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"Truth" about seafoam from technical director, Jim Davis


Otto

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
217
Vehicle Year
1997
Transmission
Automatic
I found this on another site, thought I would post it here.

http://www.yotatech.com/f105/sea-foam-do-you-want-truth-160613/

Okay, I am putting this in two places, and on other sites, as I don't know where it should officially go, but i want as many peeps and homies as possible to read this. I got totally bugged out , becuase so much speculation was going on here, with the one thread being 23 pages long, and 4 years old. I couldn't stand it anymore, so i called Sea Foam.
I was transferred to Jim Davis, Technical Director/ Research, of Sea Foam. and we had quite a cordial conversation, a real easy going guy, he is college educated, with a degree in automotive technology, has 35 years experience in the automotive repair industry , and is an A.S.E. certified mechanic. He has been with Seafoam, I think, the last 5 years, as his doctor told him, his body was just too out of whack, to handle mech work anymore.
So I will try to write as much as I remember, from my chicken scratch.
First off, I asked all the questions I wanted, such as , will it hurt, is it damaging to any parts at all, can it be used as maintenance, what do you do after you use the product, does anything need to be changed out, etc., etc.
First, he stressed multiple times, that this was a 100% petroleum product, nothing else. He said this many times during our conversation. he said there is nothing added, no fillers, no astringents, no mulsifiers, cleaners, detergents, nothing at all.
so how exactly does it work? Well , as you know, there is more than just carbon in your engine, there is salt , sulfur, all kinds of vox, and nox materials, you name it. How does it get stuck in there, and not filtered out? Simple, alot of the stuff we normally add, including gas, has a certain amount of sludge, varnish, lacquer, and gums added to it. This is the stuff, that sticks to walls, pistons, etc., especially when cooling. then all the other stuff we talk about, including carbon, gets stuck to this stuff, carbon, small micron stuff, other nox and vox particles.
Seafoam attacks and disolves the varnish, gum, sludge, and lacquer in there primarily, and then begins to break up , the other stuff.
Once this happens, all the junk is now freefloated back into suspension, and can be filtered out, or burnt out, of your various systems.
Seafoam does 3 other things primarily; controls and locks up moisture, adds lubricity without viscoscity, and cleans without adding any chemicals at all.

Does it harm other materials? In a word, no. He told me that right now, around their research area, they have multiple glass , sealed jars of Seafoam, with various things in each jar. plastic, rubber, seals, o-rings, pencil pieces, paper clips, bits and pieces of everything. Some of the items, in some of the jars, have not been opened or disturbed for 3 plus years now. he said, these bottles and items are studied through mag glass, and items looked at closely through microscopes, with no apparent natural destruction, loss, or dispersal,or disfiguration, becuase the item was sitting in Seafoam.
So you do not have to worry about your gaskets , seals, o-rings, etc., from exposure to seafoam.
he also said as a former tech, he did this same cleaning job many, many times, to multiple autos, and only one time did he have a problem.
It was with a car, driven by an old dude, who never drove it over 45 miles per hour, never put it on the highway, never got it hot, allways in traffic/city driving, and never driven over 20 miles, in either direction. he said it was just so full of carbon and junk, that the gum/lacquer did get on his 02 sensor, and a chunk of carbon did stick to that. he replaced said o2 sensor, and did another cleaning job, and the car drove like new. he said the old dude was so
impressed , becuase it drove the way it did , when he bought it new.
Again, 1 problem encountered, in all the times he did this cleaning job.
I asked will it harm injectors over time, or will it harm or dirty up the spark plugs, again the answer was no. As a matter of fact, he said, it will do nothing to the injectors but clean them real well, and it will proly make your spark plugs look like new, after a 2 or maybe 3 cleaning jobs.
I asked if it was too much, becuase gas contains cleaners and detergents in it as well, plus using this as a cleaner. he said no, because seafoam will clean out the detergents and cleaners as well, plus he said, only the really big gas peeps put cleaners in their gas, such as BP, shell, Chevron, Exxon, and even they do not put it in all grades of their gas. So if you are buying gas at Bud's truck and beer stop, it proly does not have cleaners/detergents in it.

