Seafoam treatment (just to share)

[mtnstyne]

So I had just returned from a long trip pulling a trailer and thought it might be a good time to put in something to clean the injectors. I have 192k on my 2002 4x4. So after some reading I bought a bottle of Seafoam and added it to my tank of gas. 20 miles later I was sitting on the side of the road dead. The way it lost power before just quitting led me think it was not getting gas so I replaced the fuel filter. No change.

I had to have it towed to a shop since I didn't have time to fix it on my own knowing it was more serious of an issue than I could handle at night in the dark after work.

The problem? The catalytic converters were plugged. So plugged that the only way the shop could get the truck to move was to remove the oxygen sensors to let some exhaust escape.

I just thought I would share how that turned out.

In the mean time, the shop removed all the cats to get it running. I ran a tank through it and I thought I would get better mileage but it doesn't seem to be the case. Aside from the legality, what other issues can I expect if I continue to drive without the cats?

 

[Dirtman]

There's nothing in seafoam that could plug or melt a cat, it's mostly just rubbing alcohol. It's not even effective enough as a cleaner that if your combustion chambers were horrendously full of carbon that it would dislodge enough to plug the cat. Especially with just one can. I've been putting a can a month in every car I've owned in the past 20 years. And fog the intake with it on everything once a year.

As for driving with no cats, it depends how you have it setup. If you just disconnected the whole exhaust with it just emptying at the down pipe and the o2 sensors aren't hooked up it'll only run in open loop mode so your gas mileage will be horrendous. You may also set something on fire since hot exhaust is just dumping under the truck. If you stuck a straight pipe or something in place of the cats and the o2 sensors are still working it wont do anything except throw a check engine light for catalyst below threshold.

 

[chicamatamo]

Dirtman, could you explain fogging the intake? I love Seafoam, but I've only used it in fuel systems.

 

[Dirtman]

You buy the spray can version that comes with a long straw. In a nutshell you stick the straw into the intake tube and spray it while the engine is running. It steam cleans the pistons and combustion chamber to get rid of any carbon.

 

[chicamatamo]

Well, don't I feel silly? I've never even noticed a spray version when I've picked up my OG cans. Thank you!

 

[8thTon]

There's nothing in seafoam that could plug or melt a cat, it's mostly just rubbing alcohol. It's not even effective enough as a cleaner that if your combustion chambers were horrendously full of carbon that it would dislodge enough to plug the cat. Especially with just one can. I've been putting a can a month in every car I've owned in the past 20 years. And fog the intake with it on everything once a year.

As for driving with no cats, it depends how you have it setup. If you just disconnected the whole exhaust with it just emptying at the down pipe and the o2 sensors aren't hooked up it'll only run in open loop mode so your gas mileage will be horrendous. You may also set something on fire since hot exhaust is just dumping under the truck. If you stuck a straight pipe or something in place of the cats and the o2 sensors are still working it wont do anything except throw a check engine light for catalyst below threshold.

Lol, my fuel is 10% alcohol, why would you add more?

 

[Dirtman]

Because when ethanol bonds with water it separates from the gasoline. Isopropyl alcohol bonds with water better than ethanol so it prevents the separation, and if any ethanol was separated, isopropyl pulls the water out of the ethanol and causes it to mix back with the gasoline.

 

[8thTon]

Because when ethanol bonds with water it separates from the gasoline. Isopropyl alcohol bonds with water better than ethanol so it prevents the separation, and if any ethanol was separated, isopropyl pulls the water out of the ethanol and causes it to mix back with the gasoline.

So you use it solely to remove water?

As s fuel system cleaner ethanol is still a good solvent and it is not usually saturated with water, so it should be cleaning injectors and combustion chambers continually. The water it's holding will still turn to steam in combustion, which should do a bit of stream cleaning. Most of these treatments are just snake oil - they make the human feel like something useful is being done but the machine does not care at all.

In the OP's case I'd bet the cats were close to clogged already and the treated fuel ran poorly enough to finish the job.

 

[Dirtman]

I dont use or believe in most "additives". Seafoam is not a miracle in a can by any means but it has enough benefits to make it worth tossing in the tank. It keeps fuel lines from freezing, removes water, boosts octane a tad, and has some cleaners in it to keep injectors clean (no idea what the cleaner portion of it is). But yea it is no where near potent enough to clean an engine so good it clogs a cat, I 100% agree those cats were fubar before the seafoam was used.

 

[19Walt93]

We used to add Chevron Techron to fuel tanks to fix erratic gas gauges and it worked, other than that I don't use additives. I worked with many good techs over the years and non of them came in a can.

 

[Dirtman]

I worked with many good techs over the years and non of them came in a can.

No, sadly they only come in a bottle.

 

[mtnstyne]

I agree the cats were likely close to clogging before the treatment, but I don't believe in coincidence much and the fact that I have used Seafoam exactly once in the over 10 years and 120k miles I have had this truck and it quits 20 miles later is enough evidence for me that it pushed out some junk into the cats.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[mikkelstuff]

The only effective fuel system cleaner I've found is BR-44K. Expensive but worth it.