DIY: Seafoam on '03 TL-S
 

Level of Difficulty (scale of 1-10): 2 - it is really that easy

Items Needed:
1 Can of Seafoam
1 Plastic bottle (see through)
1 5/16"x30" tubing (Radiator Overflow tubing is what I used, found at AutoZone or O'Reilly's for ~$3)
10mm Socket and wrench

Directions:
Note: Pictures are high quality, just click on the thumbnails to open in a bigger window.
1. Remove the plastic engine cover with the 10mm Socket and wrench. Place this aside as you will need to re-install it (or leave it off, no harm done)
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/8...2567df7.th.jpg
2. The vehicles engine must be warm, so it is suggested to go for a ride (15-20 minutes) prior to continuing.
3. Turn the vehicle off
4. Remove the tube that goes into the vac port. (Circled with a big red circle in the pic below)
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/7...5692zm5.th.jpg

5. Install the 5/16"x30" tubing to this port/nipple.
6. It is necessary to slowly induce the Seafoam into the engine manifold, as such, dropping the other end of the tubing into the can of Seafoam will either suck up all the Seafoam quickly (which is a waste of Seafoam and time) or you will be second guessing how much to induce withing a specified time. To allow for a proper induction and a visual, I poured the Seafoam (entire 16oz can) into a plastic water bottle.
7. Turn the car on.
8. Let the car idle for a minute or two.
9. Slowly insert the other end of the tubing (from step #5) into the water bottle. You will hear it start to suck the seafoam out. It has to be done slowly, so let is suck a little at a time. This is done by barely hovering the tube above the top of the Seafoam (the suction is strong enough to pull it) and then lifting it out of the bottle.
Note: You will start to hear the vehicle stumble and want to die, I merely stopped the Seafoam induction at that point and let the car catch itself, then started the procedure again.

If done properly, the entire process should take ~3-5 minutes for all the Seafoam to be induced.

10. Turn the car off.
11. Pour a half can of Seafoam into the gas tank. (I did this process with about 2 gallons of fuel left in my tank)
12. Wait 15-20 minutes
13. Turn the vehicle on, it won't want to start and might stumble, give it a little gas and it will turn on.
Note: Large amounts of smoke will result, do not panic as this is normal.
14. Go on a 'spirited' ride for about 10-15 minutes. (I merely drove in D3 for 10 minutes. I was doing about 75-80mph on feeder roads by my house, hitting between 4k and 6k RPM)
15. Get some gas.

Results:
- Noticeable improvement in response and acceleration. Also on the top end, the car responds like it did when I got the car new.

Disclaimer:
I do not want to take anything away from the other Seafoam thread that is going, but it got to long and lots of folks have been posting in it. Many of the pics are for the '99 TL and also some have posted with pics of the '04 TL. The above DIY was done utilizing the resources found in that thread but are for a 2003 TL-S.

I also am not responsible for speeding tickets or any damage that may occur to your vehicle. All that to me is a personal problem. I hope this DIY is more clear and concrete. Please reference the other thread for more pics and instructions if needed. The OTHER THREAD!!!!

Sticky!!!!

Great. :thumbsup:

finally, a sticky

Thnx! This will help me alot, Ill be trying it when I get the chance.

Does this get all 6 cylinders?

^from what i've read in the other thread yes this method hits all 6 cylinders, i did it a few weeks ago and my car struggled but it worked real well, my check engine light was on for about 20 minutes after but then it wen't away i tell people about this anytime i get the chance, tryin to figure out where to throw it in my dad's 83 mercedes... can't waiiiit to see the smoke come outta that thing!!! hahah, great thread though, the other has wayyyyy too many comments, definite sticky!

question: why do i need to buy a separate tube when i can use the one that's already connected there, and just disconnect it from the other end? (i usually pour seafoam down the tube instead of letting it suck stuff up)

^^the hose can swell up from the seafoam

Also, sometimes the hose is not long enough to drop into the bottle.... but either way works... it is totally up to you, buddy....

Is it neccessarry to get an oil change after doing this?

