The Truth About Seafoam

[ukrkoz]

Just for general clarification.

Sea Foam Motor Treatment used in Crankcase Oil
All Gasoline and Diesel, Rotary style engines

Sea Foam Motor Treatment is a Blended Petroleum Product, NOT A CHEMICAL and is widely used as an old oil residue reducer and moisture drier in any oil crankcase.

Sea Foam Motor Treatment is most commonly used as a pre service, old oil residue re-liquefier / cleaner / diagnostic tool, and moisture drier, and is also used as an after service additive. Sea Foam Motor Treatment does NOT add significantly to oil volume, so removing oil is NOT required for use, when used according to printed directions on the product container.

1. As a PRE SERVICE CLEANER for old oil residue, (sticky rings or valve train noise, diagnostics), pour 1 ½ ounces of Sea Foam Motor Treatment into the engine oil crankcase for EACH quart of crankcase oil capacity including filter. (Diesels use 1 pint Sea Foam to 4 gallons of oil, please.) Drive a MINIMUM of 30 minutes/miles, MAXIMUM 200 miles, (Diesels 1 hour drive/run time MINIMUM) and then do your oil change service (LOF). This is the process of safely/slowly re liquefying the old oil residue so contaminants may flow and be filtered. This also makes your old oil dirtier, quickly, so a LOF service is necessary when the oil gets dirty. Great for Turbo & Supercharged applications where hot oils deteriorate so quickly due to heat, those residues NEED CLEANING. (LOF = Lube oil & Filter service = OIL CHANGE).

2. As an AFTER SERVICE ADDITIVE into fresh oil, nearly fresh oil, or oil (used condition) that is NOT ready to be changed (by mileage), put 1 ½ ounces Sea Foam Motor Treatment into the crankcase per quart of capacity as described above, then SELF SET a program to MONITOR your oil for proper level, color and clarity on a mileage, timed, or event basis (like every time you add fuel, etc.) to determine when an oil service is necessary. (LOF) When the oil gets dirty, CHANGE IT!

Sea Foam Motor Treatment will safely and slowly re liquefy old oil residue, This will usually make your oil need changing BEFORE your normal scheduled LOF service. Only your monitoring of the oil for color and clarity can tell when it is time to do LOF (oil change service), or 3,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Synthetic oils, both blends and 100%, were engineered and are manufactured to be 100% compatible with petroleum based oils, all brands, and vice/versa. Without compatibility, oil manufacturers and engineers would be liable for the results of mixing non-compatible lubricants.

Check your oil; monitor its level, color & clarity to determine the need for an LOF service! Change your oil when it gets dirty!

Technical Services Department July 2008 DD

Sea Foam Uses in Fuels

Sea Foam Motor Treatment #’s SF-16 (16 ounce), SF-128 (gallon container) and
SF-55 (a 55 gallon drum) is registered with the EPA as a fuel additive for use in all Gasoline, all Ethanol fuels, Gas/oil mixes & ALL Diesel fuels. Including all brands and qualities of available fuels.

When added to these fuels, Sea Foam Motor Treatment was specifically designed to Safely do five (5) simple, yet important, tasks for you, SIMPLY. They are:

• 1. Sea Foam Motor Treatment is a 100% blended petroleum product. That means Sea Foam is OIL, so adding Sea Foam to ANY fuel, adds lubricity for Fuel systems, Induction systems (Including Drawn through Supercharged applications), upper cylinders, fuel pumps, and related fuel system & exhaust (Turbocharged) components. Ethanol fuels need LUBRICITY, Sea Foam supplies that Lubricity! All common available fuels lack “Protecting” lubrication.

• Advantage: “Sea Foam”.
  

• 2. Sea Foam Motor Treatment contains an engineered oil that dries fuel moisture. Moisture breaks down into its basic components of hydrogen and oxygen when Sea Foam Motor Treatment is added to any of the above listed fuels. This allows Sea Foam Motor Treatment to help eliminate problems caused by moisture, like diesel fuel gelling and Ethanol “Phase Separation”. Ethanol absorbs moisture, Sea Foam dries it! Advantage: “Sea Foam”.
  

