Carbon under the head

[T. Cotten]

Perhaps it's in the combustion of the fuel that the benefit of Seafoam (if any) occurs. It does help to mitigate the nasty effects of ethanol in my vehicles, thus I use it. I guess it would help if over time there was documented evidence of a flathead motor, fresh off a rebuild, and then after 20K miles what the heads looked like having always used Seafoam in the mix, would reveal upon tear down.

Green Indian!

You mean it stops the digestive character of modern fuels within your tank and carb?
Otherwise, ethanol alone should reduce carbon formation within the motor, as evil as it is.

But hey, if it feels good, toss it in the tank.
At worst, it only lightens your wallet.

...Cotten

[Green Indian]

Tom,

It helps not only in the wallet dept. but for any long term storage of gas as well. Does it really work or is it a placebo? Dunno, but I don't seem to have as many issues as others do on forums (I use it in antique mowers/snow blower as well) getting their machines to start and run properly after winter storage.

You know a ton more than I do about how a properly tuned motor will run. I'm just putting my 2 cents in I do not have any more hard proof than what my experience gives me. I would love to see someone run two motors over a period of time using the same baseline to determine whether it is indeed better or not.

[duffeycycles]

I am a tuner/troubleshooter.I often have bikes come in with seafoam stabil & other "snake oil".Does not matter,I use an old Volvo fuel pump & suck that crap out & put in fresh fuel & the bikes instantly start & run better.I do this to my Panhead every year before starting,my flatty will start & run on piss...you do as you please....often they say I started it last week ,I know it's not the gas

[Shaky Jake]

... I guess it would help if over time there was documented evidence of a flathead motor, fresh off a rebuild, and then after 20K miles what the heads looked like having always used Seafoam in the mix, would reveal upon tear down.

Maybe I can help a little with that idea. I recently rode a freshly rebuilt side valve motor with no oil rings 3300 miles in 16 days. For about the first ten days I was frustrated by how often I had to decarbon the cylinders. I didn't keep a log but I'd say it was about a one or two hour activity every two or three days on the average, being done in either a motel parking lot or sometimes on a lift in a friendly HD dealers shop. It wasn't unexpected because the motor burns a quart of oil every 75 miles, which matches what the manuals predicted, but it was frustrating because I wanted to be drinking beer and carousing with everybody else instead. One fellow riding a similar machine who didn't decarbon his cylinders actually broke his rear cylinder around the base because the combustion chamber filled with hard carbon and the piston hit the carbon.

Anyway, around the tenth day one of the other riders who was getting to drink more beer than me, told me to add sea foam to my gas to reduce the carbon build up. I was sceptical, I don't like using snake oil products that I don't understand. However, I tried it and after that I took the valve plugs off every other night and looked into the cylinders, but I did not have to decarbon again at all for the rest of the ride. Not a scientific blind study but enough evidence that I will continue using it.

Now, I have to add that, due to sticky valves, I started adding Marvel Mystery Oil at about the same time, and my sticky valve problems went away. So I don't know if it was one or the other snake oil product that improved my carbon build up and my sticky valves, or if it was the combination of the two. I feel like it was the Mystery oil that fixed the sticky valves, because it's an oil and a lot of people use it or two-cycle oil to lubricate their valves in side valve engines. I also feel like it was the Sea Foam that improved the carbon build up because other people told me that it did that for them, but I could be wrong, it could have been the Mystery Oil. Whichever one it is, I don't have a clue how it works, but I don't think it has anything to do with dissolving the carbon, because I don't think there is the time or the right conditions in the combustion chamber for that to happen. I could be wrong, I never did well in Chemistry.

Just sharing my personal experience, take it or leave it, your mileage may vary.




Kevin


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[duffeycycles]

Riding in heavy rain can decarbon cylinders..in the good old days they would drop a little water in the carb to clean them out,you could hear it & see it come out the exhaust.Carbon buildup is common on modern twinkies,seams to be worst on bikes that are treated nicely,never ran hard & never ridden in the rain.The front cylinder is always ahead of the rear,if not cleaned out you hear a tinking noise that sounds like a lifter problem.It is the intake valve hitting the cake buildup eventually bends the valve

[T. Cotten]

Green Indian!

We have long winters here, and fluids get drained arbitrarily (for fire safety at least), thus a 'stabilizer' would be just another gamble.

And it sounds like good empirical testimony to me, Kevin!
Although I would bet on the MMO...

And Duffey!
I dreamt of water injection for my hack for years. Unfortunately, it always involved a manifold puncture.

....Cotten
PS: Maybe you folks excessive heavy carbon build-up should switch to ash-less Aeroshell.

[Steve Swan]

Riding in heavy rain can decarbon cylinders..in the good old days they would drop a little water in the carb to clean them out,you could hear it & see it come out the exhaust.Carbon buildup is common on modern twinkies,seams to be worst on bikes that are treated nicely,never ran hard & never ridden in the rain.The front cylinder is always ahead of the rear,if not cleaned out you hear a tinking noise that sounds like a lifter problem.It is the intake valve hitting the cake buildup eventually bends the valve

i remember my Dad saying he had some sort of a coil tubing setup on his 27JD that would allow a water vapor to go in with the fuel/air mixture. that's all i remember and in the pictures of his bike, i can't seem to see anything like that on it. but, the pictures aren't really good enough to be able to see some device like that. but they are good enough to note his bike was fitted with a Schebler H type carb.

[Shaky Jake]

I remember doing the water trick back in the seventies on some of the clunkers I drove. It seemed like it worked. I think what happens is the water expands very quickly when it flashes to steam, and breaks up the carbon.

Good tip on the Aeroshell. I might try that.




Kevin



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[T. Cotten]

Another approach, Folks,...

....Would be to remove the airhorn and spray HEET down its throat at a very high idle.
I could usually get a half a bottle down into my '61 Ford station wagon before it would sputter out.

Combustion quickly changes it to water and carbon dioxide.

I don't know if it was just carbon coming out the exhaust, but it was sure a cloud.

....Cotten