Seafoam Topend Cleaner

Zane · December 3, 2002

Product Name: Seafoam Topend Engine Cleaner

Purchased at NAPA

Cost: ~$5 for liquid, ~$7 for spray

Skill level: Easy

Overall rating: 9

Don't attempt this unless you fully read these intructions

When i first heard about this stuff, it was a few years ago. People were using it to help clean the carbon out of LT1 engines with over 50k miles on them. Fast forward to a few months ago, and my 60k mile Corvette. I thought "what the heck?". So i ran out and bought 2 cans of the liquid, and a can of the spray.

Basicly its really easy. You first warm up your vehicle totally.

For my vette i slowly poured it in through vaccum hose untill the engine died. (used 1/2 a can of liquid). For my truck i just poured a bit directly into the TB while the truck was off, turned it over a few times, poured more in, turned it over, etc.. untill i used about 1/2 can.

Then, you use the spray and REALLY soak down the throtle body blade, and the inside of the intake. I mean, you use ALOT of this stuff. Like 1/4 of the can.

Then, you reconnect the intake, pour the last 1/2 of the liquid into the crank case (yes, into the oil fill), and open the other full bottle and put it into your gas tank! YES your gas tank (i like to have under a 1/2 tank when i do it).

Then, you let your vehicle sit for 15-30 mintues. When you come back, be ready for a smoke show. ( I am not under-rating this a bit, so be carefull if you live next to an intersection or picky neighbors). The vehicle will take a good 3-5 tries to start. When it does, rev the engine ALOT. Like, let her sit around 3-4k rpm untill the majority of the smoke is gone. Then get in and drive it like you stole it!!! This is important, as otherwise you risk fouling your spark plugs.

Put about 300-500 miles on the vehicle. Then, and this is important, GET AN OIL CHANGE!!! The cleaner will have loosened alot of junk in the bottom end (from pouring it into the oil) and on the top end. Also, run your tank almost dry before filling up to preserve the potency of the Seafoam/gas mixture.

The idea is to clean the carbon off the inside of the engine and intake, as well as clean out the injectors and anywhere the oil travels.

Does it work? Well, there are not any huge improvments other than a smoother idle and less noisy engine in general. I figure its just good preventitive maintenence.

I havn't tried this on any engines with the piston knock issues, so i can't comment on if it will work for that. If anyone tries it, let me know the outcome!

If you have any questions, feel free to let me know!!

How much smoke?

See for yourself. This is when i did my corvette a few months ago...Video 1- 4.3MB

Video 2 - 3.3MB