I heard seafoam performs miracles. Has anyone tried them. Where can I find the induction cleaning nipple?

 

Jagster:
I would think really hard before I introduced any snale oil into a Nikasil engine. Just my $.02

 

Jagster, while I haven't done it to a jaguar engine, I have done the Seafoam trick to a Ford engine (5.4L) and a Nissan engine (2.4L, KA24DE). I wouldn't necessarily call it a miracle thing, but I did see some improvement. The other thing that I will caution you on is that it will SMOKE. I don't mean like a car that is burning some oil, I am talking large brush fire in your back yard smoke. So, if you do it, be out in the middle of no where so that no one gets pissed.

As for an induction nipple, what I would tell you to do is to get a piece of rubber tubing about 3 feet long that fits the nipple going to where your master brake cylinder attaches to the intake. Disconnect at this point and install your 3 foot temp hose there. This will give you some room to place the can on a solid surface and feed the hose into the can. From here, you will want to plug the hose and start the engine, get it up to temperature. Then, unplug the hose, stick it into the can of Seafoam and allow it to suck down about 1/2 the can. When you are sucking in the Seafoam, the engine is going to want to die, give it more gas to keep the engine running. As the can nears 1/2, let the engine die. Plug the hose back up and let the engine sit for 5-10 minutes. After waiting, start the engine back up and allow the engine to get back to where it can control itself. Now, suck down the other half of the can, helping the engine to remain running and once the can is empty, plug the hose back up. Run the engine until the smoke has stopped coming out (may take up to 5 minutes). Reconnect the brake booster line and drive the car.

One time I did this, I got hardly any smoke out of the vehicle, the other times, I got tons of smoke out of it. The more smoke, the dirtier the engine was. But, running a second can shortly there after isn't going to really make any more changes. So, only a single run is needed.

Hope this helps. Please keep in mind that you are doing this on your own free will. Seafoam states that it won't hurt the engine and what I am saying is only a guide for what others have done in the past.

 

Is SeaFoam the equivalent of WD40?

 

Great information Thermo. I will try to look for the nipple.

 

So what benefit are we trying for sending seafoam into the air plenum? If you sent it through the fuel lines, it MIGHT clean an injector. I stand by my warning, you have a Nikasil engine with known weakness for corrosion of the Nikasil lining. And you are going to put something in it that has no benefit. Why? And who exactly says it performs miracles? And what miracle does it perform?
I am sure you are bound and determined to seafoam your engine, but I hope others think through it a little more.

 

Supersport, WD-40 and Seafoam are completely different items and can not be substituted for one another.

Sparken, the advantage of sending the seafoam in through the intake vice the fuel injectors is the flow rate. What you are doing with the seafoam is running the engine rich, which is going to allow some of the seafoam to make it to the cat, thereby scrubbing the carbon from that too. You also get more of a scrubbing on the valves to help with removing any deposits that may have formed, resulting in better sealing (improving compression). Will running seafoam through the fuel injection system provide some improvement, of course. But, you will get more cleaning done downstream of the cylinders due to unburnt seafoam. Does this make sense?

 

Well, at least I understand the mentality of it. If it is to clean valve seats, then I suppose I would love to see some before and after for compression measurements. And, while I can't say for sure that seafoam will damage a Nikasil engine, I can say that it makes no sense to me to introduce it without some reason, BTW, I own 4 Jags with a combined mileage of 650,000 miles, and I have never seen the need for any snake oil yet. That said, I did have a dirty injector one time in my XJ6, so some good techron based injector cleaner might have helped (there is data to prove it cleans, not some shadetree drag racer down the street), but I removed the injectors and ultrrasonic cleaned them instead.

 

I have used seafoam on my former car, a Lincoln Mark VIII, to good effect on several occasions. There was always huge clouds of smoke (although never as much as the first time, where it filled the whole neighborhood) and the engine ran noticeably better and more responsively. I was toying with the idea for this car, but I hesitate on doing it to my "fancy fancy" Jaguar. If you type seafoam into the overall search (before the page breaks into the individual models) there are more opinions and others experiences that I was reading about. Same thing as here, some people love it some don't. No catastrophic failure stories, though.

 

sparkenzap, theres some logic. Maybe either Techron or BG's 44k would work too. I just heard so many success testimonies for this treatment on Land Rovers and would try on the Jags.

