I have used seafoam about twice, once about midway through summer, and again probably in early september. I can say the smoke was great, probably producing more the second time I used it.

Well recently, I had the head gasket go. So I pulled the head, and to my disbelief, carbon everywhere! And it wasn't like there was little of it. The buildup was astonishing. That is where it left me. Does seafoam really work? From what I have seen, I would probably have to say no. But really, if your that scared of carbon build up, why not pull the heads and clean them? Sure that may be out of reach of some people on here, but it seems like the best bet to me.

 

Talk about a can of worms...........

 

I don't see a can of worms. I've been telling folks here that it is nothing, and I mean nothing more than 80% pale oil and 20% alcohol. If you think that's going to burn carbon, buy a bunch. The good folks at Seafoam need the money. The smoke, FWIW, is the pale oil burning off, not carbon. And considering that the oil burning leaves carbon deposits, well, you figure it out. Frankly, there is more value in pouring ATF in the engine than Seafoam. At least the ATF has SOME cleaners in it.

 

I tried it once on my 97 cobra. I pulled the intake off and took a look at it. put it back on and did the seafoam thing. Pulled it back off and no difference. Just pull everything off and dush it out with brake cleaner. Also if you have the 97-03 f150 clean out the egr port with a 3/8 drill bit.

 

water sprayed into the intake work very well to decarbonize the piston tops. ever pull a head from a Jap crap car from the 80's . In AZ 70-80's Jap cars blew head gaskets. It was not a matter of "if "it was "when". the cylinders that were leaking coolant typically have NO carbon deposits due to the carbon soaking up the water and then breaking loose when the water turned to steam.
the owners manuals of British sports cars from the 50's and 60's include spraying water into the carb of a running engine as a regular maintence item to decarbonise the motor .

 

Carbon has to be scraped off the engine parts with either a screwdriver, or a mechanical wire brush wheel. If you poured WD-40 into your intake it'd smoke too! I don't think anyone believes that it does anything for carbon. I bet it does a number on your cats though...

 

Lies...ALL LIES!!! When I pulled my upper intake off to port match, etc...my EGR ports weren't even that bad @ 55K miles and a bad O2 sensor for the first 5K miles making it run really rich. I credit Seafoam every 10K mi. for that.

 

Well mine are still doing fine at 200K. So I doubt the seafoam has anything to do with it.

 

...it sure didn't hurt anything either. I'm sure you've got some serious blockage going on in there regardless at that kind of mileage.

 

the smoke is the only great part of seafoam. Carbon does not just burn away.

 

The way I use it is I slowly pour half a can in the brake booster and shut it off right after. Let it set for about 5 mins then pour the other half in brake booster while the engine is running. After you finish the can go drive like crazy. Seems to clean out something because even DW says there is a difference in take off even through she had no idea I did anything. Point is even if it is not cleaning it off, it is doing something cause the truck runs better.

 

Just stop and think about it for a second. Think about where it goes, etc. What could it possibly do?

 

Huh. Good point.

Then what are all the places like Crappy lube and Ford do or use for there so called decarbon treatment?

 

Remove the heads and pry away!

 

183k on my engine, no use of sea foam for the last 40k for sure. no clogging of ports in the intake here. i credit that to lots of WOT on the baby 4.6... lol