photomike72

Anybody know what this is? A local mechanic who is servicing my Mom's Camry said something about doing this, and she asked me about it.

I've never heard of it and didnt see anything under the search function.

sounded fishy, but told her to ask for some more info and I'd check here.

Any help?

thx,
Mike

Amir904

sounds like a seafoam treatment to me...

terryjmatthew

Are they possibly talking about a fuel injection service/ flush?
How much do they want to do it?

photomike72

dk on the details. Waiting to hear back from my Mom, but I told her to wait on it until she could find out EXACTly what it is or I can find out from you guys......

Bob_98SR5

sounds like seafoam

photomike72

ok, is it good or bad? I thought that in the Seafoam post, a few people had some problems.

terryjmatthew

When performed correctly, it works great.

94-RUNNER

Sounds like a smoke job to me ! Decarbonization is the removal of excessive carbon build up in the combustion chamber. This was very common on cars back in the 80's. Now with the additives that are in the fuels on the market today such as TECHRON and other chemicals this no longer occurs and there are no heavy build ups of carbon which can rob the engine of performance and fuel efficiency. It now is sometime's an easy sell to an unsuspecting or less informed consumer by selling them on the fact of improved fuel mileage, being the price of fuel ! If the mechanic cannot or will not explain the reason, purpose, and what the factual benefits are from this service I say find someone else to service the car !

89macrunner

seafoam probably gave me another mpg city and 4 highway

marko3xl3

Sounds a lot like the popular Seafoam treatment you can DIY. It usually yields a mix of good and bad things (cleans engine, but gunks up spark plugs, O2 sensors and catalytic converter).

There is a big thread about it here that will give you a lot of info about it. It sounds so dangerous and bad, but it's not like many people make it look, it's much safer and better:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35112

2ToyGuy

Can't do this on an FI engine, for obvious reasons, but I just mist water above the carb throat on my p/u with the RPM's kept fairly high. Smokes like heck, and lugs pretty bad, but whhoooo-BOY! Does it ever clean things out. I bet that SeaFoam stuff does about the same for FI engines...

Targetnut

I'm a Auto Tech with more than 20 years experience. I have never heard of this "Seafoam" I guess I'll have to look into this.

However I have heard of several different decarbonize procedures. They can include differing procedures that can give varying results. The most effective ones usually require connecting to the fuel supply of the car so that the engine can be run on a separate supply that contains a very strong solvent. While the engine is running this solvent attacks the carbon and softens it so that it subsequently comes loose and goes out the exhaust. There are also fuel additives that can do this to some degree, but if you really have a problem that is bad enough to cause a running issue these probably won't cut it. The additives are very good to prevent build up though.

The poster that said that carbon build up is a thing of the past, is dead wrong.
I'll agree that earlier models had a bigger problem with it, but with the delicate balance of todays engine setups, it does not take as much carbon to cause problems.

Also, I'd say that these problems are also more regional today. Someone who lives in rural areas and starts their car up and drives it for 30min or more and at higher speeds each time they drive it will probably never have an issue. However an urban dweller that starts their car an just runs it for 5 to 10 min each time before shutting off, and also never really gets it up to speed is likely to need a service like this to keep their engine running correctly.

Targetnut

93ToyKid

We run nothing but Amoco Ultimate in our race bikes (Honda CRF250 and 450). When I did a rebuild, there was some carbon buildup on the top of the piston and in the head, so it is still a problem. And like someone else said, with these precise, computer-controlled engines of today, it doesn't take much buildup to fubar your performance.

Targetnut

I just thought I'd add something else to this,

Running too high, yes I said too high of octane fuel can result in increased deposits.

Higher octane fuel burns slower and can leave more unburned fuel during each combustion cycle. It is documented by auto manufacturers that this contributes to combustion chamber deposits.

So unless there is a real reason for it stop buying the expensive stuff.

93ToyKid

We use it because of the high compression ratio of the engines in those bikes. The lower your octane, the more likely the fuel will ingnite by compression instead of a spark, hence engine knock. Those bikes have high-compression engines, and therefore need a high-octane fuel to keep from knocking or pinging. And if you really look at it, it doesn't cost gobs more to run 93-octane. Like $2.50 more per tank in my pickup than regular. Do I use it in my truck? About once a month. Other than that, she gets 89, a happy medium.

Black03vegas

Targetnut,

To learn more on Seafoam....

http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm

Personally, I haven't used the Motor Treatment but, I've had _excellent_ results using their Trans Tune in my wife's '93 4Runner....

http://www.seafoamsales.com/products.htm

When we met she told me about her 4Runner "jumping in reverse" when it was cold and at a stop sign. When I drove it, it felt more like it was jumping in and out of gear (HARD!) at a stop sign (but only when cold). She had had he fluid flushed/changed but it didn't help. I wanted a "solvent" to try and clean the valve body and Seafoam was the only ones that made a solvent vs. "sealants" that others sell. Followed the directions, flushed the tranny afterwards and topped it off....haven't had a problem since then (over 10K).

I'm going to try the Motor Treatment here pretty soon!