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Sea Foam additive: yea or nay?

MrPickins

MrPickins

Diamond Member
My wife's corolla ('99 with 120k miles) has been well maintained and runs like a champ, but I can tell by looking inside the oil fill hole that there is a fair amount of varnish buildup in the crankcase, and I've heard bad things about Toyotas and oil sludge.

That has me thinking about running some Sea Foam treatment in the oil before before the next change. I'm just not sure because I'm not certain there is a problem. (The whole "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" thing...)

I've read anecdotes (and endorsements) from people on other forums, but I trust some of ya'll a lot more than random schmoes and thought I'd see if anyone here has any opinions about it.
 
I used a similar 'snake oil' with good results on my saturn. Marvel Mystery Oil.

The thing is you are right about the if it's not broke don't fix it thing with cars. I did a thermostat as part of my wife's tune up a couple weeks ago and the freaking 10mm bolt broke LOOSENING it. Fortunately dewalt bolt remover kit saved my ass (4pm on a sunday in the rain 🙂).

 
I have used seafoam several times on my car and friend's cars

I can't really say if it has made any difference but it spews out a ton of smoke and left a nice pile of sludge out of the tailpipe of a friend's truck so something came out.

The easiest way to use it is to put it in through the brake booster pcv line and let it sit for about an hour or so. Then crank it up and you want to rev it up it a good little bit until all the smoke comes out and it will be a ton of it.

I am using auto rx right now actually and it has been recommended to me by someone I very much trust on oil related matters. I have put about 300 miles since i put the auto rx in my car and I must say my idle and wot oil pressure has gone up. I don't know if that is directly related but the auto rx is the only thing I have done to the car and the oil pressure has gone up.
 
If it's really sludged up you don't want to rock the boat too much lest you clog the oil pickup, wear out the oil pump, or worse. autorx will be gentler but less effective obviously. Personally that is the way I would go. Not that I don't trust seafoam (I've used it before to clean valves and combustion chambers), but I have reservations about putting solvents in the crankcase.
 
if you put seafoam in the oil, besure to change that oil AND filter quickly there after, 50 miles later, don't go over 100 miles

I agree if the engine is sludged up bad, don't do it, it's hopeless case at this point anyhow

PS, I thought the best way to prevent sludge build up and to have the engine last longer is to use full SYN high grade oil and change it rather often for these sludge prone engines
 
Originally posted by: Summitdrinker
if you put seafoam in the oil, besure to change that oil AND filter quickly there after, 50 miles later, don't go over 100 miles

I agree if the engine is sludged up bad, don't do it, it's hopeless case at this point anyhow

PS, I thought the best way to prevent sludge build up and to have the engine last longer is to use full SYN high grade oil and change it rather often for these sludge prone engines
Click to expand...

I'm not really sure how much sludge is in there. The oil gets change s every 3k miles (except once @ 6k). How can I check?
 
well varnish is really not sludge in my book, varnish is kinda normal for a engine with 120K
varnish is thin, and is brown looking

sludge is thicker and darker, like black


the best way maybe to tell is take the valve cover off and look at the engine, that is if you can't see thru the oil filler hole
 
checkout your pcv valve make sure it not plugged and is working properly, as the hose can get plugged too

not a bad Idea to change it if it's never been done before
 
Originally posted by: Summitdrinker
well varnish is really not sludge in my book, varnish is kinda normal for a engine with 120K
varnish is thin, and is brown looking

sludge is thicker and darker, like black


the best way maybe to tell is take the valve cover off and look at the engine, that is if you can't see thru the oil filler hole
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can definitely see varnish deposits inside the crankcase (through the oil filler hole), but I don't see much oily deposit. I suppose the sludge buildup in the engine can't be too bad. Maybe I will just take the oil pan off and clean it out. It can't hurt...

Good call on the PCV valve. I don't think it's been changed in a while.
 
I say a big yes.


Makes my 2 stroke engines run better and smoother. It also removes water from the fuel tank.

It cleans up varnish and sludge. On vehicles, I normally add it into the intake through a vacuum line and rev up the engine a bit. I then change the oil a day or two later.

I added it to my sister's honda odyssey that like many 4 cyl engines of the 90's, shakes when idling or when the AC is on. After emptying the can into her fuel tank and then letting her drive it for 200 miles, she has noticed that its smoother. In fact, she called me and wanted to know what I did to her van to make it run smoother......I then told her about the seafoam....

I've used it for years and it really works.
 
So I pulled the oil pan and cleaned it out. There was a moderate amount of gunk in the bottom, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared.
I think I'll save the Seafoam for when I'm sure there is a problem.

On a side note, I hate RTV gaskets. Such a bitch to clean off the old one and (cleanly) reapply the new one. Why not just use a real gasket?
 
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