Tom Bond

Member
Any of you use Sea Foam? Never tried it but been reading good things about it. Thinking of trying it to keep things clean over the winter when the tractor will be sitting most of the time except for some snow removal when needed. Looks like it will need a pint or so for 10-15 gals of fuel. Will these old tractors handle it ok?
 
I do not generally believe in a mechanic in a can, but.... I use it in all my small engines and they definately work better with it
than they did without it. Especially my weed wacker and ice auger.
 
(quoted from post at 19:22:59 11/26/17) I do not generally believe in a mechanic in a can, but.... I use it in all my small engines and they definately work better with it
than they did without it. Especially my weed wacker and ice auger.

It's not snake oil, been using it for years.
I've used it in everything that burns gasoline.
Brought several different types of equipment that other people had given up on.
Only thing I've ever found that will actually clean jets out without taking a carb apart.
I don't measure, usually put a lot more than called for, fire it up and run the implement at full throttle. It will smoke some, but it's doing it's magic.
Never had a reason to run it in my 640.
 
I use it in all my small engines and gas tractor, old Jeep

However I do not know if I would use it in a new car or truck, these machines are set up with their computers
This additive might harm the settings
Not sure on this one, I would ask the service department especially if it?s still under warranty
 

Just used the first Sea Foam I ever used. Used it in gasoline mix in two different machines. Both of these machines had been sitting more than a couple years.

Machine # 1: 1963 Ford 4000 gasoline engine. Tractor started, then popped, spit, sputtered for about 2 miles and a few minutes to hook up a 3 point implement. By the time it got to destination it was running like a top again.

Machine # 2: 2003 Polaris Sportsman 700 Twin. Unit would not start after numerous tries at cranking when mixture was first poured in tank. I don't remember if it sat overnight or over two nights. By fluke, I decided to try it again. It fired right up and within minutes was running great. It had been a hard starter for several years prior to sitting a while.

Snake oil it isn't! Need I say more?
 
I've used it in a number of different gas engines with
good results. Seems to work better as a fuel
stabilizer than Stabil.
 
Ford 2000; 3 cyl. gas; 4,1 trans....when I bought my tractor a couple years ago the oil on the dip stick looked pretty good, transparent amber color that doesn't look new but still acceptable. It had an oil pan leak that I planned to fix so I split a can of SeaFoam in the gas and in the crankcase. Ran it for a couple weeks ago and then drained the oil. The oil was as black as india ink. I'm assuming the SeaFoam cleaned all the carbon and deposits off the internal engine parts. When I dropped the oil pan to install a new gasket, the crank and everything I could see looked clean as brand new. And, the tractor ran better for having the SeaFoam run thru the fuel system, I believe.

First time I used SeaFoam was in a 2003 Seabring that my future son in law was driving. He called me and said the car was making a ticking sound. This car sat a lot until he visited his dad, in which case he used the car while he was in town. I had a can of SeaFoam and we agreed to try it so met him in the local parking lot, poured it in the crankcase and he went on his way. Before he had gone a mile, he called me and said the ticking had stopped and, since then, it has run like a top. I suspect that, because of the long periods that it would sit, the deposits clotted up and caused the engine to perform poorly.

I am not a huge fan of mechanics in a can but I do know that SeaFoam worked for me. Your mileage may vary.
 
Snake Oil. ALL of these products use mineral spirits as the prime ingredient - average about 95%. Do your homework. Search the MSDS (Material Safety data Sheet)on any product to get the poop on what it really is. If the company has none listed and/or says it is proprietary information, be especially skeptical and save your money. MMO, Sea Foam, Kroil, STABIL, et al use it. Mineral Spirits is an excellent substance for cleaning grease, gunk, crud off of parts, engines, lube systems, and will not harm your internal engine or hydraulic system. Now, I am not saying none of these will work loosening up parts and such, they probably do, but don't get fooled into thinking they are really making a huge improvement on engine performance. I use mineral spirits all the time for cleaning parts, cleaning off engine components like distributor, carb, generator, and such before removing from tractor, and cleaning out the hydraulic systems on tractors too. You can also use UATF, diesel fuel, and kerosene as well. None of those either will do any harm to engine internal parts if not fully flushed. I buy mineral spirits in 5 gallon pails and in a pinch one can use Kingsford Charcoal Lighter Fluid -it is the same thing. If you want to spend your $$$ fast and easy, sure go ahead and buy the pre-packaged snake-oil products but for cost effectiveness, buying in bulk the true source is the way to go. BTW, I have put together a MSDS list on the other Ford N-Series Tractor Club web site for easy access to most all commercial products sold today for the mechanically inclined.

