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Does Seafoam really work on mower engines to assist in removing carbon from engines and will it help in cleaning the carb? Just asking as I have a Craftsman garden tractor about 30 years old which I have kept running all these years. I use it as a utility tractor to pull small trailer and also my spray rig around the 4 acres. I no longer use it for mowing but I removed the plug yesterday, looked into the chamber and noticed lots of carbon on top of the piston. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any sugggestions.
Red Cox

wilburn cox said:

Does Seafoam really work on mower engines to assist in removing carbon from engines and will it help in cleaning the carb? Just asking as I have a Craftsman garden tractor about 30 years old which I have kept running all these years. I use it as a utility tractor to pull small trailer and also my spray rig around the 4 acres. I no longer use it for mowing but I removed the plug yesterday, looked into the chamber and noticed lots of carbon on top of the piston. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any sugggestions.
Red Cox

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If it is running good without any engine noises, run it and don't worry about it.

I agree just keep running it.
I have found that in a older engine if you add any kind of cleaner to the gas or oil. The engine starts running bad.

My son has become an expert on Volvo 240's. He got that way starting as a teenager by taking in derelicts, taking them apart and putting them back together, or parting the worst cases out.

He gets this one that wasn't really bad. He had read of the 'miracle' of sea foam on the Internet. I told him you need to be VERY careful in how you clean an old engine, especially in this case as the vehicle had not run in years! He informs me that the guys on the interweb are much smarter than me and proceeds. He learned a LOT about the fuel system from that one as he took each component apart to fix what the seafoam did!

Caution as you attempt to clean it, yes, it does clean your system, and that's not necessarily a good thing.

George

Wilburn , As a former Diesel Mechanic , I have seen the damage a Carbon Fouled engine can obtain . Back in the day we use to inject a fine mist of water within the intake to break down carbon with the engine running . However with small gas engines as advised you must be careful . In the day small engines had a hour limit for require decarbonizing , 200 hrs normally . Pull the heads and brush the heads , piston crown and clear the ring lands etc. Replace the head gasket and retorgue the heads. Today proper use of fuel treatments , MMO , Sea Foam , Startron will ensure carbon and carburator fouling issues are greatly reduced .
Personally I have added a few ounces of tranny fluid to assist in quieting noisy lifters and lubricate valves and guides . I would believe any solvent based cleaner used prudently (small dose) will gradually loosen and reduce carbon fouling , however use of new high grade gas fuel with additives already provided within the fuel will do the same . Common sense prevails Lucas top end lubricant has both solvent and lubricity , which I believe is the safest additive for older engines , Seafoam in 1 ounce increments will provide the same assurance . Normally the worst case is fouling or bridging of plugs with carbon whe excessive treatment is used . Realize this is an old thread , hope it finds you in Good Health Wilburn and usefull additional information for others !

I tried Seafoam in my Trabant 601 which has a 2 stroke engine. The engine looks like a snowmobile engine except it was designed to go in a Horst (part of the Audi group) before WWII. I can remove the spark plugs and actually see the heads of the pistons.

After running several tanks of gas treated with Seafoam based on the instructions on the bottle, I saw no difference in carbon removal.

So looks like this winter I'm going to decarbonize the heads as well as replace the leaking cylinder to crankcase gaskets.

The only thing I have seen that really worked was years ago I ran a water injection system on my Fiat Spider after I turbocharged it. It's a twin cam and I can also see the top of the pistons with the spark plugs removed. In this case it removed all traces of carbon buildup. I since got the fuel mixture corrected and removed the system.

I wouldn't want to do this on a two stroke engine but on other vehicles, I've always wondered if I could disconnect the tubing from the windshield washer nozzles and connect it to a port on the intake manifold and unload the tank when going up a steep hill and do the same thing. Like every 20,000 miles or so.

turbofiat124 said:

I tried Seafoam in my Trabant 601 which has a 2 stroke engine. The engine looks like a snowmobile engine except it was designed to go in a Horst (part of the Audi group) before WWII. I can remove the spark plugs and actually see the heads of the pistons.

After running several tanks of gas treated with Seafoam based on the instructions on the bottle, I saw no difference in carbon removal.

So looks like this winter I'm going to decarbonize the heads as well as replace the leaking cylinder to crankcase gaskets.

The only thing I have seen that really worked was years ago I ran a water injection system on my Fiat Spider after I turbocharged it. It's a twin cam and I can also see the top of the pistons with the spark plugs removed. In this case it removed all traces of carbon buildup. I since got the fuel mixture corrected and removed the system.

I wouldn't want to do this on a two stroke engine but on other vehicles, I've always wondered if I could disconnect the tubing from the windshield washer nozzles and connect it to a port on the intake manifold and unload the tank when going up a steep hill and do the same thing. Like every 20,000 miles or so.

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Yes you can. My son and I used methanol injection system just as you are stating. Worked great till he decided to get one designed for his application. Funny thing is that he spent $200.00 and got no better results. He had the fastest stock block Cobalt in the US for a very short amount of time. Found out the oil pump could not keep up and #4 cylinder blew. We rebuilt it but it was no longer considered stock so the added HP did not count for much when others where double the HP I got out of it. Still fast as heck though.

BlazNT said:

Yes you can. My son and I used methanol injection system just as you are stating. Worked great till he decided to get one designed for his application. Funny thing is that he spent $200.00 and got no better results. He had the fastest stock block Cobalt in the US for a very short amount of time. Found out the oil pump could not keep up and #4 cylinder blew. We rebuilt it but it was no longer considered stock so the added HP did not count for much when others where double the HP I got out of it. Still fast as heck though.

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I found that when I switched to pure water in the spring, the water/alcohol injection system had no effect. I asked around and someone said the reason was the methanol was making up for a lean fuel mixture.

I installed a Hobbs pressure switch between the O2 sensor and ECU to break the signal as soon as the turbo kicks in (1 PSI) and it did the trick. I have three of these switches mounted on a manifold tee on my Spider. It's between the fender well and my Marvel's Mystery oil can I use as an coolant overflow tank.

One switch breaks the O2 signal, the second switch kicks in the ignition retard at 1 PSI on a GM HEI 5 pin control model and the 3rd switch kills the A/C compressor at 1 PSI.



Here is a photo of the 5 pin GM module on my Yugo turbo: