"Flushes" service / maintenance -- Ford's position statement and my opinion (as former technician)

[flip]

Since we are talking snake oil and age...are you old enough to comment on the ole tried & true, one and only Marvel Mystery Oil?

Probably before my time. I got in the shop shortly after deposit resistant injectors but had some older stuff we would hook up to the fuel rail to a pressurized cylinder that had carb/injector cleaner (Ford brand) to try to fix some running issues. Same with bad spark knocks we felt were carbon build up related. Ran some stuff through a vacuum port until it died, let it soak then put it in the back lot to smoke all the skeeters out. I heard stories from some of the older guys about Marvel, seafoam and transmission fluid cocktails but no real experience with Marvel myself.

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[flip]

Shhhh we don’t talk about that here.

As long as you keep supporting my onlyfans channel, we good!

 

[PWillette]

Probably before my time. I got in the shop shortly after deposit resistant injectors but had some older stuff we would hook up to the fuel rail to a pressurized cylinder that had carb/injector cleaner (Ford brand) to try to fix some running issues. Same with bad spark knocks we felt were carbon build up related. Ran some stuff through a vacuum port until it died, let it soak then put it in the back lot to smoke all the skeeters out. I heard stories from some of the older guys about Marvel, seafoam and transmission fluid cocktails but no real experience with Marvel myself.

Well now I'm showing my age! Back in the day, way before injection, the Mystery oil was a go to quiet noisy engines, transmissions and supposedly keep fuel system clean. I can say that it did do wonders to quiet noisy lifters.

 

[SubmarineNuke]

As long as you keep supporting my onlyfans channel, we good!

Needs more feet pics....just sayin'

 

[ChrisB351]

I've had people try this one on me a couple times, it's a seafoam-type-product "treatment" of your upper and lower intake manifold runners after the Throttle Body. I'm not here to say it works or doesn't, but I'm definitely here to say I wouldn't pay anybody $150+ to put a $8 can of stuff in my vehicle on my behalf.

The intake/induction service is typically a multi part process.. Chemicals are sprayed thru multiple components. The biggest part is the valves. Like someone else mentioned above with modern direct injection systems the fuel is sprayed into the cylinder vs the intake therefore the valves are more prone to buildup. Also with turbos you tend to get more blow by which goes back into the intake, hence catch cans, but thats more to build up.

 

[Sherminiator]

Seafoam is terrible on Turbo engines!

 

[MFP2241]

IMO, Seafoam is a fantastic product with a shit-ton of uses.

I had some bad gas sit in my GSX-R750 over the winter that gummed up the carbs pretty bad. Prior to pulling and rebuilding all 4 carbs, I ran it on pure Seafoam for 2 minutes and let it sit for 24 hours. It ran better after that than it did the previous season. Because it's only petroleum oils, and doesn't have a bunch of detergents, chemicals, and other crap.... it's my go to "cleaner".

 

[BrentC]

IMO, Seafoam is a fantastic product with a shit-ton of uses.

I had some bad gas sit in my GSX-R750 over the winter that gummed up the carbs pretty bad. Prior to pulling and rebuilding all 4 carbs, I ran it on pure Seafoam for 2 minutes and let it sit for 24 hours. It ran better after that than it did the previous season. Because it's only petroleum oils, and doesn't have a bunch of detergents, chemicals, and other crap.... it's my go to "cleaner".

“Pulling carbs”? That’s an older Gixxer you’ve got!

I pulled the carbs on my 1999 YZF600 after I had a shope dyno-tune it for the track at my altitude. The bike’s power delivery was light-switch sensitive and did contribute to a cold-tire crash I had. Anyway, I agree with you on the “doing anything you can to avoid pulling carbs” approach - I didn’t like that job.

 

[wjtinfwb]

Thanks for the info and appreciate it comes from a tech with many years hands on experience. My first car was a VW and brake fluid flushes were recommended by them and most of the German cars I've owned since. Brake fluid absorbs water and moisture over time, that water in the brake fluid lowers the boiling point of the brake fluid. Not an issue in daily driving but sustained braking from high-speed, towing a heavy trailer or even mountain driving can overheat the fluid to the point of boiling, which introduces air into the lines and can result in a soft or no brake pedal. Happened to me in my old (and sporadically maintained) Suburban in the western North Carolina mountains, towing a 12 ft box trailer loaded with dirt bikes. Pedal went soft and was slowly sinking to the floor. Fortunately the road leveled and straightened before too much speed was developed but it was a butt-puckering moment. I've changed brake fluid every three years ever since.

 

[MFP2241]

“Pulling carbs”? That’s an older Gixxer you’ve got!

Yep, blue and white '87... syncing the carbs was a pain. Dumbest move I've made in a while was selling it.

 

[BlueBronco]

@flip what are your opinions about engines flushes such as adding seafoam or transmission fluid to the motor before an oil change?

Also, good timing on your post, my F150 is about to hit 150k miles and I plan on spending Saturday flushing/changing ALL fluids.

 

[flip]

Not a fan. Any crap or buildup already in there needs to stay there. Sounds dumb but you really don't want to have that crap sloughing off potentially plugging the oil pickup.

I have just not seen the evidence, with the exception of a few narrow concerns, where additives or chems are helpful.

 

[ChrisB351]

Seafoam is terrible on Turbo engines!

I used it several times on my old MR2 Turbo years ago with no issues

 

[Sherminiator]

I used it several times on my old MR2 Turbo years ago with no issues

Turbos back then vs now are different beasts. When I had my 3.5L Ecoboost in my SHO, seafoam came up to help clean the carbon build up in the engine...and every said not to use it because it destroys the turbo

 

[Yukon65006]

I have long since forgot the name of the product but working at a Sohio station in the late 70's early 80's they had a "engine treatment" that seemed wrong even to a young high school kid. It was in a can with a pull tab like the old soda cans and you dumped it down the carb while having the engine at a high rpm. Failure to maintain the high rpm would result in a fun time trying to restart the car or possibly pulling and cleaning plugs. The whole time you are preforming the treatment there is a cloud of smoke coming out the tailpipe that would turn day Into night.

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