So I bought this last weekend after hearing good reviews and having been impressed with the "pour in your gas tank" variety. You use a half can and its supposed to smoke out your exhaust, I guess burning off the carbon deposits. So before I do something like this on my TL I thought I'd run my 240k Integra through the paces first.

So followed the instructions on the can, started my car 5 mins later and drove it around in a "spirited" fashion. Decent amount of white smoke for about the first 5 mins and done. Car seems to idle a bit smoother and at a lower RPM, so I was somewhat impressed(especially by the white smoke).

Now for the TL, I've owned it since 59k miles and purchased it certified from an Acura dealer. I also run Mobil 1 and only use name brand gas(BP, Shell, Mobil). Followed the instructions again, started the car and no smoke. Took it out on the freeway and hit VTEC a couple times and no smoke. I guess I take this as I had very little carbon deposit on my TL.

I don't beat on my cars(as evidenced by my Integra with 240k) and try to do all of my scheduled maintenance, but should I really have had no smoke?

Any other have experience with this product? And don't feel the need to reply if all you are going to tell me is that Seafoam is garbage(I've used it on 4 cars and 2 jetskis all with excellent results).

 

Seafoam is just pale oil and solvent; the oil burning up in engine is what causes the majority of the smoke from the tail-pipe, not the carbon deposits.

Personally, I'm hesitant to use anything like Seafoam because of the close-coupled cats in our cars; which could be damaged. I have used Redline SI-1 (w/ PEA) about once a year in the fuel tank, though.

 

Thank you! I'm going to market a product, maybe "IHC engine cleaner". It's going to be automatic transmission fluid labeled as a cleaner that can go in the crank case, fuel tank, or through the intake and it's going to make tons of smoke and people will think it's REALLY cleaning their engine.

Or better yet, a product that works..... assuming you actually have deposits which is very unlikely. I'll bottle some distilled water, add some dye, label it as a top engine cleaner, and sell it for $30 for a pint..... and it will actually work.

 

^^ I'd buy it. sounds like a great product

 

i recent foamed my 170k TL and after a couple of 3rd gear pulls, no smoke.
Car did accelerate smoother and the hwy speed did drop by about 200rpms.
I guess it did the job despite no smoke

 

So what you're saying is Seafoam changed your gear ratio.

 

if you take good care of your car you dont need seafoam

 

I drink that shit instead of coffee mang

But I did it before, I thought that car ran smoother too. Maybe it was all in my head but it didn't hurt the car either so what ever

 

Yeah. How the heck did it do that?

 

Agreed, maybe that is why my TL failed to smoke. I thought I said something about seafoam haters stay off this thread, oh well . Doubtful that this product does nothing, so the distilled water and dyes comment is a bit off base. Tend to think it is more for higher mileage vehicles though. Thanks for the comments.

 

The part you're failing to understand is that any smoke you might see is the seafoam itself burning. Carbon can't "reburn" lol and the minute amount that accumulates in the combustion chamber would not be noticeable out the tailpipe. Water works just as well if not better than seafoam. You can make the argument that seafoam has the potential to contribute more combustion chamber deposits because it's petroleum based, it burns.

It's not about being a "Seafoam hater". That implies an opinion. It's not my opinion that seafoam is not necessary in most of the cars it's used in or that the smoke is just the seafoam burning. People were using that stuff back in '06 when these cars had 10,000 miles on them and claiming these miraculous differences. The one guy in this thread already claimed lower rpms on the freeway which is absolutely and completely impossible unless he swapped out the transmission's final drive ratio at the same time. This is similar to the oil threads where people claim the car is noticeably quicker after an oil change of the same brand and weight.

 

Here are the intake valves of a 108k mile Honda Pilot with no fuel or intake treatment. Valves & ports are spotless. The dirty runners are from the PCV system and I have since added a catch can. We've had this truck since 93k miles and we only run Chevron 87 gasoline. Proof that decent detergent gas is all you need. Save your money for good oil kids and don't waste it on Seafoam.



BTW: I've used seafoam only 2 times on two different cars. Both times I had o2 sensors start to act up within a month. This was a 200k mile CRX, and a JDM B18C swapped Civic in excellent condition.

 

Look for chevron techron concentrate fuel system cleaner!

 

Fully agreed. I hope to have similar pictures before the end of the year. The DI people could probably use Seafoam on a weekly basis.

 

What for? If it's already in the gasoline, then there is nothing more to clean.

 

I thought that Seafoam was an energy drink....no wonder I could never find it.

 

Isn't All the new 2013 Honda Accords going to DI (Direct Injection)?

 

I know there are doubters of Seafoam, but if this stuff really does nothing why is it a sticky on the 2nd Gen TL forum and mods over there seem to this this stuff has some benefits.

I know there are all kinds of "fix all" products out there, but it would seem to me that Seafoam is fairly tried and true. I've heard they even teach doing a seafoam induction cleaning in some mechanic schools.

Here's the thread from the 2nd gen forum for all you haters https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-tl-1999-2003-98/diy-seafoam-03-tl-s-638176/

 

That's probably because there is one 2G member that drinks that stuff for breakfast and probably sleeps with it under his pillow.

I tried it once and couldn't tell a difference. That in no way proves it doesn't do what it's claimed to do. I imagine it will do what it claims, but using it is a waste of money if you are using quality gas.

My argument is not that it's "snake oil", but that it is not needed.

 

Seafoam might possibly be useful in an old carbureted car with lots of miles on it. These modern cars with wideband 02s that see closed loop operation extremely quick and have very precise control over the AF ratio and even ignition just don't get the deposits of older cars. You can pull apart a 100,000 mile TL engine and still see the piston tops with virtually no carbon.

As I said, people were seafoaming 10,000 mile TLs and claiming it made this huge difference. You might as well seafoam a brand new TL and claim a difference. People feel what they want to feel. It's worse than car audio in that respect. Water does a better job of decarbonization than a solvent. Do solvents do anything other than burn off and leave deposits?

 

Are they? I really like DI for it's performance benefits. But it seems like every manufacturer that has gone to it has had toothing problems which are to be expected. Cylinder wall washdown leading to excessive wear, fuel in the oil, and the most common, intake ports that look like they have a few million miles on them from 20,000 miles of use. If they use something like Lexus did with the IS350 with a normal port injector that's used sometimes to keep the intake port and valve clean would be better. Or eliminating EGR and using a catch can system for the PCV.

 

^I thought DI was only good for fuel economy, while port injection allows for better WOT performance.

The FR-S/BRZ uses both DI and port injection (8 injectors total).

 

To add more salt to the wound, my car/engine had a bent rod days before doing seafoam-- could be nothing to do with it, but I guess I haven't had the best luck with Seafoam.

 

It allows a higher compression ratio, leaner AF under some conditions, and/or more boost for a given octane. Higher compression means better fuel economy and power.

You can do a turbo setup and run "normal" compression with a fair amount of boost on top which leaves the door open to use small engines with higher compression and slightly more boost, greatly boosting mpg while keeping power reasonable. The side benefits are quicker turbo spool and more torque off boost. The 335 is a great example of DI and a turbo working together. The powerband goes from just off idle to redline.

Kind of neat. Normally (and in some DI engines under some conditions) the fuel is injected from the injector in the intake port through the open intake valve on the intake stroke. With DI, the fuel is not injected until right before the plug fires, greatly reducing, nearly eliminating the chances of pre-ignition but detonation can still occur. It does what would require race gas otherwise. The port injector being used part time is nice because it provides the cleaning of the intake port that we take for granted and provides a little cooling as well.