Seafoam - A solution to oil consumption?

[d1bram]

Apologies if this has already been covered, a search of 'seafoam' brought up no hits.

Anyway, just been searching on google '1zz-fe oil consumption' and came up with this;

 m http://www.celicahobby.com/ubbthreads/s ... art=1&vc=1 m

Now my car uses a little oil but the precats haven't gone, so I read this and thought it sounds worth a try.

Unfortunately it seems seafoam isn't available in the UK.

Anybody tried anything similar with any success?

Thanks, James

[Jaik]

I've not heard of it before myself but you know what they say, "if it sounds too good to be true..."

[markiii]

its a cleaner to remove gunk from yoru engine, not an additive

it won;t help

[d1bram]

But I thought the problem was potentially caused by a build up of gunk?

[markiii]

But I thought the problem was potentially caused by a build up of gunk?

why?

[Wabbitkilla]

I suppose it is possible that gunk is A cause, and if you're using oil it could be worth a try.
IF you can get hold of the stuff.

<edit> And it IS available in the UK ... on ebay. linky

[d1bram]

As per the link at the top?

I understand there is no definitive answer on this, but that oval bore syndrome was a result of a poor ring design which caused the rings to foul up?

Anyway, reading more detail about seafoam, it essentially sounds like it works as an oil flush, it can be bought on eBay for about £20, so perhaps worth a go?  Doesn't sound as though there any negative effects

 m http://www.seafoamsales.com/gasoline-engine-faqs.html m

Not suggesting this is some kind of revelation, but perhaps just something worth a try on older higher mile motors as it may reduce oil consumption and save money in the long run against regular top ups.  Certainly that thread I posted at the top seems to make a case for it.

[markiii]

on an older motor you run teh risk of removing deposits that were actually stopping leaks

and making things worse

that said I use a flushing oil once a year on all my cars, its quite scary how much extra shit it gets out

[d1bram]

Yeah, was thinking about a flush anyway to get some decent oil in there.

Reading the oils thread I was thinking of something with a higher temperature viscosity.

Reading up and reasoning it seems reasonable that as our engines age, clearances will increase and that does account for some of the oil usage, but anything you can do to slow it has to be worthwhile.

The manual says the MR2 can use anything upto 1l per 600miles anyway which seems a lot to me anyhow.

[Wabbitkilla]

Hey, I've owned my MR2 since it had 3990 miles on it, it's a 2003 facelift.
It now has 80,000 miles on it, gets service every 10,000 miles, I use flush every time I change the oil and have only ever used fully synthetic oil.
I was using Mobil Edge 0w30 but have recently switched to 5w30.
The engine uses no oil (firmly touching wood right now), she runs sweet all the time.

So this may not fix anything, but it may save one or two engines ... how many it will c*ck up by cleaning away deposits that are actually helping no-one knows.
But I would recommend always using an engine flush at service time, and always using a quality fully synthetic oil.
Some people argue that Mobil isn't the best quality, but the evidence of my engine shows it ain't too bad   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

After recently swapping out my gearbox, I can recommend you using a decent quality oil in there too and change it out regularly too.
If I were to start again I'd probably do that every 30,000 miles, but what came out of my old gearbox at 80,000 miles (it was refreshed at 40,000 miles) was clean enough to see through.

[d1bram]

Mine is running great, but is using oil at about the rate the manual states.

Am hoping I can slow the usage with a good flush and using a better quality oil, was think 10w40 but not sure if that will give the necessary low temperature protection.

Pre-cats are coming out tomorrow, so that will be one less thing to worry about anyhow   s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:

[uktotty]

2000 model car, 110,000 miles, never used a drop of oil.
Like the idea of a flush though, may try that next time

[d1bram]

2000 model car, 110,000 miles, never used a drop of oil.
Like the idea of a flush though, may try that next time

Precats in or out?

My car was serviced by a 'local garage' just before I bought it, so reckon the oil in it will be crap tbh.  They didn't notice the nackered radiator, and it was losing coolant, not hellish quick, but quick enough for someone who knows what they were doing to notice.

So I'm hoping a flush & decent quality oil will help matters.

[K T M Rider]

Anyway, reading more detail about seafoam, it essentially sounds like it works as an oil flush, it can be bought on eBay for about £20, so perhaps worth a go?  Doesn't sound as though there any negative effects

 m http://www.seafoamsales.com/gasoline-engine-faqs.html m

Not suggesting this is some kind of revelation, but perhaps just something worth a try on older higher mile motors as it may reduce oil consumption and save money in the long run against regular top ups.  Certainly that thread I posted at the top seems to make a case for it.

So then James, are you going to try this or have the sceptics put you off?

Had my 'W' reg for months but for various reasons have only used it in anger in the last fortnight (after finally getting around to changing the oil and removing the pre-cats).

I have now discovered that:

a) I absolutely fekkin love it - never would have thought a car could be as much fun as a motorbike!!   s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:  

b) It uses oil at a rate (circa a litre every 500 miles) that is truly shocking   s:scared: :scared: s:scared:

In terms of thicker oil, I tried 5w30 first, but, revving to around 6000rpm (stationary and with a hot engine - obviously) would blow big plumes of smoke out!!

