Seafoam
 

Will Seafoam clean a carb, or more accurately keep it clean, after the car has been sitting for awhile? I don't drive my widebed very often, and the Weber carb often has plugged accelerator pump action. It is a chore for me to remove the carb and clean the passageways. TIA, Jim B

Re: Seafoam
 

Seafoam makes a product called Tune-up. It may well help clean it but I doubt unless continuous use it will stay clean.

Re: Seafoam
 

I have used Seafoam on later model cars with hydraulic lifters. Worked well, but have not tried it for a carb cleaner.

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Jim, I have used it in my '70 Ford pickup that sits a lot. It smooths out the idle after using it for a while.

Re: Seafoam
 

Jim, the basic answer is yes. Ideally you can use a plastic straw on the end of an aerosol can of carburetor cleaner to start the initial dissolving of the dried gasoline. I am assuming you are using an electric pump, but however you can mix some Seafoam in about a 50/50 mixture and get it into the carb. bowl, it will likely start working on the accelerator pump circuit too.

Once you have it cleaned, find a small municipal airport where you can purchase some 100LL fuel for your boat in a jug, and then install that into your truck's fuel tank away from the airport. The AV gas does not sour or taint like ethanol fuels do, so this should keep the passageways open during stowage. Around here, we are paying about $5.30 a gallon for the AV gas, but it is a much better solution IMO.

Re: Seafoam
 

Re: Seafoam
 

below is part of what was posted by Brent 10 uh c today; (posting number 5) supporting his recommendation to make a purchase from a small airport

Once you have it cleaned, find a small municipal airport where you can purchase some 100LL fuel for your boat in a jug, and then install that into your truck's fuel tank away from the airport. The AV gas does not sour or taint like ethanol fuels do, so this should keep the passageways open during stowage. Around here, we are paying about $5.30 a gallon for the AV gas, but it is a much better solution IMO.[/QUOTE]

Boat owners believed avgas improved the performance of the engines in their boats and came to me to buy. I always obliged even though I had my doubts about this extra performance.
Once when I was working in the desert I took a truck to Kalgoorlie with a load of recently decanted avgas drums to refill. I had to do this from the airside and although I had airside approval I found the fuel company operators most reluctant to sell because they didn’t know the history of the 44gal drums. Blind Freddy could see they were pristine and painted appropriately plus my airside pass and pilot licence didn’t mean much at all to them. They took much convincing but did sell it reluctantly to me and told me not to come again.
To buy fully approved fuel from the oil company in new fully approved new drums was an additional 593 miles west.
Just another example of initiative and imagination being removed from those working in many industries. Probably directed by university trained executives who had never ever walked in the dust.

Re: Seafoam
 

Blind Freddy !?? I think I worked with him once. We'd just done a Cessna 206 check.
He was great!

Re: Seafoam
 

Boat owners believed avgas improved the performance of the engines in their boats and came to me to buy. I always obliged even though I had my doubts about this extra performance.
Once when I was working in the desert I took a truck to Kalgoorlie with a load of recently decanted avgas drums to refill. I had to do this from the airside and although I had airside approval I found the fuel company operators most reluctant to sell because they didn’t know the history of the 44gal drums. Blind Freddy could see they were pristine and painted appropriately plus my airside pass and pilot licence didn’t mean much at all to them. They took much convincing but did sell it reluctantly to me and told me not to come again.
To buy fully approved fuel from the oil company in new fully approved new drums was an additional 593 miles west.
Just another example of initiative and imagination being removed from those working in many industries. Probably directed by university trained executives who had never ever walked in the dust.
[/QUOTE]


The reason I suggested telling them it was for a boat is that it is against the law to use Av gas in a motor vehicle operating on public roads is because federal & state highway taxes have not been collected.

Re: Seafoam
 

SeaFoam isn't too bad but I've had better luck with Gumout Tune-Up with PEA.

PEA means 'PolyEther-Amine' which is a potent Nitrogen based detergent cleaner, that will attack deposits better than SeaFoam does. It is like what you find in Shell gasoline, V-Power with Nitrogen, their Premium grade gasoline. Great stuff. Run a few tanks full Shell V-Power thru your everyday driver it really scours the injectors clean and burns off carbon deposits and gunk.

Has to be good for a Model A too just haven't tried it in the A yet:)

Check out their web site it explains the science behind it.


https://gumout.com/our-ingredients/

Re: Seafoam
 

Drove my dad's A a couple of years ago and it popped and bucked all 5 miles to my house. Topped it off with non-ethanol fuel and a pint of seafoam. It ran ragged the first mile and was fine after that.
That's my experience.

Re: Seafoam
 

Thanks for this info.
Our modern vehicles (2000 Ranger truck and 2016 Hyundai) occasionally sputter and run rough.
Since it is not a consistent problem I've assumed it was occasional tanks of sub-par gas.
Read somewhere (Consumer Reports or similar?) that putting premium gas in a vehicle designed for 87 octane is a waste of money, but I might try a few tanks of this Shell V-power. It may cost less than the ethanol-free that I put in the Model A.......

Re: Seafoam
 

Drive it more, nothing sits well, from cars to humans to eating a bad clam.

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While I am not using SeaFoam or any other additives in the gas, I can relate this story.
My neighbor had a motorhome, 100 gallon gas tank. He filled it and added 2 or 3 bottles of SeaFoam. After 6 months, he went to drive it, no joy. The SeaFoam had settled to the bottom and since the solvents are not volitle enough the engine would not run.
We had to pull the pump from the tank, wash it out with gas and purge the injectors. Then we could fire the engine and then drain the tank.
In the words of a wise man "There are no magic mechanics in a can"

John

Re: Seafoam
 

Chris yes you are right there is no advantage to running Premium in a car designed for regular fuel.

The Shell V-Nitro is good now and then to clean up injectors and the upper cylinder. Maybe once or twice a year with a tank full each time will do it!

Re: Seafoam
 

That's even more diluted than they recommend, 1oz/gal. I have never had separation like that happen and since I drain my carb after each run you would think it would have filled my carb first. Maybe a Model A will run on Seafoam?

Re: Seafoam
 

I use 1 oz of Bell Ethanol Defense per 5 gals of gas and carb stays clean as a whistle and car runs and idles great.

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Thanks guys, but now you've given me so much to think about that my head hurts! Just FYI, I posted this same question on VFF and didn't get nearly as many replies.

Re: Seafoam
 

Back to the question of plugged passages in a Weber carb on an A.

My '31 A with the Weber kit had not been run in many months and did not wanna run well until I removed the idle jets from both side of the upper carb body. They are easily removed.

The idle jets were plugged with "gummy fuel gel" and I used a very fine sewing needle to pierce the opening in the jets.

Just need to be careful not to enlarge the jet orifice, just remove residual fuel gel crud from the jet. I had ethanol free in the tank also.

Re: Seafoam
 

Whenever an engine is stored for a time I shut off the fuel and let it run until it quits. I try to get as much fuel as possible out of the system. Whats left still has some SeaFoam in it.