Seafoam. Your thoughts

[moe1965 749]

I have a c141 which runs real good but the low idle is a little rough. I have adjusted the low idle screw and it has little or no change while adjusting it. I'm sure it has a little dirt or some causing my issue and thought I would try seafoam to correct my issue so I wouldn't have to take the carb off and clean it.  The tractor sat for about 3 years before I acquired it and I have ran about 3 tanks of fuel through it hoping it would clear it self out.  Any one ever used seafoam? If so what are your thoughts.  Im a little skepical on things in a can claming to cure all etc. lThanks 

[JAinVA 4,629]

I have a IH Cub that wouldn't run for very long without starving for fuel.I figured that I would give it a shot before rebuilding the carb.Long story short never had to open the carb up.Seafoam worked great.I mix a little in all my fuels.You might have crud in the carb from ethanol fuel in which case you will need to clean it manually.

Edited September 18, 2018 by JAinVA

[cleat 6,793]

20 minutes ago, moe1965 said:

I have a c141 which runs real good but the low idle is a little rough. I have adjusted the low idle screw and it has little or no change while adjusting it. I'm sure it has a little dirt or some causing my issue and thought I would try seafoam to correct my issue so I wouldn't have to take the carb off and clean it.  The tractor sat for about 3 years before I acquired it and I have ran about 3 tanks of fuel through it hoping it would clear it self out.  Any one ever used seafoam? If so what are your thoughts.  Im a little skepical on things in a can claming to cure all etc. lThanks 

You can at least pull the idle jet out (count the turns to seat first) and spray carb cleaner in there and also clean the idle jet itself and see what that does.

 

Cleat

[rmaynard 15,767]

 

47 minutes ago, moe1965 said:

 Any one ever used seafoam? If so what are your thoughts.  Im a little skepical on things in a can claming to cure all etc. Thanks 

5

 

You can search my name and use the keyword Seafoam to see what I think about the stuff. I am an old-school guy when it comes to things like that. I was just reading through an old Popular Science magazine from the 1960's yesterday. One of my favorite columns was "Say Smokie". It was a column of questions and answers about cars and engines. Smokie Yunick was a NASCAR mechanic and car designer. In his words, when asked about additives he would say "I never put much faith in witchcraft".

 

Nuf said!

[WHX?? 49,627]

Some guys swear by it and some at it  and I do use it occasionally and it seems to help on mildly varnished carbs but is no substitute for a manual carb cleaning for the nasty ones.

Edited September 18, 2018 by WHX20

[Ed Kennell 39,479]

I'm with Cleat on this one.   Pull the jets spray carb cleaner in the holes.   If you forget to note the settings, 1.5-2 turns out will get you running.  If this doesn't help, take it off and do a cleaning.

I do add Sea Foam to all my fuel as  maintenance, but adding solvents (additives)  to a dirty fuel system may loosen solid deposits that may increase the dirt in the carb.  No additive will clean a carb that has been corroded by E-10.

[ol550 830]

 

Maybe get this little guy to crawl in there and see what the problem is.

[WHX?? 49,627]

Well said Ed, I'm on the fence about the spray in the holes thing. Might that just stir up junk in the bowl??? I picked up a 1077 awhile back where the PO said he cleaned the carb. Turned out his carb cleaning was just blowing compressed air through the holes. Sorry dude the carbs gotta come off and the bowl wiped out.

 I'll tell you what when I go into the local farm & barn store and see the rows of additives one wonders if that junk is for folks who are looking for a miracle cure for something that needs to be disassembled. Hence Bob's

43 minutes ago, rmaynard said:

"I never put much faith in witchcraft".

Same thing with MMO (Marvel Mystery Oil) ....whoops... there's a bottle of that on my shelf too!

Edited September 18, 2018 by WHX20

[Machineguy 877]

The devil himself created ethanol fuel.  I’m sure of it! 

Edited September 18, 2018 by Machineguy

[SPINJIM 1,981]

Berryman's ?     I picked up an Onan P220 that had not run in 9 years.   The carb was completely caked with tar and corrosion.   I took apart, removed the welsh plug, and soaked it in Berryman's cleaner for a few hours.   Then sprayed carb cleaner and air pressure through all of the passages.   Put it back on the engine, primed it, and it started right up.    That's going to be my process on old carbs from now on.   Sometimes, carb cleaner isn't enough.   

    Jim

[953 nut 56,405]

3 hours ago, rmaynard said:

Smokie Yunick was a NASCAR mechanic and car designer. In his words, when asked about additives he would say "I never put much faith in witchcraft".

Six years ago I bought a GT-14 that would only run at half throttle, wouldn't idle, and stumbled at wide open throttle. To pull the carburetor I would need to remove the fuel tank or unbolt the engine to rotate it, both would be a PITA. I added a half can of Seafoam to the fuel tank and also sprayed some Seafoam Carb. Cleaner into the air inlet several times while it was running. Within two days of running a few hours a day it started and ran much better. That made a believer of me, witchcraft or not I have used it ever since.

