Is this snake oil or worthwhile?
Discussion
I've read a lot about Seafoam, mostly good.
Just keen to gear others views and also thoughts on using the vacuum line as described below to clean valves.
http://seafoamsales.com/vacuum-line-method-with-se...
Alternatively, is Terraclean a worthwhile option at 10 times the price?
Just keen to gear others views and also thoughts on using the vacuum line as described below to clean valves.
http://seafoamsales.com/vacuum-line-method-with-se...
Alternatively, is Terraclean a worthwhile option at 10 times the price?
Edited by A900ss on Sunday 29th June 15:37
The best decoke substance known to man is good old tap water.
Get the engine up to operating temperature then introduce a fine mist at the throttle plate using a plant sprayer while holding the revs up by hand.
Watch with amazement at the amount of craaaap that comes out of the exhaust.
Don't over do it, introduce a few huffs from the plant sprayer at a time, keep the revs up to stop the engine bogging down while watching what comes out the back.
You are effectively steam cleaning the combustion chambers, once you've completed the process its good practice to do an oil change.
Just remember with any decoke you run the risk of seeing your oil consumption rocket, carbon deposits aren't always something you'd want to remove, especially on an older higher mileage engine.
Often as the bores wear its the presence of a certain amount of carbon helping to maintain a good seal at your rings, remove the carbon and you could be seeing blue smoke from the exhaust where there was none before the decoke.
To be honest you are far better off just completing regular oil changes using a quality oil than running the risks of decoke, modern fuels and oils are excellent at keeping carbon deposits to acceptable levels.
A decoke is an old school procedure and is largely unnecessary these days.
Get the engine up to operating temperature then introduce a fine mist at the throttle plate using a plant sprayer while holding the revs up by hand.
Watch with amazement at the amount of craaaap that comes out of the exhaust.
Don't over do it, introduce a few huffs from the plant sprayer at a time, keep the revs up to stop the engine bogging down while watching what comes out the back.
You are effectively steam cleaning the combustion chambers, once you've completed the process its good practice to do an oil change.
Just remember with any decoke you run the risk of seeing your oil consumption rocket, carbon deposits aren't always something you'd want to remove, especially on an older higher mileage engine.
Often as the bores wear its the presence of a certain amount of carbon helping to maintain a good seal at your rings, remove the carbon and you could be seeing blue smoke from the exhaust where there was none before the decoke.
To be honest you are far better off just completing regular oil changes using a quality oil than running the risks of decoke, modern fuels and oils are excellent at keeping carbon deposits to acceptable levels.
A decoke is an old school procedure and is largely unnecessary these days.
I've used seafoam on my mini with no adverse affects, some YouTube vids show a huge amount of smoke and crap being thrown out the back upon restarting the engine, I didnt really get that so not sure if mine is that coked up, but its a common issue on direct injection engine's, anything else that has fuel running into the combustion chamber through normal means shouldn't need the seafoam treatment as the fuel will keep the valves generally clean of any carbon build up as it washes the valves.
If you use products like Seafoam don't assume the billowing smoke you see coming out of the exhaust is the result of deposits being removed from your engine.
99% of that smoke is actually just the product itself burning off.
If you use water all you'll ever see is whats been loosened from within the engine and a bit of water vapor, the small amount of water you introduced at the throttle instantly turns into superheated steam within the combustion chamber so that's where it does its job.
By the time it reaches the main exhaust system it will have cooled & condensed back to water so will have very little impact on carbon deposits other than a very mild washing effect.
If you want to clean your exhaust, go to your local hardware store & buy some caustic soda crystals, remove the exhaust system, mix up a strong solution of caustic soda & hot water, plug the exhaust and pour your solution into the exhaust.
Leave overnight then remove your plug and drain out the filthy solution, I've used this method on lots of classic pre-mix type two stroke motorcycles that really clog their exhausts up and it works every time.
Back to the water decoke I've taken the head off a few engines after they were given the treatment & I can assure you it works amazingly well, the piston crowns, valves and generally the whole combustion chamber is left spotlessly clean.
Anyone that's taken the head off an engine where the head gasket has failed allowing coolant into the combustion chamber will have seen the same thing, typically in this case you see one spotless steam cleaned piston that's seen the coolant and the others that haven't with the usual carbon & varnish deposits.
Here's a Rover V8 that had a slipped liner allowing coolant into #5 cylinder, see how clean that one piston is compared with the others.
If you do the water decoke all 8 of your pistons will be cleaned in the same way, the procedure is 100% safe if done correctly and rather than burning a substance like Red-X or Seafoam which are typically just light oils creating their own carbon when burnt, water just removes the carbon thats there in the first place leaving valves, piston crowns ect spotlessly clean.
But like I said earlier, a bit of carbon on an older engine can be a good thing so don't blame me if the engine blows a some oil after you've done the water decoke.
Personally I'd stick to a regime of regular oil & filter changes and leave decoke process where it belongs, back in the dark ages.
99% of that smoke is actually just the product itself burning off.
If you use water all you'll ever see is whats been loosened from within the engine and a bit of water vapor, the small amount of water you introduced at the throttle instantly turns into superheated steam within the combustion chamber so that's where it does its job.
By the time it reaches the main exhaust system it will have cooled & condensed back to water so will have very little impact on carbon deposits other than a very mild washing effect.
If you want to clean your exhaust, go to your local hardware store & buy some caustic soda crystals, remove the exhaust system, mix up a strong solution of caustic soda & hot water, plug the exhaust and pour your solution into the exhaust.
Leave overnight then remove your plug and drain out the filthy solution, I've used this method on lots of classic pre-mix type two stroke motorcycles that really clog their exhausts up and it works every time.
Back to the water decoke I've taken the head off a few engines after they were given the treatment & I can assure you it works amazingly well, the piston crowns, valves and generally the whole combustion chamber is left spotlessly clean.
Anyone that's taken the head off an engine where the head gasket has failed allowing coolant into the combustion chamber will have seen the same thing, typically in this case you see one spotless steam cleaned piston that's seen the coolant and the others that haven't with the usual carbon & varnish deposits.
Here's a Rover V8 that had a slipped liner allowing coolant into #5 cylinder, see how clean that one piston is compared with the others.
If you do the water decoke all 8 of your pistons will be cleaned in the same way, the procedure is 100% safe if done correctly and rather than burning a substance like Red-X or Seafoam which are typically just light oils creating their own carbon when burnt, water just removes the carbon thats there in the first place leaving valves, piston crowns ect spotlessly clean.
But like I said earlier, a bit of carbon on an older engine can be a good thing so don't blame me if the engine blows a some oil after you've done the water decoke.
Personally I'd stick to a regime of regular oil & filter changes and leave decoke process where it belongs, back in the dark ages.
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Sunday 29th June 22:54
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