***Official Seafoam Thread***

I have a 2000 E46 BMW 323i, its manual, very clean, and drives well. I was thinking about Seafoaming it to clean out all the muck from the previous 300,000km. I was gonna do it but my friend said that i should be careful because it might end up damaging it instead of helping it. I would just like to know if it would be alright to do it or is it too risky. Alot of people have done it with cars with even more kms, but i just want to know if my car will improve or get worst. Any advise would be great. Thanks

How were you planning on using it?

This will determine the risks you face.

I have used the spray in the TB, and Another time I added the liquid version to the crankcase, followed by an oil change a few hundred miles later.

On both occasions, I felt no improvements.

My engine is pretty clean inside, as observed while doing my VCG, with 290k miles on the clock.
I doubt it was because of this snake oil (seafoam), but rather proper maintenance, timely OCI's, and 91 octane.

I would say save your money on this.

I did it to my old Toyota Camry a few years back and noticed no improvement in the car at all. I personally wouldn't spend money on it, but that's just me.

Well I was initially going to buy it 2 bottles and use one bottle in a full tank of gas, half shortly before my next oil change and half through the vacuum line. But I've been told that putting it through vacuum line will ruin your pumps so I was just thinking of just getting one bottle doing it in the vacuum lines and oil. Would that be alright or still too risky for what its worth.

Originally Posted by ryannel2003

I did it to my old Toyota Camry a few years back and noticed no improvement in the car at all. I personally wouldn't spend money on it, but that's just me.

People said that if your car is old you'll feel a significant difference in your low end and much better throttle response? If that's true then I might be tempted to use it.

Please dont put any sea nor any foam in your engine. You should only put Synthetic motor oil in it.

Who on Earth told you that you have muck on your engine, show me that person and I will personally tell him hes a retard. Follow your owners manual for the correct spec oil and change it every 10-12k kms .

If you experience poor performance then you need to find out whats holding the car back. Whatever you'll find out wont be the engine. The way this car is made is everything around the engine will fall apart but the engine itself will be running well over 500k kms .

You need to do ALOT of reading about E46s before you go and start putting some foam inside the engine

Lol well I'm guessing that no one on this forum thinks sea foam actually works. Just that I heard a pot if good things about it being the only product that actually works, and considering it is only $12 for a bottle that will clean he engine of the car thought it was a good idea. So sea foam really does nothing?

Again, why do you think that you need to clean your engine? Please tell me ! What makes you think that the engine may need cleaning of some sort ?

DO you know how the engine works? Ever looked under the valve cover to find any dirt ?

People seem to have a misconception about seafoam... that it's this "snake oil" or from the sea... or foam or some BS.

Plain and simply, it's a colorless solvent. Similar to Chevron w/ Techron w/ BMW sells at dealers with the BMW name... or similar to whats in gasoline. If you use it in your crankcase, you shouldn't use it for very long.

It doesn't need to be used in an engine thats seen regular oil changes, but if your car's oil change history is unknown, I'd do it before doing your first oil change.

I've done it to all my cars and have seen no ill-effects. In fact, it has made some of my cars run smoother.

Only reason people use seaform is too make a huge white cloud of smoke and post the video on YouTube

It's all for entertainment

The owners manual says to run a fuel injector cleaner ever 5k.

I just throw a can in my gas tank fill it and run it every couple of months or so. Snake oil or whatever you want to call it, Its like what less then 5 bucks a can and to be honest, my engine runs a little smoother the first time I did it, at least feels like it (after i went though the tank of gas w/ seafoam.

I havent done the vacuume line thing or anything like that...Just a can in the gas tank every 5-8k.

Seafoam is a great product to be used as it is intended.
it is intended to be used as follows :
1/3 of the bottle in the fuel tank (helps clean like the above poster said).
1/3 of the bottle in the oil crankcase (has no effect unless the car has not had regular oil changes).
1/3 of the bottle through the intake mani - some people use the brake booster vacuum line (this part usually helps a lot of older cars with high mileage on them. It cleans the carbon around the intake, plugs, throttle body, injectors, etc.).

