SeaFoam

[chrissbee77]

I have a 2001 grand prix gt 3.8 non supercharged and was wanting to run a bottle of seafoam through the engine. can ANYBODY send me a pic of a good place to run i. One opinion is listed below let me know what to do thanks everyone.

Your car has multi-port injection, and the upper plenum is air only. DO NOT pour the seafoam into your throttle body, they are referring to old TBI units, not MPI. Put it in the tank as you fill up, that way it gets mixed up thoroughly.

[wlkjr]

Just my opinion, but if it ain't broke........don't fix it. It most likely won't do any good and may even hurt it.

[Greenblurr93]

seafoam is great stuff. i divide the can into thirds and put 1/3 in the gas, 1/3 in the crankcase by way of the oil fill and the other third i put in through the big vacuum line off the brake booster. run the car until the white smoke stops then change the oil.. dont let the seafoam stay with the oil as it can damage the oil filter.

[Highbeamz]

I have heard good things about seafoam but I have never used it myself. Of course I have heard stories of it taking out rings due to the carbon being broken loose and damaging them, but those cases are few and far between, if not coincidence.

I thought about running some through mine because it has a slight intermittent "Bump" (like a miss) at idle but EVERY car I have owned does that so I'm convinced it's normal.

[BNaylor]

How many miles do you have and why? Any issues that warrant the service?

Running Seafoam through a tank gas will do nothing to get rid of the carbon buildup and crud in the UIM plenum and first part of the lower intake manifold runners and the throttle body. Via the gas tank probably good as a top engine cleaner to clean the fuel injectors, cylinder heads, valves and pistons but it will miss areas that should be cleaned like the intake system. Hopefully all the stuff blowing out doesn't damage or clog the CAT converter. However, since this is a Series II 3800 L36 engine susceptible to the infamous UIM gasket issue then I would exercise caution depending on the mileage especially if you plan to run it in via the throttle body. You don't need any chemicals to speed up gasket replacement or possibly damage the flaky gaskets.

However, GM has top engine cleaner that is safe to use.

[Epicurus]

I don't think I would pour Seafoam into my engine unless I felt I had a really good reason.

Has anyone ever heard of "steam cleaning" your engine? The process is done by pouring very small amounts of water into your throttle body and giving it some throttle. The idea is that the water will vaporize in your engine and the steam will help break up carbon deposits. I'm not really sure if this would be any better than Seafoam, though. What do you guys think?

[tblake]

Dont think it would work as it will get sucked into the cylinders. Probably isn't a very good idea.