Seafoam FTW!

[M42Technik]

I hear ya. All my maintenance stuff is done. i'm just hoping it'll smooth it out even more. Like I said my M20 runs pretty smooth, I'm just hoping this will smooth it out even more.

Kinda sucks though, I was hoping this would fix my bad control arm bushings.

Goodbye, you useless fuck.

Seafoam sitting in my basement...

[Jscotty]

Goodbye, you useless fuck....

Awww.. did zotti go bye-bye?

Anyhow, post 1995 all fuels have detergent additives which is indeed true. But where your teacher is misinformed is that prior to 95 you could only get those detergents in the higher octane gas.

For a long time it was thought that higher octane gas was better quality- and at one time it was but now the quality is the same across the board. I think that part of this has to do with the fact that auto manufacturers are very strict on using the exact octane rating that the car was designed for.

I will keep you guys updated as to the progress of my use of Seafoam. In the back of my mind I was thinking to myself the same thing that Vival said- I hope this is not just a "quick fix" or drug that my car gets hooked on and now I gotta snort Seafoam every 3000 miles or else my car will go through withdrawl syptoms.

[CorvallisBMW]

I am happy to say that my car is running better after the seafoam treatment. it feels more 'peppy' and the engine seems to sound happier when I rev it hard. no more rattling noise under heavy loads. We'll see if it is still like that in 4 weeks...

[markseven]

Awww.. did zotti go bye-bye?

Anyhow, post 1995 all fuels have detergent additives which is indeed true. But where your teacher is misinformed is that prior to 95 you could only get those detergents in the higher octane gas.

For a long time it was thought that higher octane gas was better quality- and at one time it was but now the quality is the same across the board. I think that part of this has to do with the fact that auto manufacturers are very strict on using the exact octane rating that the car was designed for.

I will keep you guys updated as to the progress of my use of Seafoam. In the back of my mind I was thinking to myself the same thing that Vival said- I hope this is not just a "quick fix" or drug that my car gets hooked on and now I gotta snort Seafoam every 3000 miles or else my car will go through withdrawl syptoms.

In modern cars, timing is adjusted based on octane. Higher octane allows for timing performance-optimized as opposed to retarding timing to control knock (detonation) caused by lower octane fuel. You car will perform better on higher octane. Higher octane is better quality - it is more highly refined.

[CorvallisBMW]

In modern cars, timing is adjusted based on octane. Higher octane allows for timing performance-optimized as opposed to retarding timing to control knock (detonation) caused by lower octane fuel. You car will perform better on higher octane. Higher octane is better quality - it is more highly refined.

yes, all modern cars run knock sensors to prevent pinging and detonation. But it is not true that your car will perfrom better on higher octane fuel, unless it is tuned for it. A Kia will make the same hp on 87 that it does on 92, because it's tuned for 87; the car will not advance timing to make more power when you put in premium fuel. However a Ferrari will make more power on 92 than on 87 because it has been tuned to run on 92. It can retard timing for 87, but it will run like crap comparatively.

[markseven]

yes, all modern cars run knock sensors to prevent pinging and detonation. But it is not true that your car will perfrom better on higher octane fuel, unless it is tuned for it. A Kia will make the same hp on 87 that it does on 92, because it's tuned for 87; the car will not advance timing to make more power when you put in premium fuel. However a Ferrari will make more power on 92 than on 87 because it has been tuned to run on 92. It can retard timing for 87, but it will run like crap comparatively.

Agreed. I didn't understand Scotty's post, I guess.

[vivalegreg]

yea that is a huge misconception with people and gasoline these days. people are either to cheap and wont put the right gas in their car or will be all cocky and buy premium in their kia and think they are hot shit because their gasoline is always supreme. stupid fucking mike jones. i went to school @ UTI in Houston with this guy who drove a supercharged bonneville. he said he didnt know it was supercharged until kids told him and pointed it out that it says supercharged right on the car. not stereotyping but he was this black dude and i hung out and partyed with him on occasion but he kept putting fucking 87 in his 91 tuned car and insisted that it didnt matter either way and i didnt know what i was talking about...We called him Stubbs, Texas ass thug type motherfucker

[vivalegreg]

point is if your car says it takes 91 octance gasoline then put 91. stock e30s are tuned to take 91 from the factory. says so right in the owners manual. you can run 87 in it, but our cars will just retard a bit and adjust itself accordingly.
its your call, if your broke like me in school still and have an 85 318i m10 100hp beater,87 will be fine. but if your in that hot s14 powered car or a 91 318is, 325, etc...your car will be happy with straight 91 octance, good quality gas station brand fuel. reason being is yea it may all come from the same pipeline but different companies use different additive packages.
i personally have heard a lot of good from chevron with techron ( or any station that offers the techron additive like texaco) and shell fuels.

so when it comes down to the right kind of fuel and treatments for your car...if you just bought a $300 e30 that is having fuel issues, and you want to dump some lucas or seafoam in that bitch to get her to run, then by all means do it. But if you have been driving your e30 everyday and put good gas in her everyday then you should be fine.

but hey i could be wrong, i have little experience with seafoam ....and from what i hear you all saying it seams like it has helped a few of you so far. be sure to get back to this post in the next weeks and keep us updated with your progress :)

[CorvallisBMW]

He was going to UTI but had never looked under the hood of his own car? wow, what was he doing there?

[vivalegreg]

wasting money

[CorvallisBMW]

Good resource for gas information:

http://www.toptiergas.com/index.html

[DuMa]

the m20b27 and m20b25 can take 91 octane? it runs just fine on 87?

[CorvallisBMW]

I used to run 87 before I got a chip, and it was fine. With a 8.8:1 CR, there isn't much risk of detonation.

[bmws50b30]

anyone tried this stuff on 24V engines? i assume you'll get the same results

[CorvallisBMW]

All it does is clean carbon and other deopsits from the intake manifold, valves and combustion chambers. So it should be exactly the same whether you have 12v or 24v.