Keep in mind... if you have no carbon buildup in your car, SeaFoam will do absolutely nothing. Typically BMW owners take better care of their vehicles (regular oil changes, good fuel, etc.) so you may not see much of a response from it.

If your engine internals are clean, sea foam will do nothing.
I have tried it and I have pictures of VC removed before and after the seafoam treatment. No change at all.

I used the sea foam through gas tank, brake booster and directly in the oil fill hole.
Changed the oil after 100 miles and removed the VCG again to see if the cams will look shinier. NOT AT ALL, it looked the same even with a ton of smoke coming out of the exhaust. May be it burnt the carbon built up in the exhaust and thats all. No change in the throttle feeling, mpgs or smoothness. I was just giving it a try to see if it will increase mpgs, but NO.

Its your choice OP, it wont do harm if you have a clean engine and use it as directed. May be it will burn off the gunk if your engine is gunked, but I have photographs to prove nothing changed on a clean engine. So, its your choice.

However, if you use it in the gas tank, I advise you to change the fuel filter after that. I did and the fuel that came out of the filter looked really dark.
Also, change the oil and filter after about 100 miles if you use it directly in the engine.

May be if its VCG time for you, you can do the same experiment I did. Open up the VC and check for sludge, if there is(or isnt any) do the seafoam treatement and check the VCG again.

I had to do it because I had VCG leak before and after the seafoam, I dont advice you to do it if you dont have a leaky VCG.

Originally Posted by FreeAtLast

Well I was initially going to buy it 2 bottles and use one bottle in a full tank of gas, half shortly before my next oil change and half through the vacuum line. But I've been told that putting it through vacuum line will ruin your pumps so I was just thinking of just getting one bottle doing it in the vacuum lines and oil. Would that be alright or still too risky for what its worth.

Run it for a heck of it as you intend to.
But change oil, oil filter and fuel filter after that.
You will notice much more difference with a fuel filter change if not the sea foam.

Originally Posted by Blocked Out

Again, why do you think that you need to clean your engine? Please tell me ! What makes you think that the engine may need cleaning of some sort ?

DO you know how the engine works? Ever looked under the valve cover to find any dirt ?

I looked, before and after using the sea foam

Originally Posted by Wibbles

The owners manual says to run a fuel injector cleaner ever 5k.

I just throw a can in my gas tank fill it and run it every couple of months or so. Snake oil or whatever you want to call it, Its like what less then 5 bucks a can and to be honest, my engine runs a little smoother the first time I did it, at least feels like it (after i went though the tank of gas w/ seafoam.

I havent done the vacuume line thing or anything like that...Just a can in the gas tank every 5-8k.

So you are saying, you run sea foam every couple of months in the gas tank?
Sea foam is used to burn out the carbon deposits, and if you are burning anything in the gas tank, the residue gets stuck in the fuel filter.
Better change the fuel filter. I bet you will feel a lot more smoothness by changing the fuel filter now that you ran so much of sea foam in your car.
Also, it breaks down the oil along with any deposits inside the engine, I hope you are changing oil every 5~6k with every seafoam treatment, because the oil will loose its properties once mixed with seafoam whether from gas tank or directly in the crank.

Originally Posted by Xrobber

Seafoam is a great product to be used as it is intended.
it is intended to be used as follows :
1/3 of the bottle in the fuel tank (helps clean like the above poster said).
1/3 of the bottle in the oil crankcase (has no effect unless the car has not had regular oil changes).
1/3 of the bottle through the intake mani - some people use the brake booster vacuum line (this part usually helps a lot of older cars with high mileage on them. It cleans the carbon around the intake, plugs, throttle body, injectors, etc.).

Keep in mind... if you have no carbon buildup in your car, SeaFoam will do absolutely nothing. Typically BMW owners take better care of their vehicles (regular oil changes, good fuel, etc.) so you may not see much of a response from it.

+1.

However, I did notice my car idled at 500~600 rpm on the day I used seafoam. Then next day it came back to normal at 600~700 rpm.