Maybe, atleast, Seafoam wouldn't hurt on the gas tank?

 

I had a 1996 lincoln mark viii as my first car! That aside of never run seafoam in any of my cars due to the smoke but always wanted to.

 

I have used Seafoam on my Land Rover (1996 Disco), but I would not use it on my Jag, mainly for the reason Sparkenzap mentioned - Nikasil. My fear would be that after running the engine and getting the Seafoam all down in there I might have the dreaded cylinder wash problem and not have enough compression to start the engine back up. I also am hesitant because of the cats and what might happen to them and the O2 sensors. Maybe I'm a chicken, but I run Chevron with Techron and Shell with whatever that stuff is they say it has in it and don't overdue it with the MAF cleaner and no oil-soaked air filter (who shall remain nameless). Just my 2 cents.

 

Hey Hrand1987- my mark was the same color as yours- seems like almost identical cars! did yours have an ivory interior? Mine had the snowflake wheels instead of the 10 spokes thought.

 

Yeah, that is a good point about the Nikasil engine. What about seafoam in the gas tank?

 

Gentlemen,

Regular maintenance and high octane Chevron Techron enriched fuel along with allowing your kitties to stretch their legs once or twice a month up to 200 km/h or 120 mph will keep it purring and happy. The latter bit keeps me personally happy, not recommended for the faint-hearted.

 

I once had a Ford Escort with a stuck valve (TSB's stated there was a carbon deposit issue causing valve stems to get stuck in the guides on this engine).

I sure didn't want to pull the head so I swallowed my pride and tried some of that 'snake oil' (which I whole-heartedly expected it would be). Seafoam, indeed, removed the carbon and the valve un-stuck immediately and stayed that way for two more years till I sold the car.

It's not miracle stuff, but it sure seems to do at least some of the things it promises.

 

Quad:
Which induction method did you use?

 

I personally use SeaFoam with the Jag, but never in the air system. In the gas it's great for keeping the injectors clean and removing buildup.

I run it for about 10 minutes before I do an Oil Change too and you'll notice a huge difference in the amount of muck you'll drain out.

I remember reading here though that in the air system it will screw with a lot of your sensors and I personally am not brave enough to risk it.

 

For the Escort, I sucked about 3/4 of the can in through the vacuum system, directly into the intake manifold. The goal was to thoroughly wet the intake valve stems and it certainly did the job.

Prior to using the Seafoam, I verified that it was an intake valve sticking open through inspection - I removed the valve cover and could see the one valve stem motionless in the open position. I then learned that I could make that valve stick and unstick at will by modulating the throttle in different ways (when coming slowly up on throttle it would stick vs. punching it quickly it would unstick) .

Immediately after the Seafoam had soaked in and had been burned out (and MAN was there a lot of white smoke for at least 5-10 minutes) I could no longer make the valve stick. Also, the engine seemed (and I stress seemed, because I have no true metrics) to idle and run more smoothly.

I had no later issues (at least for the two years in which I owned it) related to emissions, 02 sensors or any other OBD codes; so, at least for the Escort, the Seafoam through the intake manifold did not appear to cause any noticeable damage to the sensors or cat.

I'd call this one instance of Seafoam use an absoute success.

That said, the Escort was a 'throw away' car - it was my son's beater - and I wouldn't hesitate to experiment with non-traditional methods on it... for the Jag, on the other hand, I'd think long and hard for other solutions before doing this; probably as a last ditch effort before having to dismantle the engine. Just my opinion, but the Jag is worth a lot more to me, way more than just transportation; and the risk must heavily outweigh any possible consequences.

 

I've got no experience with the Jag's, but it's been used extensively to assist Volvo engines that have a tendency to gum-up, especially if the owner is a sedate driver. I've used it in several other cars with good success as well. It really will clean stuff out, and so far (over about 10 years, and as many vehicles) none have ever suffered any harm from it. Most recent use was in an Audi that was full of sludge. You can use it in the crankcase as well. I've also had relatively good luck with MMM (marvel mystery oil, not 3M), especially on older engines (seized, stuck, rusted, etc. MMM will dissolve the gunk, and most times free it up enough to allow rotation.).

YMMV (your mileage may vary), but Seafoam is an excellent product, that when used appropriately, really works well, and in my experience, has never damaged anything.