Alternative: How to Seafoam your car.
#43
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GM has their own cylinder carbon cleaner. The Cadillacs and other GM vehicles are prone to rings sticking due to carbon build up. This in turn causes oil consumption. The way GM's oil consumption process works: remove all of the spark plugs, rotate the engine around so no piston is on top dead center, spray one can equally per four cylinders. V8's will need 2 cans, one per bank. Let the cleaner soak for an hour, turn the engine over and replace the plugs. Drain the oil and replace the oil filter. Add oil and fire it up. You would not believe the difference in oil consumption after this process is done. I blame the PCV system for pulling oil into the cylinders and then building in each cylinder. I pulled my 6.0 down to rebuild it and about every top ring was stuck in the piston and could not have made a good seal. So not only are you losing power you are also losing oil. The blow by is worse with the rings sticking so this creates more problems in the PCV department. Get a catch can and plumb it into your pcv system and clean out the built up carbon and your well on your way to having a good running engine again. I will try to get the part number this week on the cleaner. No need to take chances running your engine with a foreign liquid pouring into the cylinders. I couldnt imagine what this does to your sensors, or catalytic converter. This process does not put your engine or its components at risk. It also prevents the remote possibility of a hydraulic lock. A friend of mine just did the Seafoam trick to his CJ7 and as he was pouring the seafoam into the brake booster line the engine started to knockand has not quit yet. He thought it was a piece of carbon causing the knock but 100 miles later its still there. Sounds like a rod bearing but pulling the plug wires off one at a time did not change the sound. I believe he has broke the top of the piston or hydraulic locked it and damaged a bearing. Just be careful whatever process you use. I like the GM method the best. If you smell the cleaner working its like ammonia and has a funky smell. So do it outside and make sure you spin it over prior to putting the plugs back in. and change the oil before running it.
Last edited by tsnow678; 02-19-2011 at 09:59 PM.
#44
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Hello I just posted this on another forum. I've been doing this for procedure since Seafoam Spray was introduced and has worked flawlessly for every car I've done this to. It doesn't even need to be an LS1 engine either, I've done it on a couple LS1's, 2005 Civic EX, '89 Buick Regal, 2000 Ram, and 2007 S-10. The procedure is simpler too than dividing your Seafoam to 3 areas, the old method. Good luck!
http://www.camaroz28.com/forums/ls1-...ow-ls1-851239/
http://www.camaroz28.com/forums/ls1-...ow-ls1-851239/
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Thanks for the great thread! I've had lots of idling problems with my '00 WS6 since I put the supercharger on & finally found the MAP sensor wasn't working. Replaced it and found it was plugged up with black crap so the mechanic said to search "seafoam" on ls1tech. This MCCC seems like the best approach - but does having forced induction make any difference?
#49
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Thanks for the great thread! I've had lots of idling problems with my '00 WS6 since I put the supercharger on & finally found the MAP sensor wasn't working. Replaced it and found it was plugged up with black crap so the mechanic said to search "seafoam" on ls1tech. This MCCC seems like the best approach - but does having forced induction make any difference?
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#50
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I went looking for the Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner and at least here in California, it is no longer being sold. They no longer stock it and apparently the few stores who do have some left are not allowed to sell it (although he was nice enough to print me a list of dealer numbers to call and try). Internet searches yielded similar results. The only thing they were looking to sell me was Mopar's replacement for MCCC, which is basically the same deal as SeaFoam and goes in the gas tank.
Instead I purchased a couple of cans of AMSOIL Power Foam online. This stuff does warn that it is not meant for cars with an MAF sensor. However, I can just take off the MAF and spray directly into the throttle butterfly or more simply via the PCV tubing like the OP instructs. Now that I think about it, I'll use the PCV hose and once the engine's off, I'll spray some into the lower intake manifold through the throttle if it isn't already foaming at the mouth so-to-speak.
There's plenty of oil in there from the old PCV valve, so I'll be able to have some very conclusive results for you in a few weeks an most. If things go as planned, perhaps Power Foam will take the place of MCCC from here on out.
Instead I purchased a couple of cans of AMSOIL Power Foam online. This stuff does warn that it is not meant for cars with an MAF sensor. However, I can just take off the MAF and spray directly into the throttle butterfly or more simply via the PCV tubing like the OP instructs. Now that I think about it, I'll use the PCV hose and once the engine's off, I'll spray some into the lower intake manifold through the throttle if it isn't already foaming at the mouth so-to-speak.
There's plenty of oil in there from the old PCV valve, so I'll be able to have some very conclusive results for you in a few weeks an most. If things go as planned, perhaps Power Foam will take the place of MCCC from here on out.
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I have done this on an older car, and did not really see any improvement.
It may temporarily clean up some of the oil in the intake mani, but I never really saw any improvement.
That and the fact that it may foul plugs, O2 sensors, and possibly the cats.
It may temporarily clean up some of the oil in the intake mani, but I never really saw any improvement.
