So in my many internet searches I read an article on Sea Foam and it's many mysterous powers. So I went out and bought some. I put the recomended amount into my fuel (1 oz per gallon). MY bike is an '82 and I doubt anyone has done any major internal cleaning to the engine, so we'll see what happens. I also plan to run some Sea Foam in the crank case this fall when I change the oil as it boasts the ability to de-cake and clean oil & carbon residue. Does anyone have any experiences with Sea Foam, good or bad?

Yes, i just ran an entire can through my bike over three tanks of gas and it helped clean the carbs up pretty well. I just tore apart my carbs and they really weren't that bad, I'm pretty sure the seafoam had alot to do with that.

Seafoam get two thumbs up in my book!!

Ive had the bowls and tops off my carbs a few times for spray cleaning. Nothing looked "cakey" to me.

Put it all together and all was well.

I ran 1/2 can with a full tank of gas... Rather strong as I couldnt poor it into the carbs as directed.

For that tank it didnt run to well. Now it runs really strong at low RPM's. Above 5K it sputters a bit. Definetly needs carb tweaking...

Now to save up for the sho bill :(

I have at some point readof the virtues of this stuff too.
But can it be found in Canada, does anyone know? :blink:
Thanks,
Jim

Seafoam is available in Canada at:

Carquest - http://www.carquest.ca/English/

or

Base Automotive - http://www.baseautovalue.com/

Just picked up a case of 24 cans from CarQuest. It's on sale at
8.95/can vs 14.20 per single.

Kliph

Seafoam works pretty good and it's my opinion that it's basically the same thing as Marvel Mystery oil - which also works pretty good. There's no real mystery to this stuff, it's just really light oil and some additives. I beleive Seafoam also has some hydrated alcohol in it to pick up the carbon and water on the way. (water desolves carbon, alcohol desolves water into itself, and then the mix is desolveable in gas so it will run through the system and burn). If I had to guess at a recipe, I'd guess 1 cup of water, 2 cups of isopropal alcohol, and 1 gallon of WD-40 would be close. Don't sue me, I'm a tech, not a chemist.......... B)

Any light oil will do a great job cleaning up carbon and grungy oil residue in an engine or fuel system. You can get a demonstration when your hands are greasy and dirty by first spraying them with WD-40 before you wash them with dish detergent. If the solvent is too light - gas or alcohol for example, the stuff gets washed into all the cracks and stays. If it's too heavy then it makes a mess itself. WD-40, Seafoam, Marvel, ATF etc. desolves the grunge and suspends it so it can then be washed away clean. The same thing happens inside your engine.

Here is a link to a XJ mailing list page talking about Seafoam. -

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:nNRta...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Well after two tanks of gas and 3/4 of a can of Seafoam I can say very little for Seafoam. Maybe that is because nothing in my carbs was all that gunked up. One aspect I have noticed is that my xj650 does warm up faster, usually I have to start'er up with a little choke then it takes 5 minutes or so of riding before she's all warmed up and idles right at 500 rpm. Now, after the Seafoam I have noticed that it takes half that time and she's idling at 500 rpm. So I'd say it's a good product and most everyone else who posted here had good things to say. I'm glad Seafoam came across my path ;) Safe riding to all.

well i had just purchased an 85 xj700 and after seeing the posts here and else where decided to try it myself. The bike i bought hadnt been ran since last nov but the gas was changed along with the oil. So i put some in and filled up the tank at home. My friend who has a shadow and i then went riding to morgantown wv about an hour and a half ride one way. I racked up enough mileage for 3 thanks of gas in the three days we were in the area. I noticied my midrange cleaned up a little, the bike does require less choke/heat up time [weather could have been a factor] . But in my opnion it did what was asked. again i didnt know how bad the varnish was if any but it did help . sorry for rambling on lol

quick story: My son in law has a 750 yamaha that he let sit for about 2 years. For some odd reason it wouldn't run worth a . . . well, it wouldn't run. I took the carbs off and found some goo in the bottom and coating all surfaces that was very reminiscent of some maple syrup I had last year. I put the seafoam in full strength and watched the varnish just disappear. It cleaned up everything without any scrubbing. It did do some damage to the rubber boot. It seems to eat rubber as well. Good stuff in my opinion. We also added it to the tank and I had him ride the bike for about 50 miles. It was definitely running better when he came back. Oh yes, and one more thing, uhm, we don't have any mosquitoes anymore either. Seems that the super light oil in the mix does a nice job of fogging everthing in the area.

