Snake Oil!

-
ramcharger

ramcharger

Dismember
Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
14,082
Reaction score
486
Location
Colorado
I've never been a believer in any type of oil or fuel additive with the exception of ZDDP fortifiers for cam break in. Well, I just picked up a '92 Jeep Cherokee with 4.0L HO engine, 220K miles and a nasty lifter tick. I've been cruising the Jeep forums as I know I'll have to replace the lifters and searching for answers in the lines of "if the lifters are trashed, have you found that the cam was trashed too" so I could get parts ready for the upcoming top end R & R.

What I found is that many of these owners have seen that sludge is the culprit. Oil gallery cleaning is pretty much a neccesity. I bit the bullet and bought a can of "Seafoam". The name is scary as hell but some of these guy swore by it. I figured I was going to do rod bearings and a rear main seal anyway, so what the hell.

The stuff comes in a pint can so half a pint went in the crankcase on my lunch break. Drove it 5 mi back to work and didn't notice any difference but didn't figure I would. Got it home and let the engine suck up the rest through a vacuum hose, shut it off and fired it back up. The ticking was bad, worse than before but it was from 5&6 instead of 1&2. WTF? I let it burn off and what a nice pretty cloud it made too, lol!

So I drove it another day and beat on it bit, brought the revs to 3500 rpm more than a few times but no real change. I got it in this morning and it was quiet! Not all gone but far, far better than it was when I first bought it. I actually have to listen for it and I don't hear the ticking sound bouncing off the car next to me at the stoplight. I'm going to run outside, pull off a vacuum fitting on rear side of the manifold that feeds 4,5,6 and run another half a can through it and change the oil.

I'll keep you all updated.

Disclaimer: I would never, ever, ever use this stuff on a good running V-8.
 
I've used Seafoam before. Works great for cleaning carbon off the combustion chambers when introduced into the intake and does a good job of getting rid of sludge when put in the oil (don't run it too long though). It's been around for a LONG time and is a great way to clean out your engine without opening it up.
 
Wow, never heard of it. Glad it worked out for you Joe! I've had good luck with the CD-2 stuff in the past for freeing sticky lifters, but other than that (and some Marvel Mystery Oil), I've never been a big fan of additives either. Congrats on the quieter Jeep!
 
This stuff is used in boats alot. I have used it and will so again. It is like steamcleaning the inside of your engine.

If you follow the instructions, it is the only "snake oil" that I actually think works.
 
OK, oil is changed after running another half pint through the a rear vacuum fitting. No metal in it (thank goodness) but lots of chunky carbon/sludge stuff and oil was black as night. PO said he had just changed the oil a 100 miles ago. I'll put another 20 miles on it and see what the oil looks like and if it improves. Ticking moved to the front of the engine again so there must be some crud cruising around. We'll see if this stuff breaks it up.

I figure at worst, I'll have a cleaner engine to break down come 3rd week of Jan. I took a week off to do whatever needs to be done. Might be easier to just pull the engine and get it on a stand, hone, rings, lifters, bearings etc.

Mope, 20 miles is all I'll put on it before changing the oil.

Leanna, we're not done yet, lol! I'll have a much better idea after I break the engine down.

Let's see what happens 340 Dart. Updates to come in the next few days.
 
I've used Seafoam several times on older engines but only on the top side to clean out carbon. Allways worked great.

Motorpirate are you sure the seafoam is what plugged up your oil pickup? Or could it may have allready been mostly plugged up and the Seafoam loosened enough gunk to finish plugging it. If the engine had that much sludge in it seafoam probably wasn't the answer to all the problems anyway. Just a thought.
 
No,dont misunderstand me,I have no experience with "Seafoam"
But breaking loose all the sludge in a sludged up engine with anything can be disaterous!!! I just changed the oil in a customers comanche pu(so sludged up nothing came out when the drain plug was removed...Had to poke a hole in the sludge covering the hole with a wire)It was towed in the next week with the bottom end out.(I told him it was a bad idea..Had not changed the oil in 6years!!)
 
Wow! It's not quite that bad, but still bad enough to where the ticking is roaming from cylinder to cylinder. Will this stuff "cure" the problem? I'll say no. Does it run better/quieter than it did? Yes, but not by the 16 bucks I paid for two cans of this stuff.

Here's a better idea for me: that 16 bucks could have bought me 5 lifters. I'll update when I break this thing down to see if it truly cleaned the chambers.
 
motorpirate said:
No,dont misunderstand me,I have no experience with "Seafoam"
But breaking loose all the sludge in a sludged up engine with anything can be disaterous!!! I just changed the oil in a customers comanche pu(so sludged up nothing came out when the drain plug was removed...Had to poke a hole in the sludge covering the hole with a wire)It was towed in the next week with the bottom end out.(I told him it was a bad idea..Had not changed the oil in 6years!!)
Click to expand...
yep, did that with rislone- spun a bearing...
 
Is it hard to pull the lifters and clean them out? I had a stuck pumped-down lifter on my 318 and just pulled it through the heads and cleaned it out.
 
My mechanic swears by it for cleaning carbon by pouring down the carb. Never used it as an oil additive though.
 
