I was discussing with a buddy of mine about cleaning out the engine with Sea Foam, however he brought up an issue that given that the engine has never been cleaned out before it relies on the carbon build up, and if I use the cleaner it will not be better off than if I had left that carbon in the engine. Given the old age of my car, I can see where this makes sense. What is your input?

Ehhh, I would say go for it! Are you leaking anything right now? Maybe get a coolant flush and definately an oil change after you put seafoam in it. I did it on my 97 with 155k miles, and no ill effects.

This guy also traded in a Mustang he got from his dad for a Subaru. He is big on imports like that car and absolutely HATES all American cars except for the classic ones and mayby Ford, so mayby I should take what he has to say with a grain of salt.

I did it on 150k on my car. After tearing apart the engine it was fairly clean.. and I bet my cat is clogged by now with all the **** that came out.

There are three things that can have ill effects from sea-foaming. O2 sensor, plugs, and cat. If you need a tune up, seafoam before the tune up.. then replace plugs and O2 Sensor [if you need to]. My suggestion would be to put a bolt where the O2 sensor would go [will set off the SES light], in case your O2 sensor is still good. The cat.. well there isn't much you can do about that one. The cat should be alright.. but if it is the original, it may be time to upgrade after a seafoam or two.


-justin

What were planning on SeaFoaming? In the oil or in the gas? This thread is getting kinda confusing because people have given advise on both uses.

From what I read here, oil. Putting sea foam into the vacuum hose.

And I plan to upgrade my CAT anyway so yea, I had that in mind that I will have to change it after the SF. But the concern that the carbon that filled in the gaps will be gone still worries me.

The more used the engine, the better the results.

You can also just pour it directly into the oil just before an oil change. It'll help clean up the oil passages.

The vacuum line and gas tank methods clean other areas.

Buy two bottles and put it in everywhere, thats what I had done before an oil change.

i question the logic behind "the car relies on the carbon" how can this be??? the carbon is not benficial to anything inside of the engine.. I would be mostly worried about blowing alot of carbon out the exhaust and clogging the CAT..