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Helps clean out the junk and removes the "varnish" that can be on the tank and carbs.
I put it straight in my carbs and into my bike tank and it helped alot. Itll make things seem worse before it gets better though, if it does help at all.
"Sea-foaming" your car is the application of this product. I have seen it mostly on the west coast, if you are from the east coast or midwest you may be more familiar with BG-44, which is similar.
Although I have seen it for sale more in WA than in any other state I have lived in, turns out it's made in Minnesota. I always thought it was from Seattle.
It's good stuff, cleans well. Of course if you don't have any deposits for it to clean, it can't do much.
If used as directed, it will at worst not hurt anything, IMHO.
Apparently the "IPA" in the formula is isopropanol. So it's a blend of some sort of light oil, naptha, and isopropyl alcohol. No rocket science (that would be WD-40).
Last edited by M3 Mitch; 12-19-2008 at 06:57 PM..
Reason: expand remarks some more
I should say using seafoam in the gas tank might be helpful but using it in the oil/crankcase is risky IMO. I found that auto-rx does a much gentler clean and doesn't dislodge the sludge that could possibly cling to your oil pan pickup screen. The only downside with auto-rx is you must use conventional oil, and it's expensive.
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I would tend to agree with you on Seafoam in the crankcase.
I have had good results with using Seafoam in the intake-disconnect a vaccuum line from the brake booster or other large vaccuum source and allow the engine to suck the seafoam in while running. Shut the car off after all of the Seafoam is in the engine and wait a few min for it to soak in.
Start the car and let the Seafoam and other dissolved deposits burn up - usually results in lots of smoke:
Every 30k miles I use 2 bottles of cheap STP gas treatment. One goes in with a full tank of gas. The other I punch a pinhole in the top and let the PCV vacuum line suck it into the intake. It results in the smoke show (esp when cold & humid) and cleans the carbon off the valve & piston faces and spark plugs. Then I change the oil & filter afterwards. It's possible a little bit of that stuff leaks past the rings and drops into the crankcase. Probably harmless, but I'd rather have everything clean and not take any chances with chemical reactions.
On my old project car I did an experiment and poured a small stream of water down the carb with the throttle held open. It really cleaned things out -- water & carbon crap staining the ground below the tailpipe. However it resulted in water mixing with the oil, as it leaked past the rings. (The engine had no compression problems.) Nothing disastrous happened; it was a controlled experiment, but is the main reason I suggest changing the oil & filter after doing this treatment.
BTW that 'smoke show' is the seafoam itself burning up. It makes some customers believe it's actually the deposits/particles burning up.
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