So i recently did a seafoam treatment on my 07 MCS with 39,000 miles on it. i have read about taking the engine apart and cleaning it that way and some people saying the seafoam was not very effective. i have to say though i think it work pretty well. what i did instead of pouring the seafoam directly into the pcv line is i hooked a drip up to the pcv line. this allowed the seafoam to drip slowly into the line over a period of like a half hour. it seemed to work very well. i got plumes of smoke coming out the tail pipe for a good ten minutes. i know it's not as good as taking everything a part and cleaning it but to those who don't want to take the engine apart i would recommend doing it this way. i have tried in the past just pouring it into the pcv line and it just does not work the same. if you are going to do it, get a drip that can slowly distribute the seafoam into the pcv line over time. it will work way better!

 

What proof is there that it works at all, let alone way better?

 

i was just saying it works better then just pouring it into the pcv line rather then letting it drip. the only proof is the amount of smoke that comes out the tail pipes and maybe that means nothing. when i just poured it in i got almost no smoke out the tail pipe, when i let it drip slowly i got a ton. i still would say that taking the engine apart and cleaning it by hand is the best way to get the carbon out.

 

When you did it by pouring it into the line and letting it run until almost cutting off. Then turn car off, did you let it sit for 30-45 min. before restarting?
This is when the smoke usually pours out the exhaust.

Also, using this drip method, are you doing that while the car is sitting at idle? Or, are you talking about a drip method while driving the car? This wondering.

 

you know no i didnt. i poured it in a little bit at a time so i didn't kill the motor, then i shut it off, let it sit for 5 minutes and then started it back up. when i did the drip i just let it sit at an idle for about a half hour with the drip distributing the seafoam slowly.

 

Have bought something like 8 new cars over the years - one of them - a Dodge dealer had the chief mechanic offer a class. He stated engines he had disassembled that ran Chevron with Techron were much cleaner inside and recommended Chevron gas.

So I subscribe to the constant cleaning method on the MINI - it's IV comes straight from the tanks - Chevron Supreme with Techron.

 

i agree i only use Chevron supreme in my tank. i heard though that since they are direct injected the gas does not clean the top part of the engine. (i'm not expert so i'm sorry if that is wrong) and therefor you have to clean it out by either taking the top off and cleaning it by hand or doing a seafoam treatment

 

No, you aren't necessarily wrong but I don't think letting the car sit at idle for 30 minutes is good for the engine. I think the other part of the issue (pouring the seafoam in faster) the point is it has to set for 30-45 min for the seafoam to work. It will still only get the soft stuff out however. If the engine gets really carboned up the only way to really clean it is to take the intake man. off and hand clean it.
Also, Chevron gas is good and on top of the gas, I always throw a bottle of Cheveron techron in about every 3K miles. Can't hurt and I've got 65.5K on my car and never a carbon problem yet.

 

yeah i put a cleaner in my gas tank every oil change(5,000) miles. i liked the drip method too because when i poured it in, i had to block the line with my thumb and then take my thumb off pour the seafoam in and then block it off before my engine died. where as with the drip it does not do that and i can just let it idle at a normal idle and let the seafoam drip slowly in. i would think letting it idle for long periods of time regularly would be bad for the engine but doing it every once in a while as i am doing a seafoam treatment shouldn't hurt anything, but again i'm no expert so i could be way wrong.

 

You know, you can run seafoam in your oil, between oil changes. I had to rebuild my mini (it was wrecked and broke the Turbo) and I used a Turbo that I got off of eBay,. The unit that I got was almost plugged with carbon, from using crap oil, or going too long between changes. I cleaned and flushed the turbo out as best I could, then I added seafoam to the oil and ran it for three thousand miles. The oil looked really black and the filter had lots of junk in it when I changed it. I can only assume that this was from the seafoam cleaning out the engine. By the same reasoning, the seafoam was also going thru the PCV system, and possibly cleaning the top of the valves. I can't say for certain, but the logic sounds reasonable.

 

Logic sounds right. Just wonder if it breaks the oil down too much though. I guess a couple thousand miles probably wouldn't hurt.
Some other thoughts on this might get very interesting.

 

well i have also run seafoam in the engine oil. it works good to clean it out and i have never had any issues with it breaking down the oil. the seafoam is pretrolium based same as engine oil. you can also use seafoam in your gas tank as a fuel cleaner. when you put it through your engine oil i'm not sure if it will clean the pcv system too. i have always run it through the pcv line to clean that part.

 

I'll say one thing. My harley with it's S&S carb was acting up so I dropped a couple ozs. in the gas and ran it through and wow, runs smooth as heck now so I'm sold.