2000 S70 AWD - Seafoam "Spray" treatment

[rspi]

Can you please let me know why you would stay away from seafoam...the only reason I'm using it is how difficult it is on this model to get to the throttle body to be able to clean it.

Seafoam is NOT a throttle body cleaner. Besides that, it is known to be an aggressive combustion chamber cleaner. I have personally had a few calls with people asking me what they should do now that they have Seafoamed their Volvo's and now they are consuming oil like crazy. My thoughts are that it finished off their valve steam seals.

I don't recommend it unless you have all fresh seals and you are tying to remove carbon somewhere in the head.

Ok so do you recommend the original Seafoam, in the gas tank and in the oil ? I guess I'll skip intake part all together. Thanks for your advice.

[hmsky83]

Well not everyone has owned there Volvo from day 1. That's the point, we don't know what the previous owner / owners did in terms of maintenance, were they responsible in terms of oil changes being done on time. Did they use cheap oil, did they skip the filter here and there to save money ?

That's why some of us are interested in using seafoam because it is aggressive and will get the job done, hopefully. It gives you peace of mind after you have just bought the car second hand. So That guy in the videos argument doesn't apply here.

The guy on YouTube "projectfarm" I think his username is....tested seafoam thoroughly and gave it 2 thumbs up basically. That's what made me give it a chance as I usually don't like or trust any additives when it comes to car engines.

[Sommerfeldt]

("that guy" in the video is rspi... )

To be fair, I was planning on trying Seafoam in my 850 - then it blew the HG and I sold it to someone who had the means and desire to fix it and use it. I saw Project Farm's video - I like that dude. Check out the fire breathing Farmabago.

If you want to try Seafoam, I'd say go for it. With the spray and the danger of hydrolocking gone, you can't really do damage, in my opinion. You might not get squeaky clean insides, but taking some carbon off the pistons and valves, and cleaning up the intake isn't a bad idea.
If you're really intent on cleaning the TB or the intake manifold and stuff like that, I still say taking them off and doing it that way is best, but Seafoam has all the fun smoke as a bonus.

Question - don't those spray bottles come with the "hook" you use to spray it in the intake before the TB - i.e. take hose off, "hook" the spray straw on the edge of the TB, hose back on?

- S

[hmsky83]

Oh that's you ? I've always seen your videos on YouTube and appreciate all the info you give us, Volvo owners.

[June]

There's a lot of very rigid opinions going on here, without much sources in sight.

As for performance, I'd expect better response (my 850 reacted well to a clean TB), and if your MAF is going, you'll have other symptoms than, or in addition to, sluggishness, contrary to what June says.

- S

850 does not have a ETM like my car and OP's car. If the Old TB cars like the 850 are completely different. The ETM is expensive to replace, so why risk damaging a working one with Seafoam?
The ETM has a cleaning procedure specified by Volvo that will safely clean it and it does not include Seafoam.

Here is the section of the bill for the MAF. During the time it had issue the car was fine on one take off, then sluggish the next, also I forgot to mention when it was acting sluggish the transmission would stumble and I was getting like 12 mpg. June

[Sommerfeldt]

850 does not have a ETM like my car and OP's car. If the Old TB cars like the 850 are completely different. The ETM is expensive to replace, so why risk damming a working one with Seafoam?
The ETM has a cleaning procedure specified by Volvo that will safely clean it and it does not include Seafoam.

1: I know what's on an 850. I've also had an S60 with an ETM.
2: The TB on an 850 isn't exactly a dollar store item either.
3: No "procedure specified by Volvo" includes Seafoam.

OP has also been warned several times that the ETM can be somewhat sensitive, though my understanding is that this is mostly in regards to degreasers (water based being the worst?), which Seafoam isn't. Spraying it through the TB while the engine is running will also not deposit or soak the TB or components in it.

Here is the section of the bill for the MAF. During the time it had issue the car was fine on one take off, then sluggish the next, also I forgot to mention when it was acting sluggish the transmission would stumble and I was getting like 12 mpg. June

If the MAF doesn't work right, it leads to a lot of symptoms. Mostly the engine will run rich, since that's the safe way for it to handle a missing MAF input, or input that doesn't make sense. So you'll have all the things that come with running rich, though your transmission issue was likely your engine stumbling, not the tranny.

Also... a new Bosch MAF for your car should be about 110-130 USD, shouldn't it? Not 350...

- S

[hmsky83]

"Question - don't those spray bottles come with the "hook" you use to spray it in the intake before the TB - i.e. take hose off, "hook" the spray straw on the edge of the TB, hose back on? "

Yes that's correct that's the way SeaFoam instructs you to do it. What I did is I inserted the hook inside the brake booster line right before the manifold (about 6 inches before the manifold) and sprayed it in bursts while the wife held the gas pedal at 2000 rpm. Using the new spray seafoam can it eliminated the risk of hydrolocking the motor I was informed. So basically the seafoam is prayed only while the engine is running hence the white smoke coming from the exhaust. I dont see how this ruins the seals as some people warn ??? The seafoam doesn't have a chance to sit in the motor and ruin any internal parts or seals.

[Eddystone]

Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help!
-Ryan

Listen, Ryan. My advice is to forget about the Seafoam and get in there and clean up that engine compartment. I've never seen one in such a state.
At least mine doesn't look like that...

[Sommerfeldt]

Listen, Ryan. My advice is to forget about the Seafoam and get in there and clean up that engine compartment. I've never seen one in such a state.

[FLXC90]

Seafoam will attack carbon build-up, but it will also attack oil sludge, which is what might be all that is sealing some crustier valve seals that Robert is alluding to. Also as stated, it isn't meant to clean MAFs and Throttle bodies, there are much lighter solvents especially for that. As far as seafoam in the fuel system as a preventive cleaner, it will not cause problems, but may not do a whole lot to help either. The answer you may not want to hear is, if you are drivability issues that indicate the ETM, you 'll just have to suck it up, and pull it to clean it. Probably just more steps than anything else. Normally, the ETM on these gave problems electronically, not mechanically, but if your car is circulating a lot of oil in the intake from blow-by or turbo seals then you may need it. Also, I did two seafoam upper intake tract cleanings on my old N/A 98 S70 when I bought it because my compression readings were all over the place, the previous owner thought it might have had a bad HG, it had 225k on it and I only paid $300 for it. It cleaned all the crap out of my top end, and then I used ATP AT-205 to relax the seals.