SEAFOAM CRANK CASE "RINSE", PRE OIL CHANGE, QUESTIONS...

[PACIFICMAN]

Hello all. I am about to change the oil and filter on my 6th Gen. I am contemplating adding some Seafoam or other treatment / solvent to the crankcase pre oil change to rinse it of contaminants and hopefully clear up the cloudy sight glass. My questions: Has anyone done this? Was it effective? What additive and how much? Downsides? I presume that I would drain some old oil and replace with the additive, warm up the bike then drain as usual. Any Thought? Thanks All.

[SinNH]

Done simmilar to vehicle engines, mostly diesel, for a 5/6 qt engine, I followed the directions, warm engine, no drainage of existing oil needed, you overfill the crank with the flush, and they say no revving up, let idle for 10-15 m and drain. Oil comes out usually black. After flushing I change the oil again at about 3-400 miles, but I know I am anal, can't sleep knowing there is a bit of the flush solution still in there.

I change the oil on my bikes so often , never flushed any.

[YoshiHNS]

Pretty much the above. I would only do it on a rare occasion. I have done it once on my 96 when I hit 20-odd thou miles. Drained oil, put clean oil in. Put a small amount of seafoam in, new oil filter. Took it on a 30 mile loop keeping the revs below 5/6k. Drain oil (came out pitch black), new oil filter, new oil. Changed oil again 500-1000 miles later.

Now, did it make any serious improvements? No idea. Obviously cleaned something off really well. Not sure why I did it either. Think maybe it was when I thought I had fuel in the oil from carb issues or something and thought it would be a good thing to do to clean it out.

[Tamworth]

I wouldn't have the stuff anywhere near my bike much less in the crank case. To actually run the engine with this stuff in the oil would be a very bad idea, nothing can be gained from this. If it does for some reason actually dislodge anything then all that will be running through your oiling system. Can't think of a worse thing to do to an engine.

[YoshiHNS]

I can think of a lot worse things to do. Such as putting a product that's not actually designed to go in there. Like crayons. Or do something like that Gixxer guy who put NOS energy drink in his fuel tank.

[Beck]

Pretty much the above. I would only do it on a rare occasion. I have done it once on my 96 when I hit 20-odd thou miles. Drained oil, put clean oil in. Put a small amount of seafoam in, new oil filter. Took it on a 30 mile loop keeping the revs below 5/6k. Drain oil (came out pitch black), new oil filter, new oil. Changed oil again 500-1000 miles later.

Now, did it make any serious improvements? No idea. Obviously cleaned something off really well. Not sure why I did it either. Think maybe it was when I thought I had fuel in the oil from carb issues or something and thought it would be a good thing to do to clean it out.

Actually, the fuel in your oil might have done the same thing as the Seafoam.....Gasoline is a pretty potent solvent and many people (foolishly) use them to clean parts, specially in many parts of the 3rd world where you cannot just buy seafoam or other solvents around the corner....

[PACIFICMAN]

Thanks for the replies so far. I neglected to give details of my situation. '02 VFR, coming up on 34,000 miles. I change the oil every 3,000 miles, filter every 3rd change. I run Castrol GTX, 10w-40 and used the SuperTech filters. I am going to change to the longer Bosch filter on this oil change.

Tamworth, On your contention that the cleaning could harm the oiling system: Wouldn't the oil filter remove anything dislodged from the oil ways? I don't think that I have a build up of solids given my frequent changes, I am nominally concerned with any residue "varnish" like stuff and hopefully clearing the sight glass. I see your point though and I appreciate it. Thanks

[Veefer800Canuck]

If you're changing the oil every 3000 miles (5000 kilometres) you are already changing way too early and wasting money. The 3000 mile oil myth is firmly entrenched in our automotive society, due to outmoded thinking from an era when metallurgy, quality control, and oil chemistry were not as advanced as they are today.

If you took your engine apart, you would find it to be absolutely spotless inside, so seafoam isn't gonna help. At worst, it might make your clutch slip.

I have stretched out my oil change intervals on all my vehicles due to better metallurgy and engine tolerance quality, plus advances in oil technology/chemistry.

You'd be further ahead to run the bike to the mileage listed in the manual, and change the filter with every oil change instead of every third one.

[spud786]

Catrol GTX is a very waxy motoroil, surely you can do better in choice if concerned about plaque buildup, then have to run snake oil to clean it.

One of the strongest cleaning oils, is amsoil and Redline.

Do I think 3,000 mile intervals is a waste of money, not by a long shot with the oil analisys Ive done. Course I have a 100,000 mile vfr motor that runs as well as the day I bought it, Leaded race fuel aides too.

I may change filters once every 6 or 7 oil changes, but I usually change oil around 2,000 to 4,000 mile depending on if its car oil, motorcycle oil, or diesil oil.

[Dutchy]

Nations invade other countries to ensure the oil keeps flowing in their direction.

A heavy price is paid for this, both human and monetary....

So I'd say that it is unpatriotic to waste oil by changing at 3k miles....

YMMV

[Audigier]

i've used seafoam on the fuel of my old 1985 goldwing with 103k miles, with no problems and now i use it on my vfr, actually when i first got her, she would not go past the 180 km/h after a seafoam threatment i managed to reach 215 km/h,

on the oil i've used it on my old goldwing and helped a lot to smooth up the clutch, have not used it on the VFR.

i am member of a goldwing forum where everyone uses and recommends seafoam and there is also a thread about it with stories about how great it is. when used as adviced on the label of course.

[Monk]

Just another opinion........ I've been changing my oil at 5000 and changing my filter with every oil change, And have been running some Seafoam in it twice out of the eight or so changes(run the bike for 20/30 miles w/the SF then change).

Honda mc calls for 8000 mile intervals.

