good evening everyone,

As die hard 'Seafoam' fan, I have used this product in all of my used cars for the past 4 years. Works fantastic from volvo's to mercurys, but now that I have a disco II with a 4.6l @ 206,000km, should I attempt it?

From what I've been reading, looks like I'll be replacing the engine or major components of it anyways.

Your thoughts?

 

I just picked up an 00 with 117K miles on the clock. I did the Seafoam. I have used it before. I can't honestly say it does much besides smoke up the 'hood though. Honestly, the truck runs no better or no worse after the treatment. I gave it the Seafoam trifecta too: 1 bottle through the intake, one in the oil and one in the gas. Did the intake according to instructions except I let it sit for 10 minutes instead of the 5 they say or the 30 others recommend (I have my reasons). Drove it for a few days to go through the tank of fuel then changed the oil out as well. No improvement in economy or anything else noticeable.
With that said, I still use the product from time to time. There are many fanboys out there that will swear up and down it does one thing or another. Only thing I know is that it never hurt any of my vehicles so for the few bucks might as well run it through. I would see no reason why you should not do the treatment honestly.

 

Use the seafoam -- and let it sit for the full thirty minutes. It should take you about that long to clean the throttle body and Idle air valve anyway.

You will trip the SES light but don't worry, it will go away.

 

Seafoam does work to loosen and clean the fuel system. I know this because I now have 1 1/2 sticking/leaking fuel injectors. Luckally I work at a repair shop and we have an injector flush machine that uses a much harsher chemical than seafoam. The problem is I may have to remove the intake to do this service.

 

Alex, what does that feel like, or what does the engine run like, and do you get a fault code??

 

thanks guys, Looks like I'll be picking up an 3 bottles at local UAP for my next disco.
I also want to say thanks for the heads up on all the postings on the '03 disco oil pump issues. Kinda freaked me out a bit, so I posted the truck for sale on kijiji and sold it within 2 hours for $800.00 more than I paid for it 5 days ago.

 

you couldn't pay me to dump that stuff in my tank or intake. This forum is full of posters that have had major trouble after using that stuff. Maybe they did it wrong, there seem to be just as many methods of using it as members. From the very little gain you might get it doesn't seem to be worth the risk. With many if us getting these things used there is no way to tell how gunked up the motor is. When I did me head gaskets I was amazed how much sludge there was.

 

It has a poor idle, but its getting better since I added a second can to 1/2 of a tank of fuel so its more concentrated. It almost feels like a bad head gasket where it will idle poor for about 30 seconds then clears up and idles better. It is a little down on power and the poor idle is some what random. Stopping at one light the idle is noticeably bad, drive 3-4 blocks then stop at another light and it idles almost like it should. I get faults for cyl 4&6 missfire and if I start the engine let it idle for about 20-30 seconds then turn it off and pull #4&6 plugs they are wet and smell like fuel. I did a leak down test and only get 5% leak down on cyl #4 and 0% on #6.

I'm going to add a different brand cleaner to the tank after work today and fill the tank then run it down to about 1/4 tank and see what happens. If it doesn't get better I'm going to get another set of injectors and get them cleaned, flow matched and rebuilt and install them.

I would like to see if I can add an external fuel filter because I do not like the idea of only the filter on the pump. At the BMW shop I work at I see cars with 200K miles and more with no injector issues but they have a decent sized external fuel filter.

 

Here is the deal with those additives, and the water glass type coolant additives as well. They work pretty well in nice clean running engines that are not too far gone yet. The problem is some people expect the magic bottle to perform magic. Pour a bottle of seafoam in the crank case of a pretty clean motor and it will free a sticky lifter, get some deposits out of the oil channels, etc… everything is rosy. Now pour a bottle into an engine that has gone 10k miles between oil changes and is tapping because all the rockers and shafts are warn and riding on a film of varnish it's a whole different story. The cleaner cleans out the sludge, or some of it, maybe dislodges a chuck of goo that then blocks an oil channel… or eats away the caked on mess that has been the only thing keeping oil on the engine side of a seal… you end up with an engine 2x louder than it was and leaking from every orifice. Possible engine failure down the road. Then while many people post how great the stuff is, someone else will post it blew their engine up.

Same thing with the coolant additives. If a bottle of k-seal or something bricks your cooling system, it was on it's way out anyway and yes, it adds quit a mess to clean up. Many new cars come off the assembly line today with sealer added to the cooling system and have no issues because it's a clean properly functioning cooling system. It will stop a major leak before it happens. The problem is someone will wait until their heater core is dowsing the passenger's shoes with coolant and then think a bottle of goo is going to solve all of their problems. They'll be on here the next day posting pics of how sealant brand X clogged up their heater core… etc..

So carefully evaluate your mechanical systems before you use any additives. They can help heathy engines or destroy sick ones. Most of the time they can't "fix" any of them. Only a wrench will do that.