Sea foam? Anyone had any luck?

[1955moose]

The only time you'd manually clean valves/pistons is on engine teardown/rebuild. Personally I wouldn't use any of these products on newer motors. You've got delicate catalytic converters, 02 sensors, and a myriad of things that could possibly be damaged if your vehicle has a bad reaction. Like your body, clean fuel, regular oil changes and take it out on an open freeway for a brisk jog, say 90 mph once every 2 weeks! Oh yeah, no booze, no additives! Just protein, veggies, the occasional carbs, no sugar, you and your Suv will live till 90!

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[J Ski]

Do you happen to know what the official, Ford approved method is for cleaning the valves and such on these EcoBoost motors? Is manual cleaning allowed/recommended (i.e. wire brush or media blasting)?

Yeah make your engine port injected instead of DI. I was told a catch can and 5000mile full synthetic oil changes keeps it pretty healthy. If it gets really bad, your probably looking at replacement. No official fix, although they have tried to sell me a fuel system and manifold cleaning packages for $300. They can’t tell me what exactly that means though and from what I’ve heard they dump fuel system cleaner in it, which is also advised against doing. Maybe running premium would help to round everything out too. I ain’t paying that though

 

[sixsix]

Again wouldn’t use it as Ford advises not to use any type of additive on EB engines, not sure about the tritons though. Might be ok for then

No manufacturers say it’s ok to use any type of oil or fuel additives, or at least none that I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t use it either way, but that’s just me.


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[rjdelp7]

Seafoam is more lawn mowers. It may ruin your catalytic converters. Lucas fuel treatment/fuel injector cleaner has great reviews.

 

[DontBeJeff]

I have an 03 EB, and used the spray Seafoam in my engine. Worked well for me. Definitely need two people to do it per instructions. One to spray the Seafoam in through the engine, and one to keep the RPM's up to get it through the engine. Also, I used an OBD II reader while doing it, so I can see when it ran out. You can tell when it goes from a rich condition back to normal.

 

[lbv150]

Sea Foam spray with the intake adapter tube to keep the intake valves clean on a EB engine. Otherwise I run Marvel Mystery Oil in every engine. For any running issues just richen up the Marvel. I had a pickup truck with fuel tank selector issues, dealer wanted over $800 to repair. Put in a lot of MMO looked like a two stroke going down the road...solved the problem. On another vehicle that sat for 10 years the fuel pump developed a leak...again heavy on the MMO...no more leak. Take that for what it's worth. Ethanol fuel sucks, MMO will keep everything lubed up in the fuel system at 4oz per 10 gallons.

 

[Atman246]

I had a bad miss in my 07 with the 5.4l three valve. It made the check engine light come on. Was going to change plugs to start and ran seafoam with a tank of Shell premium through the engine. Miss went away,runs like a top,haven't changed plugs yet. 270,000 kilometres.

 

[Hodoor-Hodoor]

I'm with others on this thread that Seafoam is excellent. I had the same problem with rough running engine and low mileage values of 12/12 mpg. Acceleration potential was limited to the first 1/4" of throttle displacement after that not much changed in engine response. Seafoam helped a pretty good amount. Then I changed my fuel filter. When I was changing the filter the fuel that spilled out of the line from the tank was nasty brown and I let as much drain as I could without fuel pump power. End state was that mileage now averages 15/17 mpg and the engine is getting smoother. Acceleration characteristics have changed too with much more change in acceleration potential with added throttle displacement. The next time I change out the fuel filter (sooner rather than later) I'm going to reattach the fuel pump power and power it up for a gallon or two until I see good looking fuel. Then I think Seafoam will really get a chance to finish off the injector/valve/plug cleaning.

 

[Alansd]

I use "guaranteed to pass" when my expedition failed emissions, it worked great and cleaned it so well it passed with room to spare. Also Porsche recommends Chevron Techron only as an additive. I used marvel mystery for years, then read a study that said it was useless

 

[James Heffernan]

Please Note: Sea Foam IS an issue on direct injection turbo engines like EcoBoost ( i.e. the injectors are in the combustion chamber).
There is an issue with turbo engines because the injectors are below the valves in the combustion chamber, no fuel washes over the valves to keep them clean and they can tend to get gunked up from the cooked blowby oil vapor that is forced into the crankcase by the turbo pressure.

