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"Sea Foam"gas additive, anyone use this on motorcycles?

20K views 26 replies 25 participants last post by  Alex V. 
#1 ·
I was just reading about this and wondered if it is as great as it claims, and ok to use on bikes?
 
#2 ·
Re: "Sea Foam" gas additive, anyone use this stuff?

I have used it in a old car I had, it did make it run better, cleaned out a bunch of junk, but it smoked like a coal train for a good 15 minutes. Pissed all the neighbors off, but it did the job.
 
#3 ·
They call Seafoam a "Mechanic in a can" or a "Miracle in a can" because of it's ability to break up carbon.
A drop'll do ya, a little goes a long way.
Follow the instructions on the can and only mix in enough for the tiny bit of fuel in your tiny little tank or it will smoke out the neighborhood.
I have used Seafoam with barely noticable results in my motorcycles but, I don't have to store my motorcycles over the winter and I only use premium fuel from Chevron which is very clean and does not leave deposits in my fuel systems on any of my 4 motorcycles or my Tacoma.
So me buying Seafoam is a waste but, people that are too stupid, too poor or too cheap to buy good fuel for their bike can get good use out of Seafoam.
 
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#4 ·
I do use it in the first tank in the spring in seasonal-use engines (all of which I treated with Stabil last fall). It's probably better at making me feel good than actually doing anything for the engines.

It says it works for long term storage but I prefer Satbil for that job. Again that's just me.

I don't use it in transmissions or crankcases. Keeping up on the routine maintenance does all that needs doing and if you don't keep up on the routine maintenance it's not going to do any good anyway. I'm also not sure of it's affect on our wet clutches.

This is another of those subjects along the lines of which is the best oil to use. Pick the answer you like the best and be happy. :D
 
#6 ·
I was having a lot of problems with the carbs on my '76 GL1000. After pulling them and cleaning them numerous time I had one carb that just wouldn't clean out. It ran well under throttle but was giving me problem at startup and idle. I added Seafoam to the tank and within about 1/2 the tank used the performance at idle was significantly improved so I am very pleased with the results. I have since started using it in all my bikes. I use a 5 gal gas can in my garage and have a batch mixed up. I also use it in all my power equipment at home as well. Since using it I haven't used Stabil any more and I haven't had any problems with starting the power equipment after a winter of sitting in the shed.

It's not a cure for 6 year old carbs that have been sitting in the back yard but I think I'd give it a try if I was having some minor problems that I thought might be related to plugged ports of passages. It's a cheap experiment.
 
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#7 ·
I use it regularly (twice a year) on my injected cars, lawn mowers and after I have resurrected an old bike. After I have cleaned it out best I can, then with fresh fuel, I run it in the tank. It has always improved the performance-- always.
Good stuff.
 
#8 ·
I agree that sea foam is good stuff, period. I have no scientific data, but an old guy who liked to talk told me that gas we use burns dirtier and dirtier every year as they add various additives, and ethanol, and what have you. So ok, maybe that's true. Maybe that doesn't apply to high end gasoline. I'm no chemist. What I do know is that I put it in my truck - fuel injected, once a year, and I don't think the difference is in my head. Smoother idle, better throttle response. There's all kinds of fuel additives that are supposed to clean injectors, this is the only one that I ever suspected actually did something by the results. It does make the thing smoke for a while when you first put it in. I guess that also makes me think that gunk is getting burned up. I also use it in my riding mower the first time I fire it up in the spring. I think its the bee's knees.
 
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#9 ·
fasterspider said:
So me buying Seafoam is a waste but, people that are too stupid, too poor or too cheap to buy good fuel for their bike can get good use out of Seafoam.
Maybe some day fasterspider will need gas, and won't be anywhere near a Chevron :eek: He'll just have to be like the rest of us stupid, poor, cheap people.
 
#13 ·
well said GB,
for what its worth, all fuel has a shelf life. clean, fresh, and of the proper grade is most important we used to "clear and bright" the jet fuel on the cutter before and after refueling the helicopter prior to launch.. nice to know whether or not you just served up sediment filled water logged crap to a brick about to fly over the ocean. (take a clean glass jar of fuel, shake and swirl, cloudy indicates water and you can see any sediment whipping around, good fuel will be clear and bright as soon as the bubbles leave) try this with any gas that has been sitting in a tank for a few months..
 
#14 ·
Throndson Oil Co. in Rochester MN sells some gas that they claim has nothing in it but dinosaur bones. I used it in my 200hp outboard and never had a problem. One time i put it in my Suburban and i swear i got another 100 miles out of the tank (37 galllons) while pulling the boat. No lies.
I've always thought it shameful to burn food for gasoline, but here in corn country there is not much you can do. It was interesting to find my suburban feels the same way.
 
#16 ·
I bought a couple bikes that had been sitting for several years. After a good clean-up I used Sea Foam in both. I was impressed in overall running. So I tried it in a 1972 model Eska boat motor. Runs great now. Just put a can down the tank of my wife's 2008 Mazda Tribute. She says she thought it helped car to start better. I put it in everything for winter storage and don't have rust or gum the following spring. Good Stuff.
 