So have now gone for 15w50 Mobil 1 - which has certainly reduced the smoking considerably (though does not seem to have affected oil use - however I think it is also leaking from the camchain tensioner plate)

I know there are potential concerns over using 15w  oil in winter, but it would seem that there are people in the states using it in much colder winters than ours without problems as evidenced here:

 m http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ub ... mber=57539 m

[markiii]

I used 15W50 all year round in mine with no issues

[d1bram]

a) I absolutely fekkin love it - never would have thought a car could be as much fun as a motorbike!!   s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:  

Same here!

I will probably give the Seafoam a go, when I've run out of 5w30 I will do an oil change, using sea foam first, then go for a heavier weight oil.  

What are you planning long term with your car?  This is so frustrating, as the car is perfect otherwise and has no problems getting on cam at 4k etc...  I suppose it's no different to running a 2t bike lol.

Markiii, did you go to 15W50 because yours used oil?  Or another reason.

[aaronjb]

IIRC Mark just felt that anything lower made the engine too clattery - plus he was running a turbo for a fair length of time (where it can help to have a higher top weight, with a smaller viscosity gap)

[K T M Rider]

What are you planning long term with your car?  This is so frustrating, as the car is perfect otherwise and has no problems getting on cam at 4k etc...  I suppose it's no different to running a 2t bike lol.

Plan is mainly to try to keep the thing on the road (where it spent last night in fact, with the back end on ramps   s:) s:)  ) without spending too much!

So, short term get it through the MOT - it failed on emissions, new cheapo ebay Cat going on today.

Longer term -  try to cut down the oil use, so please do keep us up to date on the seafoam if you try it.

Like the 2stroke reference - my Yamaha 350LC used to drink a litre of 2stroke every 500 miles, which is about where my 2 is at the mo - perhaps I should just put 2 stroke in the petrol tank when I fill up.

[d1bram]

Like the 2stroke reference - my Yamaha 350LC used to drink a litre of 2stroke every 500 miles, which is about where my 2 is at the mo - perhaps I should just put 2 stroke in the petrol tank when I fill up.

LOL!

I had a RGV, that would do 300miles to 1 litre of oil, and 25mpg ish    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

Will try the seafoam, it does claim to restore rings, so might as well give it a go!

Took the car round to a mechanic friend last night and he does think it has a slight leak somewhere on the righthand side, he's now doing the precats next week so will clean the block up then too.

At the moment I have some cheapo 5w30 semi synthetic oil, once that is used I up I will try the seafoam and then a better quality (heavier weight) oil.

Long term, if things get worse with it, there's always a 2ZZ   s:D s:D

[d1bram]

Just bought a can of this of eBay, so will be trying it soon and will update on results.

Decided I'm going to go with some decent oil when I change too, I think Silkolene Pro S 5W40 will be the job   s:) s:)

[K T M Rider]

look forward to your Seafoam results with interest.

Tried some Redex oil treatment (thought it was worth a punt at under 4 quid). Seemed to have an effect at first -  oil level apparently not budging after 200 miles - but after 500 miles was back to normal = roughly 1 litre gone.

With this sort of drinking habit keeping it in Mobil 1 15 50 would be pointlessly expensive, so currently chucking in Carlube fully synth 5w40 (around 4 quid a litre at Wilkinsons or Morrisons)

[d1bram]

I've decided similar, IF this works, it's top oil from now on with changes every 5k, if it doesn't I'll keep her running and topped up with motor factors cheapie stuff.

Of course an engine change would solve the problem, but I have better things to spend £1300 on and a 2zz conversion is too much to spend atm.

Fingers crossed!

[K T M Rider]

as mentioned elsewhere, have racked up 3000 miles in the last 6 weeks and I do drive the car fairly hard (once warmed up).  As the car's only real vice, I can certainly live with 500 miles per litre oil consumption - just hope it doesn't start getting any worse any time soon.

Has held steady at this rate so far.

On the plus side:

4 litres every 2000 miles  = an easy way to keep the car in fresh oil, without the faff of a proper oil change   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Sticking to mid range oil, in terms of cost it's only like losing around 3mpg in fuel consumption.

[d1bram]

Ran the car with seafoam in since Saturday morning, doing 50miles or so before changing to Mobil 1 0w40 fully synth today.

Sort of wish I'd ran a week or so with the seafoam now, but might run with it in the oil all the time (as apparently you can) until the next change.

Immediate effects, the car seems no longer to smoke (could be the fully synth not showing), and the oil I took out was BLACK with filth.  It had only been 3k miles or so since it's last change (was done just before I bought it) so I would like to think the seafoam has cleared out some of the gunk in the sump.

Only bugger was the poor location of the sump plug.  With the car up on ramps the plug is not the lowest point in the sump.... Jacked it up at the front too to drain it the best I could, but silly place to put the plug IMO.

[sam1176uk]

I agree with "if it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is"!