SEAFOAM BEWARE...

[vlv850]

Well, I wouldn't say that carbon was ever a problem, and the engine itself has never gave me any indication of malfunction. It had about 180,000miles, a 100K of which were mine that i've contributed over the past 6 years i've owned it.

I've always done the routine things. Oil change every 4000 miles, 10w30. I've always ran 87 octane, but switched to 91 a few months ago. I probably did the "Italian Tuneup" once a year or so.

I've been in the process of getting things back to stage one over the past few months, cleaning TB and MAF, new plugs, radiator flush, fuel filter, a few vacuum lines, etc. The only code I've ever thrown was the MAF, which I kept fairly clean with contact cleaner, and haven't pulled a code since. Even with this problem, I didn't have a code thrown.

The car still needed a PCV cleaning, the MAF to TB hose had a few cracks (very small, and never messed with idle of the car), needed a new clutch and shocks/struts.

That's been the good, bad and ugly. All in all, the car ran well. If something was wrong or going wrong before hand, it was not made noticable.

The only thing I can think of as an additional variable was how I applied the Seafoam treatment:

1. Took the car for a 10 min drive to bring it up to normal oper. temp.
2. Shook up the seafoam in the can, and poured about 1/2 into a clean plastic bowl.
3. The throttle body vacuum tree has 3 nipples, the top two were capped and the bottom had a vacuum line already connected. I added a small vacuum hose to the top nipple.
4. Slowly sucked the seafoam through the hose I added from the bowl. Dipping it in and out so the engine wouldn't die. It did go fairly quick. (no noises at this point)
5. Shut the engine down and recapped the top nipple on the vacuum tree.
6. Waited 15 min.
7. Restarted car, and bam...Noise galore.

[matthew1]

Thanks for the info surrounding the incident. It seems there was no warning.

[waynej]

vlv850,
You are using this forum to tell hundreds (maybe thousands) of people that a Seafoam product ruined your engine and the Seafoam company refused to pay for the damage. How could you possibly expect any company to accept your claim if you can't say what is wrong with your engine ? Please ask your mechanic what exactly is broken and post the answer. Many of us would like to know.
Also I would not recommend putting the Seafoam in plastic the Seafoam could be dissolving the plastic, which would then be sucked into your engine. This would be bad for the O2 sensor and the CAT. There is also a possibility of getting a plastic coating on the valve stems which would cause the valves to not fully close and touch the pistons.

[vlv850]

I asked my mechanic for more specifics. I hope the following makes sense, and helps clarify.

He said, that the "rod bearing" on the #1 cylinder was worn out or broke apart causing that cyl. to miss. And the likely culprete was due to an "oil breakdown" caused by the addition of the seafoam. He said that the seafoam probably didn't make it through all cyl., and a majority of it stayed in the #1 cyl. when applied.

I asked if the "rod bearing" could have been going bad before the seafoam treatment? He stated that there was no real way to tell, especially since there was no previous indications with loss of power and the engine ran to expectations. Since the noise immediately started after the application, one can only assume that the seafoam officially damaged the part.

But we all know what happens when we ASS-U-ME.javascript:emoticon(':shock:')

He said that the engine could probably be rebuilt, but the mileage on the engine, labor expense, and the uncertainty that nothing else was damaged, that it makes more sense to replace it.

[Maxbaby]

Far be it from me to dispute your mechanic, however, a rod bearing that wears out is more likely to be something that has been wearing over a long time, say over 180,000 miles?... I'm not saying that is definitely the case, but to say that it was the seafoam that simply did it?... Just doesn't make sense to me. I'll defer to anyone else's expertise on this though.

I suppose if the seafoam loosened something which then got plugged in a passage, you'd get an oil starvation situation to the bearing. But that would be more just a case of bad luck, not the seafoam problem.

I'm not trying to argue here, just trying to think through what could have happened, and with all the success stories with seafoam (or at least neutrally positive results), a rod bearing failing only because of seafoam doesn't quite make sense to me... Anyone else?

[kelvin6]

If you re-read his first post. The seafoam was taken in thru the intake, so how does it get to the oil, cause some chunk of gunk to break off, and oil starvation? I don't think even seafoam get through those piston rings and enough to even cause gunk to break off.

[turbotim2]

How would the mechanic know if a rod bearing is worn out or broken if he hasn't pulled the engine and opened the lower end? There is no way to tell that from looking at the top of a piston.

[turbotim2]

Not to mention a worn or broken rod bearing will have nothing to do with whether or not the cylinder misfires.

[gbuchana]

I could imagine a substantial amount of liquid, incompressible sea-foam sitting in one of the cylinders. Then opon starting, the over-pressure in that cylinder could cause a connecting rod to fail or something.

I'm curious, when re-started, did the engine crank a few revs before catching, or did it start right away? If it cranked a few times, then obviously there was no liquid in the cylinders.

After sucking up the seafoam, how long did the engine run before you shut it off?

[vlv850]

I unfortunately don't remember if the car started right up or cranked a few time first. I remember when it did start I thought the whole car was going to fall apart the noise was so loud, and shook the whole car.

As soon as the seafoam was in the engine, I shut her down pretty much immediately.