OP, if you plan to use it from the brake booster, easiest way is to use turkey baster. I had a turkey baster used for power steering (ATF) fluid flush and I used the same. No chance of hydrolocking or whatever, and you can measure the exact amount.

I used it in my 250k km car last spring, and it clearly improved idle. It may also have smoothed the low revs a bit, can't tell for sure. The downside is my car used to leak one drop of oil every week or so (oil pan gasket) but right after seafoam it was more like one drop every day or two. I guess it took some crap out that was preventing the oil from leaking. Anyway this just means I have to change the gasket, which I already knew.
I used 1/3 in vaccum line, 1/3 in crankcase, and 1/3 in a half gas tank. I changed the oil 20-30 km afterwards.
Runs fine since. Idle is super smooth. Just don't expect it to be the end of all your problems.
People yelling around that you should avoid using it are as clueless as people swearing it's a magical beverage for our cars.

Sorry if this post doesn't make sense. I am writing on a cell phone.

Originally Posted by trj

Run it for a heck of it as you intend to.
So you are saying, you run sea foam every couple of months in the gas tank?
Sea foam is used to burn out the carbon deposits, and if you are burning anything in the gas tank, the residue gets stuck in the fuel filter.
Better change the fuel filter. I bet you will feel a lot more smoothness by changing the fuel filter now that you ran so much of sea foam in your car.
Also, it breaks down the oil along with any deposits inside the engine, I hope you are changing oil every 5~6k with every seafoam treatment, because the oil will loose its properties once mixed with seafoam whether from gas tank or directly in the crank.

This has made me think I've done something wrong (lawds), now that i think about it I havent run seafoam though it in about ~10-12k. I did do an oil change though after I did it.And I have a fuel filter is coming in with some other stuff i gotta do.Though i wouldnt see how the Chevron with Techron wouldnt hurt that much compared to Seafoam if you do it maybe every other oil change. Though what do i know. I just dont trust the 10% ethnol mixes even with buying gas from like a Shell or BP.

Originally Posted by Wibbles

This has made me think I've done something wrong (lawds), now that i think about it I havent run seafoam though it in about ~10-12k. I did do an oil change though after I did it.And I have a fuel filter is coming in with some other stuff i gotta do.Though i wouldnt see how the Chevron with Techron wouldnt hurt that much compared to Seafoam if you do it maybe every other oil change. Though what do i know. I just dont trust the 10% ethnol mixes even with buying gas from like a Shell or BP.

I agree with you on the ethanol mixed gas we get in the winter. But running sea foam in the gas tank regularly will clog up the fuel filter real quick. I am sure you will find dark petrol coming out of the filter along with some burnt paper like stuff. At least thats what came out of the filter when I did mine. Not sure if PO changed the fuel filter before(or after inspection II).

I sometimes use techron on the last tank before I change the oil. This gives me peace of mind on I am not leaving crud on the oil filter for long. Techron is much less harsher than sea foam. It is an additive and not a cleaner. So, it is less effective in burning crud hence will not clean everything, but also will not clog the fuel filter much.
I change oil in about 10~12k miles.

But I dont advise anyone to use sea foam regularly and if you do use it once in a while do change your filters promptly after that tank of gas.

i was wondering what is the correct way to use seafoam for the engine and oil. i had heard that after using seafoam for the oil to drive 100 miles (not at once) and then change the oil. is that true?

The search function is your friend.

http://www.seafoamsales.com/how-to-u...treatment.html

1 1/2 ounce per each quart of oil and drive the car for 100 mile is what SeaFoam recommends. This would be a full can for you crankcase, slight higher as the cans are 10 ounce cans as I recall.

SeaFoam recommends 1 ounce per quart for complete drive cycles.

I can tell you I ran a full can in a 4.5 quart crankcase for 2500 miles during the cooler months without any negative effects. Matter of fact when oil was changed it has stayed very clean after the oil change relative to prior changes.

I have not cracked open the engine since I have run the treatment, but it does appear to really help clean up deposits.