Seafoam Additive Help

make sure your drill isn't one of those old sparky ones. an old manual pump is a safer bet
 
Fish Assassin said:
Anyone know away of removing the fuel from my tank? Anyone got a pump and a use for 10gallons of gas with Seafoam in it?
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I see you've got carbs, but dunno if it's 2 or 4 stroke. If you have a vacuum activated pump to suck your powerhead oil out, that might work OK for a gallon or two at a time. If not, you should be able to borrow one from a buddy. I agree with NautiGirl, better stay away from any electric drill around gasoline.

F D
 
Might just buy one tomorrow, Canadian Tire was closed today. I will make sure the area is vented and the pump and drill will be out side of the boat. Going to get the boat at an angle on the trailer the jack the tung up real high and drain and clean the tank at the same time. Gladly put the top of the tank into someone else's boat if they want it but the bottom is going to get burned...Just joking about burning.

Any local got a cordless drill I can borrow if I buy a pump? As I am going to pump out at Kitty Coleman into cans then straighten on the trailer afterwards and hit a gas station following that.
 
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I've never used 'SeaFoam' but I looked it up... sounds alot like OMC product that I HAVE used lots "engine tuner" - it was designed to disolve the built up gum, varnish and carbon in 2-strokes. Even in engines that you would swear ran perfect and had ideal jetting and fuel/oil mixture, you would get huge clouds of smoke and rough running. I actual took off a set of heads one time cause I was convinced the ring lands were gummed and sticking -turns out the pistons and combustion chambers were clean like they'd been pressure washed w a stream cleaner.
It might be painful to use, but I think you will find the motor runs better once all the seafoam has run though
 
tykkyt e blue said:
I've never used 'SeaFoam' but I looked it up... sounds alot like OMC product that I HAVE used lots "engine tuner" - it was designed to disolve the built up gum, varnish and carbon in 2-strokes. Even in engines that you would swear ran perfect and had ideal jetting and fuel/oil mixture, you would get huge clouds of smoke and rough running. I actual took off a set of heads one time cause I was convinced the ring lands were gummed and sticking -turns out the pistons and combustion chambers were clean like they'd been pressure washed w a stream cleaner.
It might be painful to use, but I think you will find the motor runs better once all the seafoam has run though
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Great.... I have run 5 gallons of clean fuel thru it and put new plugs in it. Where do I go now?
 
This should be no big deal, no need to pump the fuel out of your tank. Seafoam dissolves carbon deposits and it does it very well. The engine is supposed to smoke. That's all the dissolved carbon buildup from your engine being burned away.

What has probably happened here is the seafoam has cleaned out the fuel system and the dissolved solids / carbon are now stuck in the fuel filter and carb jets. These will need to be cleaned out. It's highly unlikely anything at all has been damaged. In fact once you get the fuel filter & carbs cleaned I bet the motor will run better than it has in years.

Pop the plugs out and take a look at them to see if they are fouled. Take a rag and dry them off then use a wire brush and scrub them clean. Be careful not to change the plug gap. If you need to re-gap the plugs start with .030.
 
Trendsetter you mailbox is full... Just tried sending you this..
Sorry for spelling error on stupid iPad .. Should have said your thinking about fowled plugs aren't you?


The plugs were soaking wet after running Seafoam.


I have replaced them again since.


Sorry for the spelling errors...
 
Mailbox is cleared now.

Yeah, the symptoms you describe are either going to be plugged carb jets, fuel filter or fouled plugs. The seafoam loosened up some crud or carbon and now it's plugging up your fuel system.

You said it still runs bad on fresh gas in another tank so I wouldn't worry about the gas in your tank being bad. There is nothing wrong with running seafoam in your gas, I know lots of people that run it in every tank. Like I said, probably can be solved by replacing the fuel filter and cleaning out the carbs.

The plugs may or may not be fouled again but I doubt it. Just pop them out, dry them and clean with a wire brush.
 
FA PM incoming....
 
FA, trendsetter is on the money. The seafoam is not the problem. If your fuel filter is working right, there was likely just a speck of crud in the fuel lines between the filter and the carbs that got washed down into the idle circuit of the carbs ( a tiny passage/tube about as big as a pinhole running inside the carb ). You may have even had some gasoline varnish build-up in the carb bowl that when dissolved, had a speck that plugged the passage for regulating fuel pressure at idle.
 