:yes:

No, if you do the above; but if you put Seafoam in the engine crankcase, then only drive for about 15 minutes and then change the oil.... I have never done Seafoam in the oil as I am pretty good with my oil changes and do them in regular intervals....

Ok one last question. Where do you people make your runs?

Open freeways? Side roads?

I'm going to end up doing this on a friends car and neither of us want to get pulled over by the police for something.

freeway side roads- cover of darkness if possible

:werd: just make sure that you don't pull out onto a busy road in front of somebody. You'll cause an accident for sure. :D

Is there any risk of a ticket for this?

For speeding? yes
For doing general maintance to your vehicle? No

whats the point to "seafoaming" the car?

it cleans everthing inside that needs to be clean for maximum efficiency
try google or look at seafoams webiste
People with jetskis and boats are really in love with it- the dodge and bmw forums are all in favor of it

Anyone who thinks they change the oil often-- so seafoam not needed in engine oil before change: oil thats doing its job is picking up combustion byproduct crud and carrying it to the filter to be captured
You all know the dipstick gets dark with oil age/use, now imagine its not getting the old baked on stuff that clogs oil galleys and messes with oil pressure- which vtec depends on sensing a change to engage itself and operate,,,

then run seafoam in crankcase and inspect dipstick again- yikes!
it mat be good plan to install a fresh cheap fram filter when doing the crankcase- just so a fresh filter is able to capture the all the crud, an old filter may be near its dirt capacity

please search, theres sooooo many pages on this...

Any reason as to why this thread is not sticked yet?

Done!

Thanks so much for summarizing and refreshing the Seafoam DIY thread. :thumbsup:

FWIW - I stalled the car once while adding Seafoam through the vacuum port; No problem. 66k miles and only one short plume of white smoke when I floored it getting on the freeway. I guess I got one of the "good" 2002's. :shrug:

Does seem a bit smoother, but it's hard to tell if that's real or the placebo effect. Either way it's good.

Question, so do you need 1 can of seafoam, or 1.5? Because the DIY says to use 1 can (16oz) of seafoam for vac port, and a half can of seafoam in the gas tank, but under the "items needed" part, it only says 1 can of seafoam is needed.

Great DIY btw!!!! Finally I feel confident enough to do it!

with a few different people writing DIY on same subject and now 2 years of gen3 with their own diy- there is confusion
The can size is one of them, as some areas only get 8 oz cans- thats what the origianal diys were written based on

I normally say 8oz in the intake vac port, more than that and the engine just doesnt want to run well enough to bother- you have saturated the parts we want to soak by that point- now shut off engine- put the line and clamp back on- tools away- wash hands- 15 minutes MAX- and now start the engine- let it run at idle a minute till mostly stable- may sound like death- drive 2000 rpm-or less- crawl away from the scene of the crime until engine smooths out- then accellerate and run 4000 rpm 2nd or 3rd gear- use SS mode to hold in gear of choice- then do some side road 10 mph full throttle runs to vtec ~5000 rpm in 2nd gear then back off- repeat repeat repeat
DONT redline- stuff is coming off and flying out- leave some safety margin IMO

this is a great time to rebed the brakes if you need to as well~

2oz foam per gallon of gas in the tank is super cleaning dose, 1oz to 1 gal is maitenance dose now and then
So if you have 1/2 tank of gas- 16 oz foam will do you right- drive it till the fill light comes on and refill as normal

The oil -crankcase method is far more important than most understand- engines are crud factories- oil picks ~most~ of that up and carries it to the filter to be captured- some of it sticks to the walls of the oil passaeways and clogs them up- bad in general- and a TL operates the vtec off sensing oil pressure change with rpm increase- so cleaning the passages just got important to us!

Intake vac port and gas tank method need 2nd time at 2000 miles for full max effect- then once a year is good- or before a trip-

.... just buy 3 cans (vac port, crank case, gas tank)

thanks, that's great info!

Thanks again, 01tl4tl.