My Honda car calls for 5000 mile intervals........ And it says in the manual "NOT" to put additives in the gas or oil, other than what comes with the gas and oil that is already in the product.

SO we have lots of different directions to think about.

[dalesvfr]

Salesperson at local bike shop races dirt bikes and swears by Marvel Mystery oil in both tank and crankcase (which looks and smells like auto transmission fluid to me). He tears down engines often so there may be something in what he says.

I had a pressure washer that sat with stale gas in it for a couple of years. Put fresh gas in and tried to start it but of course it wouldn't. I thought I'd have to tear it down so put about a pint of Seafoam in it and let it sit overnight as I had nothing to lose. It started on the second or third pull. Amazing stuff.

Local Home Depot was not selling StarTron stabilizer anymore and had it marked down to $2 a bottle so I bought a dozen. I try to put a couple of ounces in my tank every fill up. It can't hurt (hopefully).

[smoothsailin]

I highly doubt if a conventional automotive motor oil like Castrol GTX 10w-40 meets Honda's recommended standards for a 6th-generation, and I have a hard time understanding why anyone would elect to only change the oil filter once for every three motor oil changes-especially when using such an inexpensive oil filter as SuperTech. If anything it would make more sense to change the oil filter once between oil changes since if the filter gets clogged the bypass valve will allow unfiltered motor oil to continue circulating.

To each his own. My choice is to use a premium synthetic motor oil designed for motorcycles or a heavy-duty conventional oil designed for diesels (like Rotella) in combination w/a premium oil filter w/synthetic media (I use Purolator PureOne) and motor oil & filter changes at least annually, or every 5-6k miles (note: Honda recommends 8k mile oil change intervals)..

When using synthetic motor oil I've never found any evidence of sludge buildup, so I see no need to use an engine flush or other solvent inside my engine, In fact I feel doing so is more likely to cause damage than prevent the same. If this was necessary under normal conditions why wouldn't the practace be listed as part of the normal maintenance schedule? .

www.bobistheoilguy.com can be good reference for those who may be interested in becoming more knowlegeble about recommendations for motor oils & filters.

[YoshiHNS]

I can tell you it did a good job on my car engine. I rebuild it every 60k per service requirements. Last time there was a fair amount of build up on the valves and pistons. This rebuild, it's cleaner than before. One application before an oil change worked well to eliminate the lifter tick and clean those small oil ports out.

Not something to dump in the crankcase all the time, but maybe at major milestones. But definitely something to use in your gas for stabilization. The jets on the ST don't seem to clog as easy after putting some seafoam in the tank.

[RoadToed]

I see no problem with using seafoam to flush a crankcase, I have used atf to do the same thing in an old toyota pick-up a time or two and got 300k out of it. I would say no riding or revving with it in the oil and you should be fine. I would also recomend to change your oil filter every oil change and mabey look at upgrading to Mobil 1 motorcycle oil and doing longer service intervals like 5-6k. Of course this all depends on your riding style (where you like to keep the rpms) and area(high ambiant temps, dusty conditions and so on). Just remember any oil/fluid discussion will sprial out of control so do what you think is best and best to follow old man honda's manuals for best results. that is my two cents and i wouldn't pay that for it. good luck to ya.

[samaki]

What exactly are you hoping to flush out of your crankcase by using Seafoam or any other additive like that? If you change your oil when the oil is hot you will be draining out any impurities with the oil. As a lifelong piston and turbine helicopter mechanic I see no contitions that would warrant putting an additive in your oil to flush the crankcase. No flushing additive is going to have the lubricating properties of engine oil, so to dilute your oil with them and run the engine, for any period of time, in my opinion is creating problems, not solving them. As to oil change intervals, on the VFR engine I have found 6000 miles to be adequate, with filter change every oil change. I have 82K miles on my current 4th gen and it runs better every thousand miles. If you run the oil longer I would suggest filter changes at 6000 mile intervals, even if you don't change the oil.

[skymon]

Every time I read a thread about Seafoam I wonder how the conversation would change if the Seafoam user just said "I use diesel, naptha, and/or rubbing alcohol in my -------" instead. The effects of any of Seafoam's ingredients are pretty familiar. (e.g. diesel is "sooty", alcohol attracts water, etc.) I've yet to see any good scientific studies of Seafoam's proposed benefits. Now that would be interesting. Otherwise is just seems like pretty successful marketing to me._

edit: I guess I'm not sure exactly what Seafoam's "pale oil" ingredient refers to. Could be more like mineral oil than diesel. I think my point is the same though either way.

Seafoam MSDS: http://www.seafoamsales.com/266-msdsseafoamen.html

[spud786]

Motorcycle engines once tthey reach a certain plateau, some its 8 to 10,000 miles, on the vfr its about 15,000. The oils filters run very clean afterwArds. so if you change the oil regularly, you can save on the labor of filter replacement on mutilple changes, even if not interested in the cost benefit. This is very hard for some to do, but for those contemplating the option it is viable option. I probably replace a filter once or twice a year, but several oil changes in that time.

Car motors tend to me more sludge producing than MC motors. Ive yet to ever find a Mechanic who saw sludge in an MC motor, l that can be found in many car motors. IMo, its due to the rpm's in mc motors tend to be alot higher

[Guest]

It is probably not needed in the crank. I switched to Rotella, and it cleaned out my motor nicely. Rotella or Delvac is pretty high in detergent. I have run it since, in my cars as well. After pulling valve covers to adjust valves on the cars, it is clean as new with these oils. No big revelation, change the oil and filter regularly. Save your money and don't use many additives. That is just marketing to convince the public it is needed, when it really isn't.

I only run Seafoam in the gas once in a while in all my vehicles. Those great marketing messages made me a believer in the fuel system:-) Even my Honda mower runs better after Seafoam:-)