1. Sea Foam Motor Treatment contains an oil based high detergent fuel residue cleaner. Using Sea Foam Motor Treatment in your fuel system makes that old fuel residue safely back into liquid. Old fuel residues become a “non issue”, allowing contaminants to be filtered, as engineered by the system manufacturer.

• Advantage: “Sea Foam”.
  

1. Sea Foam Motor Treatments exclusive formula is blended specifically to clean carbon out of the engine as the engine is run. This is accomplished by our cleaning oil formula eliminating old sticky oil residue that holds carbon and allows that carbon dust to flow out of the engine dust particle by dust particle. Advantage: “Sea Foam”.

5. Sea Foam Motor Treatment adds volatility to fuel and slows down the rate at which that fuel looses its ability to properly burn. When added to fuel and the fuel is in properly sealed containers or fuel systems, per printed container instructions, Sea Foam Motor Treatment is a fuel stabilizer for up to 2 years. Always run the engine for a long enough period of time to assure the entire system is protected. Advantage: “Sea Foam”.

Technical Services Department
Sea Foam Sales Company
Updated July, 2008 DD

[Blue Bowtie]

Ask Hitachi, Bosch, Delphi, and other fuel injector manufacturers if using SeaFoam in their devices is approved. The EPA may have allowed to have the product "registered" as an additive, but that doesn't mean it is advocated, nor approved. Congratulations. That's a nice marketing ploy! Methanol is also registered with the U.S.E.P.A. as a fuel additive (oh, YES it is) but most of us would agree that it is not a good idea.

Now check with Clevite, Federal Mogul, and other bearing manufacturers to determine if they will warrant their products when used with such additives.

We'll wait for the published results (from them, not SeaFoam's marketing department).

But thanks for the entertaining missive.

[Blue Bowtie]

Also, I'm only a little confused. The text indicates that

Sea Foam Motor Treatment is a Blended Petroleum Product, NOT A CHEMICAL

A few of the degreed chemical engineers with 40 years experience who I work with would argue that point. Petroleum products are indeed chemicals. Water is a chemical. Alcohol is a chemical, so that makes SeaFoam a chemical blend (yes, I know the formulation). Actually, it is an emulsification of two blends, but I'll spare you the long narrative.

[ukrkoz]

Thank you. You should have gone for long narrative, as I have Masters in Pharmacy, that's with 11 chemistries included.
Anyways, sorry to disappoint. I have no $$ interest in Sea Foam as product, company, or marketing for them.
What I do have is this:
1. I was blessed by some guy telling me about this product.
2. I have been using it in almost any application they recommend, except marine, on any car we owned, from cheap to luxury, through years, with excellent results performance wise and NONE adverse. Out of stupid curiosity, I have even exceded any of their recommendations and drove with can of it in my Ranger crancjcase for 2000 miles. I could care less for their Transtune.
3. I have fixed numerous CELs with it.

So, sharing my faith and experience - yes. Marketing ploy - don't give 10 year old palmful of snow about that. I can quote Shakespere on this: There are many things out there, my friend Horatio, that wise men never dreamed of. Something like this in Hamlet. One of them is Sea Foam. Other one is acetone.

Blue, with this being said - it does look like a marketing ploy, I agree. But wise men don't judge (hastily), they try to understand. Before I ever put SeaFoam into the cranckcase 1st time, I contacted them yrs ago to double check. Basically, their product is an oil. Maybe snake oil, but it works. So does honey on diabetic ulcers, and "scientists" have no "proof" to that.
So, I most respect your input - but I do not think it deserves some visciousness. Your opinion is valued, but it's opinion. If you have any factitious material to prove otherwise - please, post, and I'll be the first one to discontinue this product from my use and not to recommend it to anyone else.

