I seafoamed my car for the first time last nite... i'm only at 10,000kms but it can't hurt to keep the intake and valves clean on a regular basis. I used only about 1/4 of the can since its relatively new. Seemed to smooth out the engine a bit. I think i'll get into the habit of doing it annually each summer.

 

forgive me for not reading 150+ posts, mine is 08 MCS turbo, if I do the pcv Seafoam pour will I need to change the oil? I Just changed couple thousand ago...

Thanks

 

No. You only need to change the oil if you treat your crankcase with Seafoam.

 

I think I've finally figured out how to know when you need to SeaFoam your engine. Use a mechanic's stethascope ($5 @ Harbor Freight) and put the probe on the cam cover from one side to the other. If you hear any kind of knocking or clattering, SeaFoam it! While your at it, put the probe on the timing chain cover. All you should hear is a steady whirring. Anything else and your tensioner is going south, AKA cold start death rattle!

 

did mine today with great results. no more of the recent pinging and better/smoother power. (48k)
considering the chemical make up of this stuff I used a rubber glove to cover most of the hose opening and poured in slow. just do it.

 

Question: a non direct inject 01 Honda Passport (still FI), 120K - am I wasting seafoam by pouring it in a vac line? same q for little womans Rav4.
thanks

 

Nope. Due the vac line thing. You can also do the gas tank on top of it to clean your injectors a lil bit if you would like also.

 

thanks

 

I have been doing the Seafoam treatment on cars for at least 10 years before I got the Mini. It worked wonders on my 1994 Mazda MX6 LS and 1992 Honda Civic EX. All modern cars get intake system deposits, they are just worse on cars with direct injection engines such as the MINI, Toyotas' with the 3.5 liter engine and soon all the other cars coming out with direct injection.

 

where do I put the seafoam? 2007 MINI Cooper S

is it here?

 

Yeah. Squeeze tabs on hose ring and remove from engine. Add Seafoam to hose, very slowly and carefully as described elsewhere.

 

yep that's it.

 

I did it. Not a lot of smoke. Hopefully this will help the rough idle. We'll see tomorrow. I did my Honda Element earlier today and it smoked like crazy!!

Where is the MAF? I'd like to clean it also.

 

Hey guys. I slowly poured in 1/3 the bottle but accidently plugged the hose back in before I turned the car off. After I started it up 20 minutes later the CEL is on and no smoke came out at all. Do I need to bring it to the dealer? Did I do damage? And can I try again properlytomorrow? Thanks!

 

awe man... :(

So i just did this earlier on my R56. Followed exactly what OXY did. When I went to turn the car back on and slightly rev it up, the transmission light came on. I heard before the sometimes Seafoam likes to throw random, stupid codes at you and you just have to go to a garage and get it reset? I'm PRAYING this is what the deal is. I couldn't see how pouring the Seafoam into the PCV tube would affect the transmission. Anyway, anyone help me out a little? A little reassurance to help me sleep tonight! :(

 

even if you didn't get smoke, the mis-fires caused during the treatment, the vacuum leak from having the hose unhooked, and the engine seeing un-metered air are all going to throw faults... even if your light doesn't come on, there are likely soft faults &/or shadow faults stored. After any treatment it's best to check & clear the faults, if they come back on again, then look into it further..
As for your transmission fault, if it's an automatic, it's tied to the ECM and can be triggered when the ECM sees some bad signals & relays them on to the transmission module.
If you own a Mini and plan to pop the hood and tinker with ANYTHING, I highly recommend getting the Bavarian Technic scantool (and hopefully you already have a laptop). It's relatively cheap and it can scan/read everything in your car and clear everything in your car, even the BMW shadow faults and reset the service messages/intervals...
http://www.bavariantechnic.com/ (note: I am not affiliated with them in any way/shape/form, it's just a very handy tool)

 

Tbangin 23: Check engine lights are common after Seafoam due to the misfires and disruption in normal operation. They almost always self clear. I would just drive it for a couple of days and see if the code clears itself. Continued driving without any more missfires will allow the computer to reset. You know that what you did caused the code, have faith and wait, it will self clear. Taking it to a shop or the dealer right away will just waste your money and time.

3one3: Try doing Seafoam again tomorrow. Nothing was damaged. Doing it twice cleans it better anyway. Drip it in more slowly than the first time and wait 30 minutes to restart. The above advice on codes/check engine lights also applies to your situation.

 

I wish there was someone close by where I live to give me a hand with this. I have an 08 MCS with about 42XXX on it. I am not 100% confident in my mechanic skills. Haha

 

The easy idiot proof way to Seafoam is to use the feeder bottle from carfood.net It atomizes the cleaner and you control the flow so it takes 5 to 10 minutes to trickle into the motor with no chance of lock up. Their hose end fits into our engine hose. I saw this used at my local shop and found it on this site. Have used it for years. The only way to buy it is packaged with some cleaner, either Seafoam ( which costs too much here), or their house brand which appears to give more for the $, http://www.carfood.net/ho2pawife.html it is actually cheaper to buy the feeder bottle packaged with cleaner than to get the bottle alone! http://www.carfood.net/fuelsysclean.html

 

Even easier is to just buy the aerosol can(s) of seafoam from any schucks/o'reilys

 

Or like I've done for years, pour the SF in a Tupperware and let the hose suck it up.

Funny how all the oldskool guys have been doing this forever, and now with DI engines the new school has to learn about this now

 

Just checked and I'm due for a "treatment". Getting some valve clatter at idle on #2 & #4 with the stethoscope after 9K miles. Some genius here on NAM came up with the simplest Seafoam trick on earth. All you need is a BSH Dual boost port tap, ~2' of aquarium air hose, a small drilled bead, measuring cup and a kitchen timer. Sounds ludicrous, but it works like a charm! I'll send pics when done, maybe today.

 

Link?

 

Fishbert, go to posts 274 to about 284 on this thread, there is discussion with pictures about this. I'm not going to touch the "genius" comment, it was just an idea that we kicked around.

 

I "BG44Ked" Sunny today. Seafoam isn't as easy to find locally for some reason, and the BG44K on Amazon wasn't much more so I bought two cans online. I did three treatments today and seems to be running better. I had some hesitation from a stop and that seems to be gone. Did it give me better results than Seafoam? Hard to tell, I don't know how you can quantify that.

My daily commute is thirty miles on I-476 outside Philly. That will give me a better idea on the results.