...your mileage may vary...
Tim *PloughNman* Daley(MI)
 
I always find it humorous that the same folks who insist there should be no ethanol in their "pure" gas (there's no such thing as pure gas) have no problem dumping in various concoctions of unknown chemicals.
 
I use Seafoam in everything; gas, diesel and chainsaws. I have seen some pretty amazing transformations in performance on engines that had lost performance due to crud on injectors, etc... I make my own, somebody reverse engineered it. The formula is 4 parts diesel fuel, 2 parts Naptha, and one part Iso Heet.
 
I use it in tanks for the first start of the year.. it's higher quality than the crud they sell as gas nowadays.
 
Yep, the old farmers would run everything and anything they had in these old N's - and it never hurt them. The use of 'regular' gas instead of unleaded ethanol based has become a big topic in recent years. The reasons vary the gamut from boiling gas to fouling plugs. There are many who believe you must use Premium gas too -you don't, but if you want to spend your $$$ for high octane and/or 'regular' gas, go right ahead. The EPA banned the use and sale of lead in products years ago, paint and gas included, at least in the USA. The myths will be forever propagated and people will believe what they want to hear and believe without attempts to get the actual facts themselves.

Tim Daley(MI)
 
(quoted from post at 07:21:33 11/27/17) Snake Oil. ALL of these products use mineral spirits as the prime ingredient - average about 95%. Do your homework. Search the MSDS (Material Safety data Sheet)on any product to get the poop on what it really is. If the company has none listed and/or says it is proprietary information, be especially skeptical and save your money. MMO, Sea Foam, Kroil, STABIL, et al use it. Mineral Spirits is an excellent substance for cleaning grease, gunk, crud off of parts, engines, lube systems, and will not harm your internal engine or hydraulic system. Now, I am not saying none of these will work loosening up parts and such, they probably do, but don't get fooled into thinking they are really making a huge improvement on engine performance. I use mineral spirits all the time for cleaning parts, cleaning off engine components like distributor, carb, generator, and such before removing from tractor, and cleaning out the hydraulic systems on tractors too. You can also use UATF, diesel fuel, and kerosene as well. None of those either will do any harm to engine internal parts if not fully flushed. I buy mineral spirits in 5 gallon pails and in a pinch one can use Kingsford Charcoal Lighter Fluid -it is the same thing. If you want to spend your $$$ fast and easy, sure go ahead and buy the pre-packaged snake-oil products but for cost effectiveness, buying in bulk the true source is the way to go. BTW, I have put together a MSDS list on the other Ford N-Series Tractor Club web site for easy access to most all commercial products sold today for the mechanically inclined.

...your mileage may vary...
Tim *PloughNman* Daley(MI)

I guess your defintion of snake oil and mine are different.
 
Yeah, everybody has a different take on additives and oil. Always good for a 2 or 3 page commentary. I just bought some seafoam in bulk - 2 cans instead of one. That'll get me 2 or 3 years down the road. Don't really need a couple of 5 gallon pails of rocket fuel sitting around in the barn. . . .
 
Hmmm,
Products like MMO and Sea Foam are byproducts of crude oil. They come from the private sector and are willingly purchased by people who think they are beneficial and worth the money.
Ethanol is a heavily taxpayer subsidized byproduct of corn that has been forced upon us by an overzealous government and few people like the stuff.
See the difference?
 
> Products like MMO and Sea Foam are byproducts of crude oil. They come from the private sector and are willingly purchased by people who think they are beneficial and worth the money.
> Ethanol is a heavily taxpayer subsidized byproduct of corn that has been forced upon us by an overzealous government and few people like the stuff.
> See the difference?

Thank you for illustrating my point. The active ingredient in Sea Foam is propanol, a close relative of ethanol. Ethanol bad, propanol good? I think there's little difference in their characteristics, good and bad.

Sadly, our old tractors care even less about politics than they do about organic chemistry. My Ford doesn't seem to know if the stuff I dump in the tank contains government mandated and subsidized compounds, or if it's full of questionable free market products. It'll run on about anything other than straight H<sub>2</sub>O.
 
Hmmmm. The MSDS I read lists light mineral oil, alcohol, and naptha. Didn't know any of those were Propanol.

I used it religiously primarily in my 2 stroke outboard motor. Had the engine for over 10 years (2002 model purchased in 2004) and never touched the fuel system. When I finally did, the carb interiors were spotless. Reason for the look-see was degraded black fuel line particles getting in the carbs. Regardless of the chemicals/fuel, 12+ years on a non reinforced rubber hose (Neoprene or not) isn't all that bad. In my tractor's diesel, I run Power Services products which keep them happy and me out of the fuel systems doing repairs.
 
I forgot about this thread.
Nice way to change the subject though.
If I got the ingredients wrong forgive me.
My point, which you so studiously avoided was about the subsidies and mandates vs the free market.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top