[MT-2500]

No additive or dope or cleaner is needed or totally safe to use in a good engine.
Good clean engine oil and a good filter on a regular basics and proper tune up is all the engine needs to keep it running good and stay clean for well over 200K.
The modern good brand engine oils have all additive and detergents it needs.
Adding extra dope or cleaner will break down the lubrications of good engine oil.
Adding dope and cleaner to a higher mileage dirty engine is a sure engine killer.
Over the last 50 years of auto repair I have saw a lot of dope and additives come and go.
The old shell X-100 engine was the first big mistake.
Kerosene was the first cleaner and STP and Lucas and motor honeys were the first additives.
Then the slick 50 was another but a big mistake.
But then stuff like slick 50 and graphite additives have come and went.
Now we have sea foam with a big add hype that is supposed to be a cure all.
Sea Foam is a good cold weather stabilizer for storing engines and for old stale gas.
But is not safe to use as an engine cleaner.
MT-2500

[maxwedge]

Like any other similar product it is not a " magic potion" it has it's limitations just like they all do.

[Blue Bowtie]

Your experience with the product is not uncommon. Many have used it for decades with no apparent adverse effects.

I didn't intend to be, nor do I feel I was, vicious in my reply. I was intending to offer realism. More generally, being responsible requires some measure of restraint and caution in posting contrary opinion, and there is very little latitude when there are potential ramifications for the owners of this web site. Other than the occasional and (hopefully) obvious excursions into attempts at humor or sarcasm, we have to remain mostly neutral in our postings.

As for the topic more specifically, I discovered the formula of the original SeaFoam product many years ago. The product has been available since the 1930s. In some applications and some instances, it can provide some benefits. In a modern fuel system, it can just as easily cause more damage than it can ever solve. Fortunately for the owners of vehicles (and unintentionally, for the makers of such additive products) modern equipment is engineered to withstand some level of contaminants, solvents, and water. No fuel is completely clean, nor is it completely dry. These devices and components are necessarily tolerant of rogue materials.

Additionally, nowhere in my previous replies did I state that SeaFoam should not be used in any of its advertised or the manufacturer's suggested applications. Instead, I specifically suggested that:

1. Anyone considering using any such product in a fuel system using injectors contact the injector manufacturer for their approval;
2. Anyone considering using it in their crankcase contact a reputable engine bearing manufacturer for their input and approval. Bearings are the items most susceptible to damage and failure from contamination.

I would further advise that anyone considering using it in an automatic transmission contact Raybestos, Borg/Warner, Barnes, SPX, or any other reputable manufacturer of transmission components for their approval. That is hardly an attack, and is generally sound practice for any product potentially added to any other product.

As a pharmacy major, I suspect you would have considerable experience in investigating potentially harmful interactions of products and suitability for a desired result. I merely advocated exercising the same caution in pouring a $6 can of oily water into your crankcase or fuel tank. Granted, your vocation likely has made you aware of the considerably more significant risks of harmful interactions, and instead of your customer, if your vehicle dies, you can still get out and walk. I was only advising general caution in the interest of avoiding frustration.

You should be applauded for at least being astute enough to contact the manufacturer of the product prior to using it. I'd consider you among the few who care enough to want to understand what the product is supposed to do in its intended application. Nonetheless, I would fully expect the person(s) you contacted would inform you that the product is oil. Yes, it is mostly oil (pale oil). It is also partially naptha (a distillate of crude oil), as well as partially alcohol and water. As of about 1996, the approximate analysis of the formulation was as follows:

50% light hydrocarbon oil (pale oil);
30% petroleum naphtha;
10% isopropyl alcohol;
10% water.

While I seriously doubt they would comply, anyone curious or interested enough could contact the manufacturer to either confirm the analysis or supply a current formulation to disprove the analysis of their product in 1996. Simply denying that the previous analysis is correct would be insufficient evidence, since it could easily be denied if the actual formulation were only 9.45% isopropyl and 10.23% water. (Heat and vacuum fractionalization can only be accurate to a few percentage points.) I've performed my due diligence over a decade ago, and feel confident in the results. Someone else can carry it further.

