To seafoam or not seafoam

[tylerc56]

I HAVE AN 04 ACURA TL WITH 96K ON IT AND I WAS GETTING READY TO REPLACE THE SPARK PLUGS WITH NGK LASER IRIDIUMS AND WAS WONDERING ON WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS ARE OF USING SEAFOAM? HAVE YOU USED IT? PROS AND CONS? AND HOW AND WHERE DO YOU USE IT? WHAT ALL DO YOU CHANGE AFTER USING IT? DIDNT KNOW IF ANYONE HAD PICS OF BEFORE AND AFTER PICS OR D.I.Y. I HAVE HERD GOOD AND BAD SO JUST WONDERING WHAT YOU GUYS WOULD DO?

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[andrew070489]

i have used it with good results.. i used it via the pcv valve suck 1/2 the bottle slowly into the valve while lightly reving the engine to keep it alive.. after the 1/2 is sucked up turn off the car immediately.. wait 10 minutes or so then drive around,, the clouds of white smoke is okay it will be all the grime being burnt out of your engine.. after i replace the pcv valve - $5 and used iridium plugs from NGK - $7 each

[andrew070489]

^^ drive til no more smoke is present from the exhaust,, dont hurt the engine but the hotter the engine gets the more sludge it will burn off.

[tylerc56]

Do i put the other half of bottle in gas tank? If it was so great how come the acura dealership doesnt do it or suggest it? Im torn both ways.

[TL|GTX]

Thier are alot of threads on here. But ya u could use half bottle through the vac tube, and then half through the gas tank, or the crank case(were the motor oil goes). But i think the gas tank seafoaming is kinda hard, i don't really understand the steps, and dont wanna mess my car up. For that many miles u have the seafoam will work really good.

[Bearcat94]

Do it. Follow the steps in this thread:

http://tl.acurazine.com/forums/showt...hlight=seafoam

If you get confused there is summary on the last page or two.

[01tl4tl]

no need for Laser Iridiums
You want NGK Iridium--thats all for gen3

To do it right buy a spray can of Deep Creep (seafoam in aerosol form) makes it way easier to do the vac port on the manifold

Use a full can in 1/2 tank of gas, or use Redlinbe SI-1 in the gas- same way, bottle to 1/2 tank

Read the can of deep creep for more tips on adding thru intake manifold- with higher rpm to blast carbon off- we all use idle speed but maybe this is better~

do NOT use the pcv valve, maybe a little to get thru the ports, but the main vac port right at the TB is what you NEED to be using to get everything clean

Also get the TB buttefly plate- it will be full of oily residue from pcv system and must be clean on its faces and edges for best running
Do the seafoam a week before the plugs change to give it all time to work out the crud and start fresh
Repeat gas and vac method in a month or 2 then good for a year
Acura DOES suggest this type of cleaning- they sell it as Induction Service $150
They pour seafoam or similar product into a can of gas and run the engine off it for 15-30 minutes- then go for a hot foot drive!
You can buy a 3 can kit at honda, one for the TB plate, one for the intake vac port and one for the gas $50

[01tl4tl]

seafoam current price 7 to 9 dollars for 16 oz liquid can and 9 for the spray can
at a-zone
ww has liquid for a few dollars less, but no spray

keep an eye open for coupons!

[01tl4tl]

when you are ready to change the engine oil, thats when you add some to the crankcase (thru oil filler cap) and idle 10 minutes or drive to oil change place,

or if you suspect dirty engine/want to be thorough -install a new oil filter, add seafoam and drive ~100 miles- change the oil and filter...it will likely be full of sludge removed from the oil passages,,
notice the weight of the filter compared to the first one you removed

[TL|GTX]

01 i didnt understand what u just said, i though u just buy some seafoam and pour half the bottle into a cup then just take the vac thing off and slowly suck up all the stuff, then turn ur engine off and wait 20min, then turn the ur car and drive like hell?

[golfjwr]

is there certain mileage that is recommended for this application?

[andrew070489]

^^ it can be used for all miles, but i think its targeter towards some decent mileage to keep crud down and performance up

[DasTeknoViking]

Acura sells better stuff.... go to your local dealer and ask for a can of Top Engine Cleaner. This is the stuff we use to clean up the engine a bit.

Mind you, if you want it done right you need a BG fuel injector flush and induction cleaning done with a special machine. This works better than SeaFoam.

[01tl4tl]

bg is good stuff- so is seafoam- so is wynns, use something is my point
Every 15k miles is a good idea to keep the car running its best
the ethanol 10% gas is crap for car engines-leaves behind more residues than the old gas

Any of these product require more than pour into a cup and suck it up.
read the seafoam diy and you will understand the reasons behind warmup drive and introducing cleaner - 5-15 minutes wait time, then a specific letting it clear out driving rpm - then some more --thats IMO if you want it to do its best work for you

[01tl4tl]

for the average person who doesnt want to drop $150 for the bg machine method at the dealer, our simple main vac port gets the intake valves and all the intake runners.
In the gas, good cleaner (redline SI-1 is a favorite among many) will restore injector spray pattern/mist, and cleaning the TB plate with spray is better than nothing at all~

[tylerc56]

I finally seafoamed.. Smoked like hell for a bit but on day two i started it and now it sounded like a go cart till it was warm? Anyone else notice this? I was planning on changinf the plugs tomorrow.

[HONgDA]

I seafoamed yesterday @ 54k miles and I only saw one burst of smoke during the light drive. Nothing during the 4k rpm and WOT drive. ??? I followed the DIY, I guess its fairly clean in there but I'll redo it in 2000 miles.