I have another suggestion you all might like to try. You can also buy SeaFoam in an aerosol can... spray form. Its called Deep Creep... its pure Seafoam in a spray can. You can purchase it from Autozone for about $5.

I did this the other day and it made a huge difference in how the bike idles and how the bike runs at WOT:

I first warm the bike up... not HOT, but good and warm... then shut it off. Pull the spark plugs out, and using the spray attachment (little red tube you stick on the spray nozzle), completely coat the combustion chambers. This serves to clean the carbon and buildup from the combustion chambers, pistons, and valves. The hot engine will cause the seafoam to boil out, so dont worry about hydro-locking the motor. The next step is to set the bike on the side-stand, remove the right side YICS plug, and fill the YICS passage completely FULL of the seafoam. This will remove all that carbon and gunk buildup from the tiny YICS holes that are difficult to clean with any other method. Next, remove the vacuum caps over the intake ports... and spray in each one liberally. This will help clean and "free" up the carbs, as well as clean the intake runners and the intake valves. Repeate this procedure several times using LIBERAL amounts of seafoam. Let the bike sit a while... occasionally turn the motor over with the starter for several seconds to completey coat EVERYTHING from one end to the other as you continually spray more and more seafoam. Repeate all 3 one last time, replace the spark plugs, and the YICS plug... and let the bike sit for another 5-10 mins (engine should be just about cool by now). Now fire the bike up (it will be a little bit difficult to start because of all the Seafoam and residue being combusted). You will notice right away that white smoke POURS from the exhaust... this is the all the crap you cleaned out... and what is left of the seafoam. This procedure is expecially useful to clean the hard-to-reach YICS holes. Take the bike out for a spin. Run the HELL out of the engine... take it full throttle all the way to redline several times to throw off any loose carbon and buildup that the seafoam loosened up. White smoke will continue from the exhaust for 5 or more mins. Run the bike until you see no more smoke. You might want to repeate the whole procedure 2 or 3 times... the more, the better. I also want to add that when I run the regular Seafoam in my gas, I usually run an ENTIRE can of it in a full tank... it runs a bit rougher, but nothing terrible. I also want to add that the hotter the engine gets with the seafoam in the gas, the better it will clean... run the engine VERY hard, all the way to redline, wide open, with the engine VERY hot... repeatedly... for several tanks full of gas. Its not the best thing on the motor, but its almost necessary in order to de-gunk highly neglected carbs... read below to see how it has helped my bike...

Even after running 5 tanks-full of new 93 octane + 1 can of seafoam, I kept having problems with my 750 not idling correctly... it was hunting arround, stalling, idling too high, idling too low... all the symptoms of the carbs needing balanced. I pulled the fuel bowl off of one carb after the seafoam, and it was almost spotless, and so was the float and screen. The bike had been sitting in the previous owner's garage, full of old gasoline, for almost 5 years!!! Before the seafoam, it BARELY ran at all... had no power, would not idle at ALL, sounded like it was running on 1 cyl. All it took was the seafoam, and the bike ran AWESOME after the first couple tanks, all except for the idling problem. So, I decided there had to be another problem becides the carbs needing balanced, seeing as the bike had been professionally tuned and balanced barely 2000 miles ago (found a receipt from the previous owner that shows the bike was professionally cleaned and tuned by a yamaha dealership). I decided that there must be some other reason. Upon cleaning the YICS ports with the seafoam (as mentioned above), the bike idles rock steady at 1000 rpm. Let this be a lesson to all those wanting to re-balance the carbs on a YICS engine... clean the YICS passages FIRST!! I saved myself countless hours of work and tuning... all she needed was a little SeaFoam. :rolleyes: I wish I had taken video of the bike running before and after the seafoam treatments... you would not believe your eyes.

Lee
'82 XJ750J Maxim

i've had good luck with seafoam also. story...I owned a 1968 amf snomobile. Got it from a friend,single cylnder single carb. Would not run or idle at all. If i sprayed the gas down the carb it would at least start and run. I heard about sea foam and thought what the heck,so i put in the recomended amount and sprasyed it for about half hour. after that it would start and run all on it's own. I give it a thumbs up.