Seafoam FTW!

[Jscotty]

Yeah.. I purposely omitted a couple of things from my post as to not cause confusion but what happens is that when you put 91 or 93 into a poor running car that is supposed to take 87, it may appear to run better but it will only mask the existing problems.

And they keep running that 93 and then when the car breaks down they say, "wow! The car was running just fine and then all of a sudden it died on me.

[Farbin Kaiber]

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

My shop in Rancho Cucamunga is always doing work for the local UTI students, In fact my boss charged one $200.00 on my day off to put a bolt back in an engine mount the "technitian" customer could not find.

[Jscotty]

Ok. I am going into my second week of using seafoam. The car started running slightly "normal" again. I don't know if I have just gotten used to the performance or if the car is reverting back to its old ways. I still have not changed the oil and I had not put any in the gas tank as of yet but yesterday I sucked in another treatment through the vaccuum line and waited exactly 5 mintues this time. And in this instance I got the cloud of smoke and the bad smell (as others have testified) and again, the car sputtered and ran a little rough until I drove it for 20 minutes. But it seemed to run much smoother and much much quieter.

So I don't know for sure if this has been a gradual improvement or if it the car started to revert back to its old ways.

[euroshark]

I'm a little hesitant to put Seafoam in with the oil only because you don't know what could get dislodged and clog up your oil pump, especially with most of our motors having seeing well over 150,000 miles and possibly sketchy maintenance throughout their lives... I did however notice an improvement after sucking about 1.5 cans in through the intake of my E28... TONS AND TONS of smoke, it looked like someone was burning a mattress under my car... It smoked for a while, and once I drove it for a bit it idled smooth, pulled much more smoothly, and I was getting better gas mileage. My guess is that it burned most of the carbon off of my pistons and combustion chambers.

If I were going to put anything in my oil, it would be that Lubro Moly MoS2 anti friction treatment.

[CorvallisBMW]

If I were going to put anything in my oil, it would be that Lubro Moly MoS2 anti friction treatment.

BavAuto currently has some big Lubro Moly engine treatment kit on sale, with engine, valve and injector cleaners as well as the anti-friction stuff. I am thinking about trying it in both the cars.

But the Seafoam is great, I noticed the car just runs smoother and seems happier. Valves are still noisy, but hey it's no magic wand.

[Jscotty]

Good point. That is the reason why I was afraid to put "Motor Flush" in the crankcase. When I got the minivan, the oil had not been changed in over 20,000 miles. I consulted a mechanic about this and he suggested that I just change the oil every week until the oil runs "clear" and maybe that will dissolve the tough dirt.

[vivalegreg]

And in this instance I got the cloud of smoke and the bad smell (as others have testified) and again, the car sputtered and ran a little rough until I drove it for 20 minutes. But it seemed to run much smoother and much much quieter.
So I don't know for sure if this has been a gradual improvement or if it the car started to revert back to its old ways.

sounds like you still have a bunch of carbon buildup in your engine. it seems to me that this is a treatment that you need to repeat until your car doesnt puff out smoke anymore.

i am also not sure about putting it in my oil because of fear of clogging the pump like euroshark was saying. hey j does has the frequent oil changes been helping that minivan?

keep us updated throughout the week and let us know if the seafoam over time is helping or not. and pay attention to how much and how thick carbon smoke you have coming out of your car

[euroshark]

Corvallis, you will never get rid of valve noise on the older motors, it's just how they are! As an Alfa mechanic once told me (about my Alfa, but it's still relevant) "If you can't hear them, they are too tight". The noise is inherent to the design, and even though they can be kinda noisy if you know what you are hearing, I have never heard a BMW engine that sounded as horrifically tappity as my Alfa's 2.5!

[CorvallisBMW]

Corvallis, you will never get rid of valve noise on the older motors, it's just how they are! As an Alfa mechanic once told me (about my Alfa, but it's still relevant) "If you can't hear them, they are too tight". The noise is inherent to the design, and even though they can be kinda noisy if you know what you are hearing, I have never heard a BMW engine that sounded as horrifically tappity as my Alfa's 2.5!

Ya I know, i was just being sarcastic :)

[Jscotty]

hey j does has the frequent oil changes been helping that minivan?

I did 4 oil changes in a month before it started to run clear. I changed the oil a month later and it was filthy black again so if it was not improving the condition of the engine, I was definately getting the dirt out of it. I changed it twice since then (at 2000 mile intervals) and got the same results. I am overdue for an oil change at this point but I am not worried about it because I am loosing about a quart a week through the valve cover and the oil is being refreshed every week. Fixing it will probably take 30 to 45 minutes but sometimes I cant help procrastinating.

[Court M3]

I tried it in the gas tank this week and the car does seem to run smoother and pull harder now. Still have to try the intake though.

[Jscotty]

Do it. Its like cocaine for your car. Let your car suck in a couple of lines and it will be flyin in no time!

EDIT: Or maybe it's more or less like heroin.

[Julien]

it really works wonders on cars that have been "babied" there entire life and automatics (ie: have carbon deposits) ...

[vivalegreg]

more like cocaine...its an upper!

[Tavern Gnome]

I'm also happy to announce that my cars funky hot start problem has not once shown its face since the sea foam treatment.