[stevasaurus 22,959]

Well, I'll stand on the other side of the scale.  I happen to love SeaFoam as a gas additive.  I don't always put it in my vehicles...maybe once or twice a year with a full tank, but I always put in a couple of oz per 3 gallons of gas in my can for the horses.  I've seen my wife's car smooth out by adding some to the gas tank.  I've used it in a container to soak parts...it cleans them easily.  I think this stuff would be good on a pizza.

   On the other hand, I do not like to add things to my oil or crank case.  Once in a while I will add some Lucus oil treatment with the 90 wt in a rough horse transmission that I am re-building...but that is all. 

[peter lena 8,937]

found seafoam to be very good and helps keep your fuel system clean , don't wait for things to get funky. I also add a can to car fuel tank on a long drive, that way for hours and hundreds of miles of  ideal driving conditions its getting cleaned , also increases mpg, pete

[Machineguy 877]

32 minutes ago, peter lena said:

found seafoam to be very good and helps keep your fuel system clean , don't wait for things to get funky. I also add a can to car fuel tank on a long drive, that way for hours and hundreds of miles of  ideal driving conditions its getting cleaned , also increases mpg, pete

That’s the trick to Seafoam I’ve found right there. Seems other folks have too. Used as a fuel systems maintenance additive it really works great. Once the system is to far gone, you’re gonna unfortunately have to tear into it.

@stevasaurus

As for a pizza topping or dipping sauce, I’m sure it would work to clean out a fellas pipes too! 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,374]

2 hours ago, SPINJIM said:

Berryman's ?     I picked up an Onan P220 that had not run in 9 years.   The carb was completely caked with tar and corrosion.   I took apart, removed the welsh plug, and soaked it in Berryman's cleaner for a few hours.   Then sprayed carb cleaner and air pressure through all of the passages.   Put it back on the engine, primed it, and it started right up.    That's going to be my process on old carbs from now on.   Sometimes, carb cleaner isn't enough.   

    Jim

I'm sure you are talking about the 1 gallon pail of Berryman's Carb cleaner (soak tank) but I also use Berryman's B-12 in my fuel, 2 reasons 1) it's cheaper than Seafoam (nearly half) 2) it's more aggressive than Seafoam (it will eat through a styrofoam cup like pure gasoline)...not knocking Seafoam I'm just cheap and getting the same results, also MMO (marvel mystery oil) is good for the crankcase and valvetrain can't say so much for the fuel system, all this just my experiences, Jeff.

[squonk 41,756]

I could go on for hours but I'm sure the only person who would appreciate that would be @elcamino/wheelhorse. 

 

Added to fuel I have seen it stop pinging in a Caravan, stop surging in a 520, stop an O2 code in a Subaru.

 

Added to oil, I've seen it stop a lower engine knock in a GM 4 banger and stop a lifter tick in the GM Truck I had.

[WH nut 553]

Its the best rebuild in a can you can buy.

[BOB ELLISON 2,981]

I use it all the timea in all my gas cans so that when I put it in my engines I expect them to run better. And they do. My brother-in-law had a motor bike that ran really bad after sitting for a long time .I told him about seafoam and he tried it and the next time I saw him he said that engine runs beautiful now. So he's a Believer to.

After seeing first hand what ethanol will do to a carburetor in a few months of setting I'll use anything that will held.

I'm a believer .

[pfrederi 18,086]

When I was a kid Bardahl solved everything...quieted sticky lifters... saw it on TV

[KC9KAS 4,741]

I do not want to go into a LONG story, but I use SEAFOAM religiously. I add 1 16 ounce can to each 5 gallons of gasoline I buy for my small engines.

I had an old motorcycle that set for a while, MPG's dropped to 30....used SEAFOAM to cleaned the carbs (4 of them) to the point that it started getting 40 MPG again!

[moe1965 749]

Thanks for all your comments. Not sure what I'm going to do yet I'll will keep you all informed. 

[jeepdave 8]

I've honestly never noticed a difference in anything I've added it to. Fuel or oil. 

 

When I get my Charger 12 running, I plan on running E0 fuel only. That should help with any ethanol issues. 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

I think it has helped.  But don't expect to not have to ever tear into a carb again!  It won't work every time. 

[peter lena 8,937]

I agree that berrymans is the better buy at 1/2 the price , local Wal-Mart  in my area can hardly keep it in stock, pete

[lynnmor 7,445]

I estimate that 2000 gallons of gasoline has been run thru my 520H tractors.  If I would have added a can of Seafoam to each 5 gallons, that would have been over $2800.  I did use one can in an attempt to clear a performance issue but it didn't do anything so I am out only $7.