Ford does not recommend any solvents be used to remove this gunk because the solvents burn at a much higher temperature and the high heat can damage the expensive turbo's bearings.

The best solution is to install a "Catch Can" to the PCV system to filter the blowby vapors and use full synthetic oil at regular changes.

The videos in this thread talk about a throttle body engine ( Fuel washes over the valves) and the EB is a direct injection... ( NO throttle body)

 

[Boose]

Please Note: Sea Foam IS an issue on direct injection turbo engines like EcoBoost ( i.e. the injectors are in the combustion chamber).
There is an issue with turbo engines because the injectors are below the valves in the combustion chamber, no fuel washes over the valves to keep them clean and they can tend to get gunked up from the cooked blowby oil vapor that is forced into the crankcase by the turbo pressure.

Ford does not recommend any solvents be used to remove this gunk because the solvents burn at a much higher temperature and the high heat can damage the expensive turbo's bearings.

The best solution is to install a "Catch Can" to the PCV system to filter the blowby vapors and use full synthetic oil at regular changes.

The videos in this thread talk about a throttle body engine ( Fuel washes over the valves) and the EB is a direct injection... ( NO throttle body)

Hi Jim, I wanted to clarify that there is absolutely a throttle body on the Ecoboost motors.

There are 3 primary types of fuel injection:

Throttle Body: (one or two large nozzles which spray fuel) This had the closest functionality to a carburetor.
Multi Port: In either sequential, or bank injected this is the practice of delivering atomized fuel per cylinder in the intake port of the manifold immediately before the intake valves.
Direct Injection: delivers atomized fuel at a extremely high pressure directly into the combustion chamber.

I think you were referring to Throttle Body injection which has pretty much gone the way of carburetors.

The Throttle body itself is the component which contains the throttle plate actuated when the accelerator is pushed. This is very much a component on the ecoboost engines.

Not trying to be critical, just wanted to avoid any confusion based on the varied experience levels present in the forum!

 

[Jarheadmatt]

I did add about 8 ounces on mine about a week before an oil change and did the intake spray before the throttle plate. There are some good before and after videos on the spray and oil additive. I also had a code that required a new EGR and DPFE. Unsure what part made the difference, but my fuel mileage is substantially better as well as power especially on the bottom end. Over 250k and runs great.

I have a feeling a bit of it was the seafoam as it really works on the built up deposits from what I have seen in the videos.

 

[deweysmith]

Also of note, the reasons for not using SeaFoam on a direct-injected EcoBoost are valid when using it through the fuel system. When you do the intake spray it won't have the same issues, at least not the "doesn't touch the valves" issue. It may still have the temperature issues, I don't know. SeaFoam seems to think it's safe.

 

[anishemaya]

Again showing my ignorance but what is Ecoboost throttle body etc? And how do I know what my truck has?

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[deweysmith]

Do you have a 2015+? Because that's the answer.

 

[anishemaya]

2012 Expy el

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[deweysmith]

No EcoBoost for you. You have the 5.4L Triton V8 like most of us.

 

[Boose]

Again showing my ignorance but what is Ecoboost throttle body etc? And how do I know what my truck has?

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Welcome to the forum!

This is a great place to learn gobs of information from real world DIY, and pros alike. It's easy to get overwhelmed and potentially do damage to expensive components if you are unfamiliar with the functional process of an engine. If you plan on conducting any work on your truck yourself, I recommend that you pick up the proper repair manual.

Here is a decent one that will see you through most DIY repairs as well as some more technically difficult repairs:

https://haynes.com/en-us/ford/expedition/1997-2017

If you ever get stuck or are looking for advice, ask away, we're happy to help!

 

[bobmbx]

Again showing my ignorance but what is Ecoboost throttle body etc? And how do I know what my truck has?

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Not sure what your question is.

Every fuel injected engine has a throttle body, with or without turbocharging.