Just seafoamed my car. The smoke only lasted for like 5 minutes, and the engine light was on too. But after that, the light and smoke were gone. But I kept driving "spiritedly" for the next 10-15 minutes. Btw..I saw a cop going the opposite direction as I was doing this...glad that i slowed down quick enough...lol!

Thanks for the tips guys!!

Btw, I can feel VTEC kicking in again, I mean, I can easily feel a very noticeable kick in the back at around 5000rpm. Before seafoaming, the change was not as obvious.

you may want to run foam thru the engine oil right before the next change then as well.
Vtec senses an increase in oil pressure with rpm - that operates the hydraulics to power vtec- its pretty trick if you research how it all works.
I didnt think doing the oil clean was all that important- until the research said otherwise

remember to do the gas tank and intake vac method again in approx 2000 miles- that gives it the final bit needed to ensure max clean and max results- then good for a year.

Look so exiting! cant wait to to mine this weekend. I just got a 5/16" tube from Autozone on the way home.
Will post the result after that.

thanks gain 01tl4tl. But the thing is, I'm not a mechanically inclined person (funny how I'm studying mechanical engineering...), and in fact, i don't know how to do an oil change. I know it's an easy task for you guys, and I thin if there's a DIY similar to this one (with pictures and step-by-step guidelines) then I'd able to do it also.

It requires 1 wrench and a trip to the parts store tochange the oil
they even sell complete sets with oil catch pan and rags!

Instructions are in the owner manual- here is the free download of acura manuals
click year then model for yours
https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/...01_OMANUAL.asp

Thanks! I don't know what else to say beside saying thank you again.

The manual mentions a special wrench has to be used, can I just use any wrench that I have?

After reading the other sea foam thread, I'm still a bit confused.

For the oil method, I warm up the engine first by driving around for 15 minutes or so. Then turn off the engine, and add in 8oz of seafoam into the crankcase. Then drive around for 15 minutes. Turn off engine again, and then do an oil change and also install a new oil filter?

Am I missing anything?

I just put seafoam in my car today and it's an awesome difference. I am going to seafoam it again after I drive another 2K miles for max clean up.

What I did with 2 can of seafoam:

1) 1/2 can in intake manifold
2) 1/2 can in half gas tank
3) 1/2 can in oil
4) 1/2 can in gas tank after I do a refill in a few days

Also, change my oil after driving for about 20 miles. That was alot of smoke by the way. Everyone should seafoam their TL.

You will want to change the oil and filter pretty soon- dont wait 2000 miles to do that!
Usually idle in the driveway or drive a little after foaming the engine oil- then change it!

If you only do the vac port and gas tank method- you do not have to change the oil until its next normal time.
If you add foam to the engine oil- you need to change it very soon- crud fills up the oil filter- especially the first time you do it.

On the gas tank method- for best results run 2 oz foam to 1 gallon of gas- or 8oz-half a normal can to 1/4 tank of gas
If you put half a can into half a tank that 1 oz to 1 gallon- which is a good maitenance dose- but may as well go for it and do the real cleaning- then be blown away with the results

I wanted add these pics to this thread, it should assist others when doing this and the pics are real good. Thanks to Tommy for the pics:

well there are some basic errors in this diy now! go back and read about the smoke- the correct sipsipsip method, and correct after foam warm up and drive!!
What plug brand are those- cant make out the name on the box

The reason for pulling the CLOCK fuse is its the secret ECU power and resets the CEL- which should have cleared itself with a day of driving. Likely culprit is crud on O2 sensor. Pulling that fuse will not make you reset the radio security system since the battery was not disconnected

I never thought we would have to tell people this MOST BASIC STEP, but

MOVE THE CAR OUTSIDE OF THE GARAGE BEFORE SEAFOAM TO THE INTAKE!!!!

^ haha i stayed in my garage, glad that there wasn't a lot of smoke until I drove the car out! Also, if I pour the seafoam the NIGHT before the oil change, would that be alright? or MUST I pour it in on the SAME day of the oil change?

Also, I think you pour in 1/2 can (8oz) of seafoam for 1/4 tank of gas, and a full can (16oz) for 1/2 tank of gas.