OIL. I then asked about adding it to your oil and gas tanks; he said follow
the amounts on the directions, and you will be fine. Again, it adds lubricity and removes moisture, from you various systems, even the exaust system.
this is good , as i noticed, several drops of not only water, from using this on both my cars, but noticed a bit of goo coming from the 4runner pipe.
Specifically, in oil, it breaks up, and cleans up, all the junk in your oil system.
the longer you leave it in, the more it breaks up this crap, it should then be able to be filtered out of your system, and will turn your oil dark.
He said, how long you leave it in is up to you, the longer you leave it in, the more cleaning it does, then you can change your oil. then you can put more in, and clean again. You can keep doing this, until your oil system is clean, then do this for maintenance. the stuff that it breaks up and loosens up,
should not damage your system anyway, it should get filtered out, your pistons, and stuff will continue to smash this stuff up, and is stronger than the junk. Until it gets filtered out, or you keep changing your oil, until it starts to run clean for at least a couple thousand miles.
MAINTENANCE. I asked about maintenance, and changing out stuff; except for your filters, and the one bad example from above, you should not need to change anything else out. for using as regular maintenance, he said, not only is it fine, but he has been doing it for years. once his oil is clean to the way he likes it, and he thinks his intake system/injectors are clean the way he likes, then he just addes to his crank case, about every 6k or every other oil change, before he does the oil change a day or two, and adds for gas, to the recommended amt on the back of the bottle, so it keeps everything clean, lubed, and keeps out moisture.
i again asked specifically if it would harm injectors over time, he then went into a long story about injectors, and how you can balance them, and how they work, etc., etc., and then finally he said, no, it will not harm injectors, maybe cleaners or detergents in gas will , over a long time, but seafoam will clean out that stuff anyway, and again he said, only some of the big gas companies use cleaners, in all their diff levels of gas anyway as well.
Also when it comes to maint, it does such a good job of lubricity, he says it keeps the lacquer/gum , etc., from hanging on in the first place, which is what allows all the other stuff to hang onto, along the way. So he did recommend as maintenance, but not a lot, just after you have it cleaned the way you like, and you certainly need to do no more, than recommended maintenance that is described on the bottle. He said it really matter as to what you do, and how you are satisfied, some may find, that half or less the recommendation maintenance, works fine for them.
I am sure we talked about other stuff, and for longer, but this is as much as my scratchings have allowed me to remember right now.
As anectdotal evidence, besides doing my88 4runner, which it also got out the goo and water from the gas system/CAT/muffler/pipe( oh yeah, he did say it will also help clean out your CAT as well, he did 2 cleanings on one that smelt like Eggfarts, and after the second treatment, the stench was gone) I also did simultaneously a 92 chevy caprice, old school, with a 5 liter motor, with police interceptor package. i did two clean jobs with it, and if you saw my motor with the hood open, you cannot either hear, or see that it is running, it is that quiet now.
So today i actually drove it to work, and I also drive it for work, as I am a sevice tech, that has to drive to sites, to get certain work done.
One of the things that used to bother me a lot, was from a dead start, or red light, if i pressed on the gas a bit hard, i would for a second or two, get the 'clatter, rattle ' sound, as it first excelerated, like a diesel engine sound, and then it would go away. I would allways hear it, all the time, and every time. After the cleaning today, if I was not looking for it, I would not hear it, and when i was looking for the sound, i would just barely hear it, and that was only sometimes. i am looking for this sound to completely disappear soon.
Secondly , exceleration. This car is fast, and has allways been fast, but it was never what I considered quick, it was okay, but nothing special. Once it got up a little momentum, then it would giddyup.
Now, today, several times, I hit it up, at a stop light, or sign, or if i was allready on the highway, would hit the accelerator, as I was allready doing highway speeds. What throttle response!!!! WOW!!!! Not guessing, not thinking, but my A#$ss-ometer could easily tell, that as soon as my foot hit the pedal, my car would bow it's back up , like a wet cat, and take off, lickety
split, i mean the acceleration came quick , and easy folks, as soon as I hit
the pedal. And this car weighs a good 55oo lbs, not including all the wieight of all the crap i carry around in it.
Lemme show you;




Nice and old school, huh?
I have not driven the yota yet, but while sitting in the driveway, to start it up, i would just barely turn the key , for a split second, and it will start up, no prob, I think I will try a vulcan mind-meld for my next startup on the yota.

Anyway, I hope I have answered all question necessary about Seafoam, I know I have totally satisfied myself, with our conversation, and will have no
probs whatsoever, in using for serious cleaning first, and then as maintenance, without having to worry it is going to ruin some other part, gasket, ring, sensor, etc. on my vehicles. I say, use it to your hearts content. Thanks for the time, kids and homies.

p.s. , I know other dudes have other tricks of other stuff, that they add, spray, etc., but does it continue to lube parts, does it not add or subtract viscosity, does it not break down other stuff over time, does it continue to excorsize condensation, does it not erode injectors, sensors, or plugs over time?
 