I've used the seafoam trany stuff and is the only "additive" that I have noticed helped. It was on my 95 dak w/186k the trany would "hesitate" when cold but after I addedthe seafoam it worked like a hot summer day. ran it for anouther 15k and now my daghter is driving it in michigan and its still going strong.
 
motorpirate said:
No,dont misunderstand me,I have no experience with "Seafoam"
But breaking loose all the sludge in a sludged up engine with anything can be disaterous!!! I just changed the oil in a customers comanche pu(so sludged up nothing came out when the drain plug was removed...Had to poke a hole in the sludge covering the hole with a wire)It was towed in the next week with the bottom end out.(I told him it was a bad idea..Had not changed the oil in 6years!!)
Click to expand...

Wow that was bad. I've seen some bad ones but that takes the cake.

Quick story. When I was 19 and working at a TV repair shop the boss had me take a small tv to a customer in his car and I noticed the lifters were ticking real loud. It was a 65 Chevy with a 283 and 138,*** miles on it. I knew they could be adjusted so I told him I could do it if he wanted. He then told me how he had never changed the oil since it was brand new. He just had the filter changed every 3,000 miles and a qt. added because as he said "oil never breaks down, just gets dirty so the filter takes all that out". I explained how the oil really did need to be changed cause it does break down and the filter couldn't remove all the contaminants but he seemed to know more even though he had never even changed the spark plug on a lawnmower. I then quickly backed out on adjusting the lifters for him cause I could only imagine how bad that engine would have looked inside. He wasn't happy when I told him that but oh well!!

Sorry to take up space with my story Ramcharger. Just thought you all might get a kick out of it.:-D
 
i heard once on a port fuel injected motor they cleaned the carbon off the valves and when they did it all the sludge and carbon went into the cylinder and it hydro locked the engine like half way up on the compression stroke and it bent the rods at severe angles and in multiple places. sounded way bad. because of this kinda thing i am hesitant of putting 'quick' cleaners in my motor. i like the 'bg44k' cleaner for the fuel because it works good and takes a little longer. thats not for lifters but something like that sounds a little safer to me.
 
Seafoam is the best thing since sliced bread! It seems pretty common in MN, you can grab it at the grocery store, gas station, wal-mart, etc... I use it as a fuel stabilizer, cleaner, hell I think you could mix it with rum and Coke and it wouldn't be half bad. (Not sure if that use is printed on the bottle.) The stuff is a must have!!
 
MOPEkidD-3 said:
Is it hard to pull the lifters and clean them out? I had a stuck pumped-down lifter on my 318 and just pulled it through the heads and cleaned it out.
Click to expand...

On a on a Jeep 4.0 L the head has to come off. Is it impossible? Heck no, but you never know what you might run into and it is my daily driver. I'd prefer to do this when I have a week off just incase I have to have the head re-surfaced.

fishy68 said:
Sorry to take up space with my story Ramcharger. Just thought you all might get a kick out of it.:-D
Click to expand...

No problem at all Tracy! That's what this thread is for, to share some experiences. I think of it as inviting you guys into my garage to get your opinions. How could a story or two not be told? :)

tyler_s18 said:
i heard once on a port fuel injected motor they cleaned the carbon off the valves and when they did it all the sludge and carbon went into the cylinder and it hydro locked the engine like half way up on the compression stroke and it bent the rods at severe angles and in multiple places. sounded way bad. because of this kinda thing i am hesitant of putting 'quick' cleaners in my motor. i like the 'bg44k' cleaner for the fuel because it works good and takes a little longer. thats not for lifters but something like that sounds a little safer to me.
Click to expand...

BG44 does work pretty well as a combustion chamber/valve cleaner. I used some prior to pulling the head on my 4Runner and I could see the carbon peeling off the piston tops in large flakes.

HevD said:
Seafoam is the best thing since sliced bread! It seems pretty common in MN, you can grab it at the grocery store, gas station, wal-mart, etc... I use it as a fuel stabilizer, cleaner, hell I think you could mix it with rum and Coke and it wouldn't be half bad. (Not sure if that use is printed on the bottle.) The stuff is a must have!!
Click to expand...


Well, three days later this thing is pretty dang quiet. I fired it up this morning and heard barely any ticking at all while I was scraping ice from the windshield. I guess it's bought me some time.

I found a builder '91 4.0L HO on craigslist for 50 bucks. I think I'll pick it up and just rebuild the whole dang thing and be done with it. Maybe even add a stroker kit and bring this thing up to 4.5 L. :)
 
You should change the oil now that the ticking is mostly gone. By now it's probably a cocktail of diluted old oil, Seafoam, and sludge chunks (mmm, sounds tasty!).
 
Another oil change is in plans. This is a quick synopsis of events:

Add half a can of seafoam to crank case and ran half through the intake.
Drove it about 20 miles and changed the oil. It was nasty and black as night.
Added 5 quarts and and another half can to crankcase and ran another half can through the intake.
Put about another 25 miles on it. Oil change tonight. I'm sure it's just as you described. Blech!!

I'll probably run this oil for about 50-100 miles until I change it again. I'll keep an eye on it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top