Just sucked in SEAFOAM, now waiting for about 10 minutes before firing it up!

[Ranger5.0]

do you know what was causing the ticking to begine with?

 

[Hardwareman]

No, not really, but I'm thinking the 350,000 miles was probably a contributing factor.

I was living with it for at least a year or so until I did the treatment, so whatever it was it's been taken care of for the moment. It appeared to be somewhere in the top end since it's gone now. It never sounded like a major mechanical problem but rather was more annoying and embarrasing then anything else.

I think the motor's starting to get a little tired honestly from all the miles but I do regular maintenance and it still runs great. There's an oil leak I need to address soon however and I believe it's either the front crank seal or oil pan. Are either of these hard to get at or do?

I think I remember reading somewhere that the engine has to be pulled to replace the pan gasket?



Allen

 

[Hardwareman]

I just looked at my Haynes book and it says the motor needs to be removed in order for the oil pan to be removed.

Looks like I'll have a busy weekend soon. Probably wait until after the 1st of the year though.




Allen

 

[Dave R]

It's a hell of a lot easier, and safer, in the long run if you pull the motor. The oil pan can't be removed with the motor in the chassis but it can be shifted a bit if you jack up the motor and block it off of it's motor mounts.

 

[HAPPY_RANGER_GUY]

long way to go...

No, not really, but I'm thinking the 350,000 miles was probably a contributing factor.

Man I have a long way go with this truck!!

sittin at 141K...only.

T.

 

[Hardwareman]

Man I have a long way go with this truck!!

sittin at 141K...only.

T.

Yeah I love the 2.3 motor in my Ranger! The oil leaks starting to get bad now, to the point where I can't park in my driveway because it leaks all over it. I always pull in the garage anyhow as there's tools in the back I can't afford to come up missing.

As long as you change your oil regularly and do some basic maintenance on it that motor should last you a REALLY long time. Seemed like Ford knew what they were doing when they built this engine.

I feel a little (not unsafe) wander too, so the front end needs to be addressed as well. I mean the truck has a lot of miles on it period, chassis and drivetrain! Maybe new balljoints, bushings, bearings, should do the trick up front. This is by far the best vehicle the wife and I (it's my truck though, hahaha) have ever owned. She even cops to that fact!




Allen

 

[aggoodin]

SeaFoam is far from snake oil. I have used it for this this that and the other thing my whole life because my grandpa always had it around. I just used it to stabilize the gas in my motorcycle today.

I have seafoamed a number of cars through the brake booster line and had good results. I run it through the gas on all my cars periodically too. I had a Mazda MX6 with bad valve seals (random James Bond style smoking episodes) and seafoam in the oil cured that for 4-5 months at a time. My dad just seafoamed the oil in his mazda 2.5L and after the sludge all ran out the thing runs nice and quiet like it did 75k miles ago.

I have never had an undesirable result from this stuff.

 

[Evan]

Allen, from the account you gave it sounds like the stuff works.

 

[dohcdelsol93]

I have been a seafoam dealer for years. I work in the turf equipment buisness so it was mainly used as a stabilizer and additive to remove water from fuel system as it was designed for use in boats/ships.

It's by far more than a miracle in a can of the hour, the stuff has been around longer than my father.

The only negatives i have heard from about seafoam is it occasionally eating up an oxygen sensor but in most cases they are either old or cheap autozone replacements.

Water does work great to remove carbon build up but there is definatly more than carbon that builds up in your engine. Water does very little to help clean residue from fuel varnish and is useless for the sludge build up on top of your cyl heads or in your crankcase.

 

[shadetree]

I have been a seafoam dealer for years. I work in the turf equipment buisness so it was mainly used as a stabilizer and additive to remove water from fuel system as it was designed for use in boats/ships.

It's by far more than a miracle in a can of the hour, the stuff has been around longer than my father.

The only negatives i have heard from about seafoam is it occasionally eating up an oxygen sensor but in most cases they are either old or cheap autozone replacements.

Water does work great to remove carbon build up but there is definatly more than carbon that builds up in your engine. Water does very little to help clean residue from fuel varnish and is useless for the sludge build up on top of your cyl heads or in your crankcase.

I quantified my statement by referring to the combustion chamber. I was just offering my opinion, and answering a question, not trying to disuade anyone from using the product. Its your money.

I just question the reasons for using it, and the results. Chemicals are chemicals no matter the brand name. You say it is a water dispersant, so is WD-40. Much cheaper.

I have been around engines all my life, and have yet to see a 10 minute soak of anything do anything to heavy carbon. I have also seen very few products(I can't remember any) that will cut a heavily sludged engine. You start breaking heavy sludge loose in an engine, and you really have problems.

Using it in newer engines every so often is nothing more than a "feel good" measure. Current gasolines have the needed chemicals already in them.

AND, being a dealer of the stuff, I would not expect you to say anything bad about the product, and swear it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Shades of Amsoil. shady

 

[dohcdelsol93]

I quantified my statement by referring to the combustion chamber. I was just offering my opinion, and answering a question, not trying to disuade anyone from using the product. Its your money.