As "technical director" of the company, I seriously doubt that he would have anything negative to say about the product.

Vehicles are capable of 300k plus miles without anything but regular maintenance.

After many, many, years of dealing with automobiles, I still see little need for "fix its' in a can."

Many have said the same thing, supposedly do the same thing, etc., and several have wound up on the FTC's list for heavy fines for not being able to do what they are advertised to do.:)shady
 
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A '92 Caprice is not a 5,500# car. A '71 Lincoln Continental is a 5,100# car.
 
I agree for the most part. There are wayyyyyy too many fix it in a can crap Slick 50, Rislone, etc etc.... But Seafoam does what it says when used in the fuel system. Now mind you anything pored in the tank will get so diluted it won't make a difference but when you use Seafoam via a vacuum port to the intake it does a damn good job cleaning out all the yummy "corn" juice and other additives that junk up the fuel system. This is from experience using it for 8+ years. Also beats the hell out of a fast lube charging $90+ to do what an $8.99 can will every 6 months. Very few things have impressed me in 25 years of being an auto parts jockey. Seafoam is one of them.
 
I was skeptical of the stuff. We used it in my friends ranger because it had a horrible ping caused by grandpa induced carbon build up. After 2 treatments totaling half the can, the ping was 100% gone, poof, disappeared. It made me a believer.
 
I ran about a 1/4 can through my bike a few weeks ago, dumping most of it through the carbs while it ran, using enough to kill it a couple times after which I let it sit. Just that made it much easier to start and got rid of the low-end stumble it had when cold. It still needs a carb sync and probably plugs, but it's much better.
 
Now mind you anything pored in the tank will get so diluted it won't make a difference but when you use Seafoam via a vacuum port to the intake it does a damn good job cleaning out all the yummy "corn" juice and other additives that junk up the fuel system.

Have you done that to a Ranger, I would like to do it to mine but I don't know which vacuum port to use, got any advice? :icon_confused:
 
but when you use Seafoam via a vacuum port to the intake it does a damn good job cleaning out all the yummy "corn" juice and other additives that junk up the fuel system.
If you add the junk thru the vacuum port, it is not going into the fuel system, so it doesn't do anything for it.

Same thing if you pour it thru a carb or fuel injector. It does nothing to the internal workings of the device.

If you are cleaning carbon from the combustion chambers, 10 ounces of water will do a better job. Carbon comes from burning petroleum products. Seafoam is a petroleum product, napthene and pale oil, so.........:)shady
 
He told me that right now, around their research area, they have multiple glass , sealed jars of Seafoam, with various things in each jar. plastic, rubber, seals, o-rings, pencil pieces, paper clips, bits and pieces of everything. Some of the items, in some of the jars, have not been opened or disturbed for 3 plus years now. he said, these bottles and items are studied through mag glass, and items looked at closely through microscopes, with no apparent natural destruction, loss, or dispersal,or disfiguration, becuase the item was sitting in Seafoam.

If the jars are sealed, how do they examine under a microscope? If the jars are sealed they get no air. Air can act as a catalyst for many chemical reactions. Not saying the stuff is bogus, just pointing out a flaw in the statement.
 
Add it through the booster vacuum port. Dribble it slowly while at idle. When the engine stumbles stop poring until idle levels off. Repeat until quarter can gone then either keep the rest for future use or pore in the tank.

And if it never cleans the intake system what's the crap coming out of the exhaust and why does it improve throttle response?

PS it's great for killing all the bugs flying around your yard while ya do it too!
 
Use the brake vacuum hose,

I noticed theirs alot of the same people always having "no faith" I'd like to see a writeup from one of them on what they stand by for vehicle products instead of no-going the good write-ups (good being my opinion)
 
Add it through the booster vacuum port. Dribble it slowly while at idle. When the engine stumbles stop poring until idle levels off. Repeat until quarter can gone then either keep the rest for future use or pore in the tank.

And if it never cleans the intake system what's the crap coming out of the exhaust and why does it improve throttle response?

PS it's great for killing all the bugs flying around your yard while ya do it too!
The way you're describing, it doesn't go through the fuel system at all, which was what you claimed it cleaned up in your earlier post.

The crap coming out of the exhaust is the Seafoam itself (mixed with some amount of carbon, but you'd get that if you did the same thing with plain water).
 
I prefer the small vacuum port at the base of the TB (where the carbon canister hooks up) on the 4.0s, you get better coverage over all the cylinders.
 

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