To Seafoam or not

[spc2125]

My 02 alero has 138k miles
2.2L eco (auto)
just changed the oil last week

should i seafoam?
ive never done it before and hear good things and bad things. im looking for personal experiences.

and is it possible to seafoam just the pcv and the gas tank and not the oil?

[colonel6632]

you can seafoam whatever you want. no magical force making you pour it into your gas tank. i do the gas tank and intake. not the oil because then i have to do a oil change right away

i normally do a seafoam once sometimes twice a year. seems to make the car run nicer. and sometimes better mileage.

out of the 3 cars i've owned and did it to, i have yet to run into a problem. and always had positive results

[sleepyalero]

usually if an engine is not internally all that dirty and you use sea foam and there is nothing to clean, it will tear up the inside from what i hear.

i did mine once at 158,000 miles. i now have 161,000.

[colonel6632]

i figure if it smokes it's burning stuff out. if it doesn't smoke, good for a while yet

[spc2125]

i got this car almost 2 yrs ago and i dont htink its had one yet

[spc2125]

Originally Posted by colonel6632

you can seafoam whatever you want. no magical force making you pour it into your gas tank. i do the gas tank and intake. not the oil because then i have to do a oil change right away

i normally do a seafoam once sometimes twice a year. seems to make the car run nicer. and sometimes better mileage.

out of the 3 cars i've owned and did it to, i have yet to run into a problem. and always had positive results

do you put half in gas tank and the other half in intake?

[jhubbz]

If you just changed your oil, don't bother yet. I did all three and a good amount of smoke came out. I guess I was overall happy with the result

[luckilero7]

Ok may sound dumb but I have never heard of this nor do I know what it is, can anyone clue me in please?

[Redog]

Personally, I would NOT do this, but that's just me

[Ttop191]

did it both in my saturn and my civic and the way i look at it is this, if you burn oil(saturn) its great cleans out the extra crap makes it nice and clean inside. But if it runs great and oil is still clean and full on your next oil change(civic), leave it alone so you don't damage your rings because it has nothing else to eat at.


also brought this up with my engines teacher a few weeks ago and he agreed with me 100%

[sleepyalero]

the bottle has directions on how to use it, i forget exactly what you do and dont have a can lying around.

[cherrington17]

I got my car in early 04 (i think) and I've done it once since I've owned it.

You definitely don't need to do it often, as long as your car is running properly.

[zzyzzx]

I've never used it, but figure that it's something to use every 100,000 - 150,000 miles or so.

[XanderWiFi]

I wrote a how-to for it if you would like to search for it. I've done it pretty regularly for about 50,000 miles and have been happy with the results of doing so.

[cherrington17]

Originally Posted by XanderWiFi

I wrote a how-to for it if you would like to search for it. I've done it pretty regularly for about 50,000 miles and have been happy with the results of doing so.

...until all of his gaskets melt, at once...

[aleros_eat_rice]

Another way to flush the engine I've heard of is to change the oil once, again at 1k after, and once more about another 1k. Its also safer than the 5 minute motor flush, albeit more expensive.

[03glgold]

This thread is 3 and a half years old. He already messed up doing other stuff, damaged the head and junked it out. I suppose it isn't bad to give an extra option.

[Papa Rad17]

I have seafoamed every car I've owned and plenty of friend's via the vacuum line and fuel tank. On a dirty car (the first alero, mustang, and friends firebird) a good vacuum line cleaning did wonders. as long as your not an idiot with it you should be fine.