Sea Foam ruined my engine?

Question

I have a 97 Eclipse Gs-t with a list of mods and aftermarket parts that i bought @ 103k and i bought it 1,500 miles ago. Supposedly was rebuilt 15-20k ago but no receipts. I went in and bought some sea foam for it, read on the can it treats up to 10 quarts of oil. i wasnt sure if i wanted to put it in the tank, crankcase or vacuum lines. I put no more than 1/3 of the can in the oil/crankcase, the 4G63 isnt big. I put the rest of the **** into a full tank of 93. About two driving hours later I was on my way home and lost a bunch of power, and about 20 yards later it shut off. Tried to restart multiple times but it was sputtery and kept shutting off. Only turning over now, no combustion and pretty sure the fuel pump is working took the back seats out and listened for it.

Now it sits while i drive my daily mitsu, in the freezing cold.

im not happy and need to get this fixed, if you have smart comments about my cars and choices with them, dont waste your time i'm well aware of the reputation, I am a female surrounded by unfriendly and incompetent people who not only are too good to talk to me but too busy racin their rice burners and v dubs around PA. this area really sucks i highly recommend moving elsewhere if you have the choice.

also if i cant figure it out, how bad is it for this car to sit around for this entire brutal northeast winter (2013)?

Extra testimony: Had run a little bottle of lucas injector cleaner when i first bought it. Put it in when i got gas, drove across the street literally, to the hardware store. Shut off again with sputtery re-starts, battled with the ***** for a half hour and then it was fine.

This is what leads me to believe the sea foam is the problem, because everyone here is telling me sea foam cant do that,
when I've seen sea foam mess up a number of cars online. If something is that damaging and sensitive to the actions of the user then WHY dont they have more forewarning, precautions, better instructions so people dont go pouring this **** in and ruining their car? Can i sue? Jesus really I'm so annoyed worst $13 of my life.

Answer 1

Seafoam is an obvious scam and waste of money, but I've never heard of it actually harming a car. You were foolish for wasting your money, but it does seem to be coincidental. What problems with the car did you expect this snake oil to "fix", exactly???

Answer 2

It does sound like the injector cleaners are making a problem your car has come to the surface.



No the cleaners will or should not make the car literally die or do what your car is doing. The fuel pump may be running but not making correct pressure, they do fail in that way.



Also those injector cleaners also clean every other part of the fuel system even the tank! Thats not a good thing on older cars because if it has never been done in the life of the car and you start doing it, you will turn lots of crap loose in the tank and lines and plug the fuel filter, which also could be your problem.



I learned this the hard way myself and changed the fuel filter on my older truck 3-4 times before it cleared up, and I learned to stop using that stuff on it.



Your engine is not ruined it is still ok, when you put it in the oil it cleans the engine internally and only 1/3 of a can won't hurt the oil or that part of the engine.



Sounds to me like either a fuel pump, or plugged fuel filter problem.



Good luck man been there done that!

Answer 3

Actually, Seafoam can do that. The problem is that it can be sucked into the intake too fast and bend a connecting rod by hydrolocking a cylinder. Bent rods eventually break, often punching a hole in the engine. Known as a "thrown rod" it is always fatal to the engine. Honda engines and high performance engines seem particularly vulnerable to the damage and it has appeared here quite a few times. However, that should not happen from just putting it in the oil and gasoline.



The quick test for a thrown rod when there is no hole in the engine is to remove the spark plugs and feel near the spark plug holes while a helper cranks the engine (If the engine bangs loudly when cranking stop right away and look for a replacement engine). If there are strong puffs of air coming from each hole the problem is somethng else; if one is not doing anything that piston is no longer connected to the crank. In any case, a visual inspection of the business end of the plugs may tell you something even if the conn rods are okay.



As you can tell, I am not a fan of Seafoam. If combustion chamber cleaning is required, I favor Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner, available in spray cans for about $6 at Dodge/Jeep dealers. Cheaper, more effective, safer, easier to use. If the fuel system needs cleaning use top tier gasoline brands. If oil cleaning is needed use synthetic oil.

Answer 4

Seafoam For Engines

Answer 5

Hi, I have used the seafoam a couple of times with great results.. First it don't mater what size motor you have 99% of them all have the same amount of oil in them 5 to 6 qts. my 7.6 L Ford only has 5 qts. in it..

You state that the car has a bunch of mods and rebuilt 20T ago {you think no papers on it} .. If you would have told us what you were tring to acheve with the seafoam we might be able to help.

The places you said you put the seafoam it should have not effected it in a way to kill the motor..

good luck

tim

Answer 6

I would recommend dumping the gas out and putting in new gasoline. See if that fixes the issue. He seafoam might of contaminated the fuel not allowing it to combust. I doubt it damaged yout engine, maybe injectors or filter but not tour engine.



It should be able to make it through the winter as long as you have antifreeze in the car and not water. Also buy a battery charger so your battery won't go bad.



Good luck :)

Answer 7

The obvious question is "Was this car running properly before you dumped that stuff in the crankcase?" If it wasn't, what problem did you expect it to solve?

Answer 8

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.