I just question the reasons for using it, and the results. Chemicals are chemicals no matter the brand name. You say it is a water dispersant, so is WD-40. Much cheaper.

I have been around engines all my life, and have yet to see a 10 minute soak of anything do anything to heavy carbon. I have also seen very few products(I can't remember any) that will cut a heavily sludged engine. You start breaking heavy sludge loose in an engine, and you really have problems.

Using it in newer engines every so often is nothing more than a "feel good" measure. Current gasolines have the needed chemicals already in them.

AND, being a dealer of the stuff, I would not expect you to say anything bad about the product, and swear it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Shades of Amsoil. shady

i wouldn't say it's the best thing since 10 dollar hand job night in china town but the stuff is good. And just like the small amounts of water you put into the intake of a warm running engine, it does remove a large amount of carbon although nothing will remove it as well as a wire brush or heat tanking the engine.

But just as the OP stated he noticed a difference. for 6 bucks it makes a big difference

Fuels do burn cleaner than they used to but the fuel we are getting out of the middle east now is high in parifin wax causing even more build up/residue than ever before. But i wouldn't go as far as saying that the new gasoline cleans your engine as it runs. In 2 stroke equipment I'm having to remove spark arrestor screens as quickly as I'm selling them.

So even though fuel is burning cleaner than it used to, it's lower quality and let's just say that the effect it takes on our engines is not on the minds of those in the white house when they are passing these laws to make our vehicles safer for the enviroment. Gasoline is very low grade now compared to what it was 7 years ago. With so many oxidizers and so much ethanol it's unstable. With stabilizer added to your fuel there was a time when gas could be stored for up to 24 months.

Now even with fuel stabilizer your good to get 3 months storage out of gasoline.

The best way to avoid sludge is to run a synthetic oil, high grade gasoline and allow your vehicle sufficient time to both warm up and cooling down before and after driving.

Lets face it, not many of us do that. If it wasn't for my turbo timer I'd never sit i my car for 3 min after i park to let it run and cool back down before killing the engine.

Point being, I've pulled heads off of small engines to examine the carbon build up, put them back together and ran sea foam through to see what it does.

It doesn't do much for the piston tops but it definatly helps to clean the sludge/varnish build ups around the valves, valve guides/seals and lifters.

When it goes from a cruddy yellow/brown back to an aluminum color it's doing something right.


for the record, if my shop sells something that is crap i will be the first to tell you it's crap. I have Stih 4 Mix equipment hanging on the walls and when a customer either homeowner or commercial comes in the door thinking that becuase it's new and it's Stihl it's goint to be the greatest blower/trimmer/hedge trimmer ever I'll be the first to tell him all the problems/headaches they have given me and customers that have had them.

I work in the shop, i get commission off of the labor, not the products

 

[Ranger5.0]

if an engine is properly maintained from the get go, then gimicks like this wouldnt have a place. My last engine has 200 000 + km on it, and when i pulled it apart juss to take a look, it was clean with no carbon build up on the pistons, or conbustion chambers. If a seal is leaking, then you cant fix it with an additive. seafoam's a joke.

 

[dohcdelsol93]

it is by no means a fix of any sort, just a cleaner.

I've noticed that if you use it on an engine with leaky valve seals it could possibly make it worse. alot of times all that sludge/varnish helps keep those seals from leaking anymore than they already are.

but it can help with tapping lifters or LMA's

but i highly doubt your engine was 100% free of carbon build up, i have yet to pull a piston out of an engine without any carbon build up on it. carbon is a by product of an internal combustion gasoline engine.

 

[Ranger5.0]

see, my whole issue with fix'it in a can is that, say your lifter vally REALY is packed with carbon and baked on sluge. At least its stuck there. You run a cleaner in there, that breaks it all up, that all sounds good, but where is all that stuff going? It falls into your oil pan, gets sucked up through the suction screen in the pump pick up and either clogs that OR gets sucked past that and into the pump its self. none of this is a good thing. You cant put a cleaner into the oil/intake and blindly think its going to be ok. Ask your self, WHERE is that carbon from the piston going? sure, out the exaust, but the biger chunks are going to get stuck in the cat or block the ports in the O2 sensor. proper maintance is key, and if somthing is gobed up, using a poor/spray and pray product isnt a good idea.

 

[dohcdelsol93]

here is where seafoam and water clean better than physically scraping off carbon build up....

it dissolves it so it is burnt up when it is used in the combustion chamber. This is why you have to have your engine at normal running temps when doing this (also to prevent hydro lock) it's pretty much all just steam

when used in your crank case it thins out the gunk which is usually sludge from old oil or gum from unburnt gas anyway and makes it thin enough to drain out with your oil

There are no chunks or hard flakes, it is all small particles.


I have seen it eat up oxygen sensors before but it doesn't clog them nor does it clog EGR valves. It will clean them but it sometimes it eats up the oxygen sensor, as stated before those are usually in cases where they are cheap chinese replacemts or high mileage sensors