I appreciate your replies, and look forward to reading more of your well thought and insightful comments. Of course, all I have is an opinion. However, like you, I endeavor to base my opinions upon some measure of research and empirical data.

Incidentally, Shakespeare stole his best material from Bacon.

[Classicrocjunkie]

Seafoam is garbage... tried it once, and had nothing but bad experiences..

Run synthetic from Day one and there is no need to add this crap to your motor. I've recently tore apart a 03 ecotec motor ran from the second oil change till 65k miles and the internals all looked brand spanking new. No sludge or anything built up anywhere. Oil was changed every 3-4k miles.

[J-Ri]

Seafoam works good to clean carbon out of the intake/valves (but it's definately not the best)... I'm not sure if I'd use it for anything else anymore... although before I knew what it was, I thought it was great stuff.

[CENA]

Originally Posted by ukrkoz

Thank you. You should have gone for long narrative, as I have Masters in Pharmacy, that's with 11 chemistries included.
Anyways, sorry to disappoint. I have no $$ interest in Sea Foam as product, company, or marketing for them.
What I do have is this:
1. I was blessed by some guy telling me about this product.
2. I have been using it in almost any application they recommend, except marine, on any car we owned, from cheap to luxury, through years, with excellent results performance wise and NONE adverse. Out of stupid curiosity, I have even exceded any of their recommendations and drove with can of it in my Ranger crancjcase for 2000 miles. I could care less for their Transtune.
3. I have fixed numerous CELs with it.

So, sharing my faith and experience - yes. Marketing ploy - don't give 10 year old palmful of snow about that. I can quote Shakespere on this: There are many things out there, my friend Horatio, that wise men never dreamed of. Something like this in Hamlet. One of them is Sea Foam. Other one is acetone.

Blue, with this being said - it does look like a marketing ploy, I agree. But wise men don't judge (hastily), they try to understand. Before I ever put SeaFoam into the cranckcase 1st time, I contacted them yrs ago to double check. Basically, their product is an oil. Maybe snake oil, but it works. So does honey on diabetic ulcers, and "scientists" have no "proof" to that.
So, I most respect your input - but I do not think it deserves some visciousness. Your opinion is valued, but it's opinion. If you have any factitious material to prove otherwise - please, post, and I'll be the first one to discontinue this product from my use and not to recommend it to anyone else.

Sea Foam was actually first developed as a Marine product. It is a great product and is becoming very popular with mechanics.

[Airjer_]

Originally Posted by ukrkoz

Sea Foam Motor Treatment is a Blended Petroleum Product, NOT A CHEMICAL and is widely used as an old oil residue reducer and moisture drier in any oil crankcase.

Pale oil 20/20 (lubricant), Naptha (solvent), and isopropynol (drying agent)- (excuse the spelling) are the three ingredients that make up Seafoam motor tune. Sound like chemicals to me.

I also can not complain about this product. I have used it for years to stabalize fuel and have had many success stories with it freeing up stuck hydraulic lifters. Its aerosol form, deep creep, is the only thing I have use for penetrating lube for the last 10-12 years. Both are great products if you understand what they do and don't expect anything more!

[Chris Stewart]

I'm glad I stumbled up on this thread...good dialog.

[jpar1983]

Those ingredients sound like chemicals to me, but who gives a flying flip whether or not it is technically a “chemical”? What I care about is DOES IT WORK? Will it clean the carbon and gunk out of my engine and make it run right? Is it safe to use on a fuel injected 2000 Olds Intrigue 3.5 V6? How about a fuel injected 1998 Chevy Malibu 3.1 V6? Can I really add 1.5 oz per gallon directly to my oil fill cap? How about sucking some through a vacuum hose (such as PCV) as I have heard done? Will it foul my plugs (they need to be replaced anyway, so if so I will do it before I replace them)? Will I need to change the oil soon afterward? Will it clean my ERG? I don’t need some official ‘Seafoam Approved’ instruction sheet, just plain English please!

[MT-2500]

Read post no 5.

[jpar1983]

So how do you recommend cleaning out engine sludge?