn't work both ways. You'll find this out when the motor reaches less miles than an engine that never used additives. My local auto mechanic's business is being warranty rep for Jasper and AutoZone engines. It's interesting to hear his stories about additives.

Snake oil is a term used for something that claims to work and does not. This stuff claims to work AND does work as advertised, therefore it is not "snake oil". First of all, we're talking about boats here, and I'm pretty sure there isn't a single boat in the world with a catalytic converter. Also it is not meant to be left in your oil full time, you put it in before an oil change and let it idle for a few minutes....

 

[Cricket Too]

Re: SEA FOAM

Bill P.....Just curious, does that hold true for all additives or are you just talking about Seafoam. I have been using injector cleaners for years and never had a cat problem.

 

[wayne h]

Re: SEA FOAM

as an auto mechanic i dont really beleave in additives but some gas treatment every now and then with keep things clean.i never use oil additives.i have seen engine go to waist because if the oil pickups getting plugged with chucks of carbon from an oil flush DONT DO IT TO AND OLD ENGINE.but i have put some trans fluid in the oil right before an oil change on noisy lifters, it cleans them out, but i never load the car when doing this just start it and run it for 5 min then drain. converters get very hot i have even seen them set cars (rugs) on fire when they plug up.dealers use decarb spray and when done right it works well but dont try to decarb an engine in 1 try. thats where people run into problems. 2 strokes really need to be decarbed to keep rings and exhaust free of deposits. hope this helps i myself use decarb spray and seafoam in every other tank full on my outboards it boosted my 9.5s compresson from an engine rebuilt to normal(per shop manual) she must have had some crud in the rings from being 30 years old.

 

[BillP]

Re: SEA FOAM

mmcpeck,<br />I wouldn't even dare to talk about "all" additives...I have not a clue about them. There are exceptions to everything but most experienced wrenches don't endorse the use of additives in the fuel or crankcase. Some do but they aren't in the majority by a long shot. I listen to those guys and weigh it with my own 40+ yrs of running motors without snake oils. <br /><br />Decarbing 2 strokes is specified by the motor mfgs and they believe in it enough to label their own products for decarbing. I can't think of any other additive that is specified in oem operators manuals for continual gas or crankcase use. It's not that additives don't work, but the long term damage they often do is pretty well proven around rebuilders. <br /><br />It would be interesting to see if any of the outboard mfgs would validate running an aftermarket cleaner like Seafoam full time in the gas of a warrantied motor.