rheilman

Ok Ok... So I did NOT hydrolock my engine! But see if you can figure this out...

So my 91 4x4 22re has been slowly registering less and less fuel efficiency. Ive read some stellar comments about the Seafoam product, and figured it was worth a shot. Ive never used an injector cleaning product before and was hopeful for some improvement on my mileage.

I did about 1/3 a can atomized into the PCV hose, let sit for 10 minutes, restarted and tried not to breath the thick white smoke which billowed out. Just what I expected after reading the thread regarding Seafoam, right?

Well I put the rest in the gas tank and drove down to the fuel station to fill er up... As I was parked with the engine running I noticed the Temp gauge was off the high end of the chart! My fan runs all the time no matter what, so this was really surprising. The truck has never had a problem with overheating, in fact Ive never seen the gauge over 1/2 way.

As I began to drive away the temp slowly dipped back to normal. I thought this might be due to increased air flow, but was uncertain cause the fan is always on and it pulls a lot of air... Then as a test, I parked and watched as the temp needle went back to the red. However if I gave a bit of gas and kept it above idle, the temp started to drop again. Under normal driving the temp gauge was where it usually runs.

So what did the seafoam do? All I can figure is that perhaps it created a change that resulted in extremely lean mixture at idle...? Is it possible that I screwed up my 02 sensor? Clean throttle body now drawing too much air?

This is my only vehicle, and I depend on it daily. Its still driveable now, but Im anxious to figure this out and I dont want to cause any damage. Any thoghts or advice on what to investigate would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

snobdds

I think the overheating and the seafoam are unrelated. Seafoam can't make your engine overheat by itself. Check your thermostat and fan clutch for proper function.

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

how long did you let the truck run/burn out the seafoam before you took it for a drive? also, you mentioned that you put the rest into your tank and then went to get some gas - approx how much fuel was left in the tank on your trip to the station? i'm just guessing here, but the ratio of seafoam to fuel could have been just way high before you thinned it out with more fuel - thus causing some hotter detonation temps.

rheilman

Ok, so I did 2/3 of a can into about 1/3 tank of gas, then as I filled up with gas I put another can in the gas tank. I thought about the ration of gas to Seafoam as well, but its still doing it after adding a full tank of gas.

Im going to check my plugs and spray some penetrating oil on my 02 sensors. Perhaps they are just too dirty. Truck seems to run well when not idling however. Keep the thoughts coming! Thanks!

Oh and the thermostat is pretty new, and working well before seafoam (cant imagine its bad) and the fan runs all the time, the clutch is always engaged...

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

instead of penetrating oil, perhaps something like brake cleaner might be better on the 02 sensor. i dunno here as i've never tried cleaning one, but something tells me that penetrating oil might leave a residue that could cause a faulty reading.

did you touch anything else when you did this or did you just pull off the PCV hose?

nv4runner

How about your coolant level or obstruction in front of the radiator?

mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

like stated before the sea foam and the truck overheating are two different things. Your gas mileage drop could be due to your motor running hotter than normal and working harder to stay up to speed. Like mentioned before start checking the t-stat, radiator, fan clutch properly functioning, leaks, and any other thing related to the motor and cooling it. Stop messing with the sea foam idea it's a dead end when concerning the temp of your motor. Your gas mileage drop and the engine not cooling is most likely the reason it dropped in the first place.

Wrenchinjoe

Check your oil and coolant to make sure the levels are not dropping and also that they are not co-mingling. You can get some odd overheating if a head gasket checks out, hopefully not. That would likely produce symptoms you can see like coolant in your oil (crankcase milkshake) or oil in your coolant.

More likely, a blocked radiator could also impede the flow of coolant at idle but as the water pump pushes harder with increased rpm's might still allow enough flow to cool the system back down.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

I know it's unrelated, I've read that 3 times... Just have to say it... SAME THING happened to me, right after doing seafoam! lol. It ended up being my radiator, which in turn was slowly working my 160K mile Water pump to death over time.... Swapped out the radiator, ran fine for 2 days. Then, started pssssing out the weep holes of the H20 pump.... Swapped that out, FINE, no more overheating.(all before my build) It was just a strange coincidence. I can't see how it would cause overheating simply by being forced through your intake and then in and out the head through the valves then out the pipes. I would think, even if your motor was more tired than a Vietnam Huey... and plenty of it made it into your crank case..... SO WHAT? lol... It's meant for that, too, right? It shouldn't remain in that application for any time... (drain, refill with fresh oil, etc)... but I just can't see it effecting your cooling system.

And your O2? Even if it's unplugged, you shouldn't overheat. Sure, you would probably get terrible mileage... but overheat, wouldn't think so. Timing can cause you to heat up, but into the red? And related to this? nah.