That and the fact that it may foul plugs, O2 sensors, and possibly the cats.
#52
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Okay, so I used the AMSOIL Power Foam as I was planning above (MCCC is no longer available) and here are the results:
BEFORE:
![](http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/8530/sparkplugbefore7.jpg)
![](http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/8327/intakebefore11.jpg)
AFTER:
![](http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8773/intakeafter09.jpg)
![](http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/171/intakeafter02.jpg)
I didn't pull the spark plug after the cleaning for a comparison, but it didn't look too bad before. It's an Autolite Iridium (center electrode, that's why it's so skinny) and platinum (puck on outer electrode) with about 75K mi. It's a little oily near the threads, but the gap is unchanged and the electrodes are clean enough. Since I don't get any misses, I'll leave the plugs alone. If I feel ambitious I'll pull it again to get an after picture.
As for the whole process, I used the PCV fitting on the intake just behind the throttle body to dispense the stuff via a clear tube (so I could tell when it was running low and have my roommate kill the engine) with the intake ducting including the MAF removed ahead of the throttle body. The car did change RPM, but it did not stall during the ~5 minute process (smells a little of sulfur). I sprayed the whole can in, then after the car was off, another quarter-to-half a can sprayed through the throttle butterfly to clean the intake manifold. It did not foam up as much as I thought it might, but it is foamy. Nothing foamed out, but some liquid did pool at the base of the throttle body, so I wiped it with a paper towel to avoid getting the belts wet. After I was done, I let it sit for 20 minutes to soak. It was hard to start, but once I got going, the car did not stall or throw any codes. It did, as with Seafoam, throw a whole lotta white smoke though. I drove it and revved to 4500 RPM in first gear under load for as long as I could, then would slow down for a corner or another car and repeat the process again until the smoke diminished. It’s amazing how people will get out of your way when you’re throwing a street-wide smoke screen
![Grin](https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies/LS1Tech/gr_grin.gif)
The only “damage” I can assess from using the AMSOIL is that the idle is no longer steady. I took apart the IAC (idle air control) valve/motor and found it caked with ½” of carbon deposits on the plunger, not to mention that idle has always been a little high, so I suspect that the AMSOIL didn’t damage anything, just that the IAC was clogged for some time now and the AMSOIL cleaned it just enough to loosen things. I tried to clean it (and the related passage way), but I think it was just too jammed up with oil and deposits to ever work again. It looks fine and the plunger moves now (it was completely jammed before), but I think it may have stripped out internally pulling it apart or it just may have been stuck from the start. I have a new Delphi one arriving soon (I unplugged it for now as it just idles increasingly high when plugged in, but at 1200 RPM in park or neutral and 950 RPM in drive or reverse when it's unplugged with the plunger left extended) and I'll report back if that has fixed the high idle.
Disconnecting the IAC harness has illuminated the Check Engine Light, but I expect if the new IAC fixes the idle issue, the light will go off after some miles of driving. I’m still working on a partial tank of Seafoamed gas, so I’ll fill up when that’s out and the IAC is in and report back on city mileage.
#53
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Update to the above AMSOIL Power Foam writeup. I installed the new IAC valve on Wednesday and had to do the idle reset. Idle is now lower and better than it has ever been in the 8.5 years I've owned the car. After driving it for 10-15 minutes with the new IAC harness plugged in, the check engine light went out for good.
This means the only negative of using the Power Foam is that the IAC had to be replaced. However, I do not blame AMSOIL for this, as the IAC was badly coked with oil deposits before, so it was either already bad, or I broke it trying to take it apart and clean it. According to the can, the foam is safe for O2 sensors, cats, and other emissions equipment. The only thing it's not safe for is the MAF, which I removed from the car for the initial intake spray.
Though I have trouble imagining it's related, the heat only blows lukewarm now, so I will investigate that this weekend. I also just filled up my first tank of gas since the above cleaning and Seafoam in the previous fill up. I'm sure it will take a while to run this one down with my daily <20 mile commute, but I'll report back on the mileage at my next fill up (and update on the heat). I also put 3 new O2 sensors in, but I can already say that the car no longer smells rich (at least when I got out of it after driving to work) at the exhaust.
This means the only negative of using the Power Foam is that the IAC had to be replaced. However, I do not blame AMSOIL for this, as the IAC was badly coked with oil deposits before, so it was either already bad, or I broke it trying to take it apart and clean it. According to the can, the foam is safe for O2 sensors, cats, and other emissions equipment. The only thing it's not safe for is the MAF, which I removed from the car for the initial intake spray.
Though I have trouble imagining it's related, the heat only blows lukewarm now, so I will investigate that this weekend. I also just filled up my first tank of gas since the above cleaning and Seafoam in the previous fill up. I'm sure it will take a while to run this one down with my daily <20 mile commute, but I'll report back on the mileage at my next fill up (and update on the heat). I also put 3 new O2 sensors in, but I can already say that the car no longer smells rich (at least when I got out of it after driving to work) at the exhaust.