#17 ·
I mix both seafoam and marine stabil in my motorcycles and boat. While overseas the boat sat for 4 years. When I tried to siphon the old gas out I noticed it didn't smell bad so I tried cranking it (of course I set it up for storage before I left) and it fired right up. No problems with the bikes either.
 
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#18 ·
In tech school I was taught sea foam as a gas treatment is terrible. Sta-bil actually breaks the water into tiny bits and spreads in evenly through out the tank. Seafoam does not. I have heard great things about sucking it through the engine through a vacuum port, it's in my nissan service manual... But it smokes a lot!..



Put some sea foam on a glass plate and burn it, it burns super dirty and leaves a oily dark film on the glass.. Other treatments do not.. Up here where it gets cold we have a problem with cars that are kept in a heated garage and go outside everyday into below zero weather. Water ends up sitting on the bottom of the tank and freezing over the fuel pump pick up.. Sta-bil is the only thing that has cured this for us!
 
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#19 ·
I did put some pure sta-bil in a carb bowl one time to clean the deposits out of the bottom of the bowl. I filed the bowl, and let is sit for 24 hours, it did nothing. (I bought a gallon can of the Carb dip and cleaned the carb like new in a hour). I have not tried to mix stabil in my gas, but I do have a goldwing 1500 that has trouble idling.....
 
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#20 ·
Sea foam has IPA (isopropyl alcohol) so it disperses water. I use it in all my vehicles and power equipment. Not sure why the burning on a glass is a reasonable test. Ethyl alcohol burn clean, but is highly corrosive. When vaporized in the engine the results nay be different. I know when I have taken apart my carburetors for repairs, they were spotless due to sea foam.

My weed eater and gas blower have gone 5 years without starting issues.


Sent from planet Earth using mysterious electronic devices.
 
#21 ·
Not sure why the burning on a glass is a reasonable test.
Good point. Vaporized, mixed with air, and highly(+/-)-compressed and the conditions are markedly different. Also, people aren't running straight SeaFoam in their vehicles, it's just a portion of the "fuel."

Who knows, maybe that "oily residue" that nissanztt found on his glass is actually beneficial in some fashion when the product is actually used inside a running engine? Years ago, I'd buy old beaters, run them until they were HOT, and then feed distilled water through the carburetor a teaspoon at a time with the throttle held open and the engine running. Did a pretty good job of blowing carbon(?) all over my driveway and generally seemed to make the vehicle run better and knock less. That was before I discovered GM Top-Engine Cleaner, which they might not even make any more, but worked much better.

Not sure I'd try the above on my (or anyone's) motorcycle, though... Some of those beaters were so sad it wouldn't have mattered much if they'd grenaded on me, lol. Kind of vehicles that the oil-pressure light would flash to the idle even after fresh oil and filter (draining the oil, replacing with five or six quarts of kerosine, running it until it got hot, then draining and changing the oil & filter a couple of times took care of that :eek: ...).

Years later, I have finally come to realize that, while some of my stupid ideas actually work... most of them are just stupid :rolleyes:.

Regards,
 
#22 ·
We actually did pour cold water down the carburetor throats of cars back in the sixties and seventies to loosen carbon in the combustion chambers. I was told way back then that it was done for years before that.
 
#23 ·
I've yet to be convinced that seafoam is the "wonder" many claim it to be but it does help loosen carbon buildup in cyls and residue in the carbs. I use it in the first fresh tank of gas on my bikes when I first fire them up at springtime and maybe once a year in my other vehicles but that's about it.
 
#24 ·
Seafoam is safe for wet clutches. I called the manufacturer and asked. I used it in the crankcase and got an extra 150 RPM plus 5 more mpg. That was a 1970 350 with 20K on it. I use Techron in my carbs. I run the bike dry, then fill the fuel lines with pure Techron. I then give the bike 7 kicks with the key off, choke on, and suck that stuff into the carbs. Let it sit three days and you have a clean carb without taking it apart. I have noticed no benefit though to mixing Techron in the gas tank unless you have fuel injection.
 
#25 ·
Sea Foam works well on most cars and motorcycles. I said most because on some that have heavy carbon buildup, using Sea Foam can actually cause a problem if used on the intake manifolds.

I have previously rebuilt an Acura Legend that started having a huge power loss after a Sea Foam treatment. As it turns out when I opened up the head there was a chunk of carbon caught between one of the intake valves preventing it from closing, the valve was practically burned because of this.
 
#26 ·
I only started to use sea foam based on the recommendations from members on this board and I have to say that my power equipment has been running better since I started using it as an additive in my fuels. I'll be running it in my bikes as a fuel adder and hopefully it will keep my innards clean.
 
#27 ·
I've used it for about 5 years in everything but bikes (haven't owned one 'til now) and am a believer. I use it in the fuel of all my vehicles periodically, and have put it in the crankcase of a few others that obviously hadn't had good enough routine maintenance to prevent significant deposits. It won't cure all problems but it does clean things gasoline won't. I was curious if it was safe for our high perf. bike engines, so I'll no doubt run some through my 175 soon.
 
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