Sea Foam Questions

[yukon2004]

I had an unused, unopened item from AutoZone that I decided to return today for store credit. I used the money to buy some goodies. Among them, was the Sea Foam treatment.

I had read several posts regarding sea foam treatment, but either I misread, or didn't read enough... something. Anyway... I decided that I would pull the line connecting to the PCV. My engine was already warm, and I had the engine running, I started to allow a little bit of the sea foam to suck in. I immediately noticed that my engine started to idle a little rough. I preceeded on... I did a little more and my engine stalled out.

I only got MAYBE an 1/8th of the bottle in and decided to just stop. I let it sit for 5 minutes, and then started back up and started giving it gas. No smoke. I wasn't that surprised considering I didn't put that much in and considering how the engine was kind of sputtering while I was adding the sea foam, I was just happy it started up at all.

I finally decided that I should be using the vacuum line that goes to the brake booster? After going back inside and doing a little more reading, I realized that this is how most people seem to be doing it. My other question is this: which is the proper hose to use? You don't suppose I f'd anything up, right? I took it for a test drive and it seemed to be running fine.

Sorry this is so wordy, and maybe confusing... I'm just tired and frustrated. Thanks in advance for any advice/help!

 

[04SS99Denali]

when i sea foam my truck i use 2 cans. i put a full can in the gas and i put about 1/2 a can threw the vacuum line and i throw some directly behind the throttle body. the other half of the can i put in the crank case for like 5 minutes of run time before my oil change. i DO NOT drive it. your engine is gonna sputter your basically clogging the vacuum line for a little bit. use the hose that comes off the brake booster its easy to access and it goes right back on easily.

...and... be ready for some major smoke ive caused people to pull over cause they could not see threw all the smoke

 

[yukon2004]

Thank you... also... does anybody have any pictures of the 4.8L engine bay by any chance? I think I've found the right hose, but just want to make sure... I will try to find a pic of what I'm looking at under the hood as well...

 

[yukon2004]

I thought this was interesting... I got this information off of Sea Foam's website. Notice the part about the Vortec engines:

http://www.seafoamsales.com/how-to-use-sea-foam-motor-treatment.html

To remove carbon and varnish deposits more quickly, Sea Foam® can be induced directly into the combustion chamber via the following method. With the engine warmed up and running, SLOWLY POUR 1/3 to ½ can of Sea Foam® down the carburetor throat or into any main manifold vacuum line that DISTRIBUTES EVENLY TO ALL CYLINDERS. Note that some newer induction systems, like those found on Vortec and Subaru “H” style engines, do not have any vacuum line that distribute evenly. Consequently, this process should only be attempted by technicians with a comprehensive understanding of the engine’s induction system or use Sea Foam® Spray through the throttle body (discribed in a different section of this web site).

 

[slick01tahoe53]

At my shop we always use the hose from the brake booster, it does a pretty good job even on the vortec motors. We usually try to keep the rpm's around 1500 or so while doing the induction.

 

[yukon2004]

At my shop we always use the hose from the brake booster, it does a pretty good job even on the vortec motors. We usually try to keep the rpm's around 1500 or so while doing the induction.

Thank you for the advice! I mean, there seem to be so many people that are using this stuff, that it must do some good. I would honestly believe that some of the people here on this website know their way around our engines better than the people at Sea Foam (not to discredit them in anyway). There seem to be a lot of very knowledgeable people on here that would not waste their time or money on something like this if it didn't help or work.

 

[scottg918514]

when i sea foam my truck i use 2 cans. i put a full can in the gas and i put about 1/2 a can threw the vacuum line and i throw some directly behind the throttle body. the other half of the can i put in the crank case for like 5 minutes of run time before my oil change. i DO NOT drive it. your engine is gonna sputter your basically clogging the vacuum line for a little bit. use the hose that comes off the brake booster its easy to access and it goes right back on easily.

...and... be ready for some major smoke ive caused people to pull over cause they could not see threw all the smoke

I did mine when I had 106k on engine. Didn't put in oil, but did use in gas tank and vacuum hose. I got zero smoke.

 

[waxworkz]

when i did it, i used the vacuum line off the brake booster and had my son keep the rpms up. but i dipped the line in a bit at a time. i didnt hold it in the bowl i was using. i only used half a can via that method and half a can in the oil. changed the oil to synthetic right after. it smoked like crazy for a few mins then went away. i noticed smoothe idle and a bit more throttle responce

 

[yukon2004]

I dumped half of the can of sea foam into the tank today with ~10 gallons of fuel. I'll try to use the other half tomorrow through the brake booster line. Question though: which one is it? I haven't been able to locate any decent pictures/videos of someone performing the sea foam treatment with the same engine as mine, the engine bay looks slightly different in each one. Maybe I overlooked something? I have an 04 4.8L

 

[waxworkz]

I dumped half of the can of sea foam into the tank today with ~10 gallons of fuel. I'll try to use the other half tomorrow through the brake booster line. Question though: which one is it? I haven't been able to locate any decent pictures/videos of someone performing the sea foam treatment with the same engine as mine, the engine bay looks slightly different in each one. Maybe I overlooked something? I have an 04 4.8L

do you have the hydraboost system? i think 04 can have the hydraboost brake system. take a pic of your engine bay on the drivers side and i can try and tell you where