I agree that Seafoam isn't the start of the problem..now to figure-out which of the 3 carbs is plugged up.Those carbs are easy to clean[fix]
 
trendsetter said:
This should be no big deal, no need to pump the fuel out of your tank. Seafoam dissolves carbon deposits and it does it very well. The engine is supposed to smoke. That's all the dissolved carbon buildup from your engine being burned away.

What has probably happened here is the seafoam has cleaned out the fuel system and the dissolved solids / carbon are now stuck in the fuel filter and carb jets. These will need to be cleaned out. It's highly unlikely anything at all has been damaged. In fact once you get the fuel filter & carbs cleaned I bet the motor will run better than it has in years.

Pop the plugs out and take a look at them to see if they are fouled. Take a rag and dry them off then use a wire brush and scrub them clean. Be careful not to change the plug gap. If you need to re-gap the plugs start with .030.
Click to expand...

I think you hit on the problem. I had major problems with my 9.9 Yami 4 stroke kicker after using Seafoam that may or may not be a coincidence.

The main motor is a large fuei direct injected two stroke and both it and the 4 stroke kicker run off the same large fuel tank although both have their own fuel lines and separate Racor filters. A the end of the season I put several cans of Seafoam into the large tank to clean out the motors and act as fuel stabilizer over the winter. Seafoam did a great job on the fuel injected two stroke, cleaned it right out and a little bit of roughness it had developed went away and it ran beautifully.

Different story on the older Yami 4 stroke however likely because it was carbed. Had a year of hell with it after that the following season. It would foul plugs and make oil like crazy (gas getting into the motor oil). Did some minor work on it ourselves which did not solve the problem and had two different shops work on it, both highly capable and experienced with Yami. Had to pull the boat and change plugs and motor oil repeatedly, not to mention back and fourths to the shops and that is a fair bit of work as it is a full remote with a plumbed in fuel line (not quick release) .

We replaced the plugs, fuel filters on the racors, the fuel filter on the kicker and replaced the fuel pump with the newer water cooled type and replaced the temp sensor. It would run well when plugs were changed for a day or two but then - Same problem.

A yami shop did a compression test (compression excellent) and replaced the idle circuit with a good used one as well as the plugs and motor oil (again). Ran well in their test tank but - Same problem when installed back on the boat.

Took it to another Yami shop with an excellent reputation and they replaced the plugs, temp sensor and fuel filter (again), completely disassembled the motor and cleaned out the exhaust which was clogged up with carbon and gobs of black gunk. It was an expensive bill. It ran well in the test tank as it always did after new plugs but then- same problem after a day or so on the water. This is a very good repair shop which stands behind their work so they said bring it back which I did and they swapped out the carb for another good used one for free and then ran it in the test tank for days. I think they were tired of seeing my smiling face. The problem was finally solved. The old kicker ran like new all last season, stopped making oil and hopefully has a lot of good years left in it.

My theory is that running Seafoam though an old 4 stroke or any old carbed motor, especially those without a standard choke system may not be a good idea as it likely dissolves crap in the carb which was otherwise stable and deposits it in jets and other critical small passages. Especially if that liquefied crap sits in the carb over the winter and drys up although I run the carbed motors dry before the winter layup. Too bad both motors feed off the same fuel tank because Seafoam does do a great job on the big fuel injected two stroke but I am afraid to get it anywhere near the old 4 stroke carbed kicker after that experience.

Now I have a new problem developing with the starting circuit. Likely in the remote unit as when we turn the key sometimes it is as if it is not making any contact and nothing happens. So what could this be? Some possibilities come to mind such as a bad contact in the switch unit or a bad intermittent connection somewhere. Finally the possibility of worn out brushes in the starter motor making intermittent contact. I have seen this happen with car starters and sometimes if your car won’t start you can hit your starter with a wench or a hammer and get those worn down brushes to make one or two more contacts which is often sufficient to get you home or to a shop. So any of you with lots of Yami kicker experience have any suggestions on this one???
 
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Well I think I have got it under controll.

Plugs replaced
Fuel now pumped... Holmes Way
Fuel pump replaced
Racor replaced
Fuel fliter/bowl inline cleaned

Something not my fault or the Seafoam may have caused it all.

Thanks for all the help and offers.
 
good news FA. hope you are fishing soon. I believe being off the water is unlucky, so I try to fish once a week all winter, two weeks tops. I also keep a light mix of seafoam in the two stroke gas on every second 6 gallon tank fill. That has kept my two stroke happy. I also use two fuel filters on the small four stroke kicker as I heard the hondas have very finicky little idle circuits. With the kicker I run a mild mix of seafoam every month or two.
 
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