The results of Sea Foam & Lucus Products in a 2.9L

[Jim Oaks]

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You have likely seen this video already. For those that have not, this guy puts sea foam in the crank case, gas tank, and intake of his Ford Rangers 2.9L. The engine went from knocking like a diesel, to running smooth.

Sea Foam has been discussed in this forum for years. But if you've ever wanted to see the results, this video is for you.

 

[Craig0320]

I have seen it and I loved every minute of it.

 

[Dwight_C]

Wow, this is a great video. I've been wanting to Seafoam my Ranger for a long time, but I never quite get around to it. I saw another video on Youtube of a guy that used a borescope to look into the spark plug holes of his Mazda B3000, and you could definitely see an improvement in carbon deposits on top of the pistons. Thanks for posting this.

 

[Craig0320]

I have been using sea foam for years and I love it. I pour it in intakes on my mowers and also use it as a fuel stabilizer. Everything has always started for mow season and the gas smelled fresh as the day I put it in 4 months before.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I wish my 2.9 idled that good.

All that white smoke i was like "oh shit he cracked a head".

 

[truckerdawg]

I like his channel. Lots of cool manly stuff if that is allowed to be said. I wish Seafoam had done that trick for me! Did he get lucky or was my 2.9 unlucky with Seafoam? Sometimes me thinks its an issue of clogged oil lines and sometimes a poorly designed oiling 2.9. I had one 2.9 that went over 300,000 with no lifter tick and then again another that ticked right before 100,000 and nothing could change it. Ran the same oils and coolant in both. The 300,000 was an 86 block and the other a 89 block.

 

[Bgunner]

I have used SeaFoam for years now to help clean the intake, top of valves and carbon deposits on the tops of the pistons since 2001 without having to do a top end refresh. I like using it but have found that, on my 94 3.0L because of the MAF sensor being at the air cleaner box, keeping the engine running while spraying it into the intake is a task unto itself but is doable. Great vid!

 

[adsm08]

I wish my 2.9 idled that good.

All that white smoke i was like "oh shit he cracked a head".

You should have seen what my 4.0 did with a can of that stuff.

I did it in the parking lot at Advance, you couldn't see the store front from the highway 100 ft away.

 

[Maggrett]

I put a full can of sea foam in the tank the second I bought my truck. It really is a miracle product.

 

[Dirtman]

Oh great... Countdown till @PetroleumJunkie412 complains...

3
2
1...

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

**** seafoam.

 

[Curious Hound]

Oh great... Countdown till @PetroleumJunkie412 complains...

3
2
1...

**** seafoam.

I don’t care what anyone says. That right there was funny.

 

[rang-a-stang]

My daily driver is a Mazdaspeed 3 with a direct Injection 2.3L. Like many other early Direct injection engines, my intake valves have to be cleaned about every 40k miles. This process looks like this:
1) Remove intake manifold
2) fill closed intake ports with solvent and let them soak for about 15 minutes (to soften the gook that builds on them)
3) remove solvent and media blast it with walnut shells
4) rotate the engine so the other intake valves close and repeat
It is a SUPER MESSY time intensive job. Why do I bring it up?
The first time I did it (I have cleaned them 4 times now), I put Seafoam in one port, Gasoline in another, diesel in another, and Techron Fuel injector cleaner in the fourth. Of all these cleaners, SeaFoam was the least effective at softening/removing the gook, followed by gasoline, then diesel. Techron was pretty amazing but at $10/bottle, too much $$. I use gasoline now.
Also, I rebuilt the 401 in my jeep twice in 2 years (long story). First time it got brand new pistons. The second time was after about 5k miles and the top of those new pistons were coated in gook. Again, decided to try different solvents. SeaFoam, alcohol, paint thinner, carb cleaner, engine degreaser, gasoline, and some other juices I had on my self but I don't remember. Seafoam was not the worst of them but it was definitely worse than most. Carb cleaner was the best (by far).
Personally, I think if you want to clean your fuel system: Techron. If you want to clean your crankcase: Half a quart of ATF with your oil. If you want to clean your intake track: Carb and choke cleaner. All of those are cheaper and more effective IMHO. All that white smoke is burning Seafoam, not contaminates. You pour Seafoam in a brand new engine and it smokes the same as an old crusty 2.9L with 160k miles.

BTW, Project Farm is one of the only youtube channels I subscribed to. I love that guy. No shade on the video, either.

 

[Shran]

There is a Ford TSB regarding OHV 4.0s that develop "carbon knock" and basically you are supposed to suck up a bunch of Ford brand carb cleaner into one of the vacuum ports on the intake while it's running, then let it sit, repeat as necessary and it will eventually remove the carbon buildup.

Not sure what the difference is between all these additives but I have long suspected that Sea Foam is mostly just alcohol (sure smells like it.)

 

[19Walt93]

I never heard of 4.0 ohv's getting carbon build up but 200 and 250 six cylinders were extremely prone to it. We'd warm up the engine, remove the air cleaner and drive the car out behind the shop. Then we'd bring the engine up to about 3000 and slowly trickle water down the carb and it would burn the carbon out. I was sure we were going to blow one up because the knock wasn't just carbon but we never did. We learned fast that we had to unhook the exhaust from the cat first because the cat would glow bright red and melt the carpet.