I had a clogged idle jet in one carb. Begging, pleading and verbal abuse got me nowhere. I was dreading tearing it apart, so I dumped some Seafoam (http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm) in the tank and rode it around... 10 short miles later, it was running just like new! :thumb: Yay Seafoam (http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm)!! :icon_mrgreen:
I will admit that I did put more Seafoam (http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm) in than recommended, but I am not going to argue with results!
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I am not affiliated with Seafoam (http://www.seafoamsales.com/motorTuneUpTechGas.htm) in any way, shape or form. Use at your own risk. My opinions are probably worthless. Not to be taken internally. May cause hair loss, impotence, sleep loss and/or death. Smoking causes cancer. Your Mileage May Vary.
[/DISCLAIMER]
(I had performed significant diagnosing before I was finally able to narrow it down to a clogged idle jet. Mid jet on that carb could have been gunky, too... Everything else was fine: compression, spark, vaccuum, etc.)
Love that stuff. It'll break down anything. Its the only stuff I've found (and I've pretty much tried it all) that will break down heavy carbon deposits on intake valves and in combustion chambers. Matter of fact, I just bought two more cans this morning.
-Turd.
Water will break down carbon deposits from the engine.
After its nice and warm, spray water into the intake with a dropper or a squirt bottle and if you have the airbox, remove the filter and squirt/spray/mist away. High idle so it doesn't stall and nice hot motor. Watch the black billowing smoke. Then after its done, ride 15-20 mins and change the oil.
Cool.
Srinath.
Where do you get Seafoam?
I got mine at the local AutoZone.
Northern Tool just started carrying it in large large quantities.
Cool.
Srinath.
Quote from: seshadri_srinath on May 14, 2007, 12:10:04 PM
Water will break down carbon deposits from the engine.
Indeed, it will steam clean the combustion chamber. That's why its so easy to find a blown head gasket on a watercooled engine. :thumb: Unfortunately it wont clean the intake valve or intake runners very well though. My Mustang has a butterfly valve in one of the intake runners that opens after 3250 RPM that commonly carbons itself closed. Seafoam to the rescue!
-Turd.
Is this stuff fuel-system cleaner?? I need something heavy-duty for my F-150. My mechanic friend has "TNT", but he charges like $50 a pop, and it's basically jet-fuel from what he told me, I guess it burns the stuff out. Anyway, wanna try something on my own before I run it into the garage.
yes and you can also let a vac line slowly suck it up to do a even better job, but pleas read the directions, as you can hydro lock it fast if you not carfull. be really for a lot of smoke.
run the engine till it hot
run with the seafoam being sucked in
when you start to see smoke shut it off (after removing the can from the vac line) for about 5 min
then start and drive or rev it to clear it out, driving it is cooler
it can folw plugs so be ready to replace one if the idle gets ruff, and change the oil as well as there is a lot of corbon loose now.
Quote from: smoker on May 14, 2007, 10:06:28 PM
Is this stuff fuel-system cleaner?? I need something heavy-duty for my F-150. My mechanic friend has "TNT", but he charges like $50 a pop, and it's basically jet-fuel from what he told me, I guess it burns the stuff out. Anyway, wanna try something on my own before I run it into the garage.
jet-fuel = diesel. I have heard of using diesel to flush the crankcase, running it through the intake or fuel system would be bad...
Jet-Fuel = Diesel??? I'm no chemist, but I know diesel in fact does = kerosene (+ a little dye so the man can tax it). Therefore, we have a kerosene air-force????? Somehow I wonder if we'd be winning the war if we in fact used jet fuel in our planes....hehehe....Just kidding brother... what do I know, I took engineering in school, hated chemistry....
Jet fuel is simmilar to diesel but it's basically kerosene. Of course diesel, kerosene, and jet fuel are all very simmilar and on most engines/heaters/jets can be used interchangably but it'll probally foul up your engine rather than clean it. Sort of like running two stroke gas in a four stroke engine. Yes we do have a Kerosene powered air force, in fact almost all of the military vehicles including trucks, planes and tanks run on the same stuff.
The Sea foam is the only carb/fuel system/crankcase cleaner that I've tried that actually dose any good. It's a little expensive at $7 or so a bottle but it works. Supposedly it'll clean your crank case too. I don't really like the idea of using very much of it in the oil but I've started adding a few ounces to the engine oil a couple days before I change my oil. I have no way of telling if it works but judging by how it works on the intake and combustion chamber it probally dose.
Definatly use the Sea Foam before paying a mechanic $50 for probally the same stuff.
Kerosene: CH3CH2OH
Diesel : C10H22 to C15H32
Jet Fuel : ??????
Although I couldn't find a formula for jet fuel, I saw it referred to as "aviation kerosene", and that it is made from a varying "mixture of petroleum hydrocarbons", just like the diesel and regular kerosene. So why can't I fly my space heater down to the store to get some Twinkies??? Maybe I need to rejet it?.....heheheehee
Learn somethin (almost) everytime I'm here...
We use kerosene in all of our 4,500 hp gas turbine engines at work.
-Turd.
Seafoam is kerosene+ammonia+methanol (or ethanol).
Add in MEK and you get carb cleaners like Gunk.
The marine clean thing that POR - 15 sells is Sodium Hydroxide AKA - Lye.
Cool.
Srinath.
Quote from: seshadri_srinath on May 14, 2007, 12:10:04 PM
Water will break down carbon deposits from the engine.
After its nice and warm, spray water into the intake with a dropper or a squirt bottle and if you have the airbox, remove the filter and squirt/spray/mist away. High idle so it doesn't stall and nice hot motor. Watch the black billowing smoke. Then after its done, ride 15-20 mins and change the oil.
Cool.
Srinath.
+1
jet fuel (jet-a)
kero
diesel
all about the same, in aspect of being kerosene
but form the list above the major diff is this, sulfur content.
we run jet-a in all the tugs and trucks at work (as thats they carry)
the f-450,the Volvo 10k refueler are turbo and they do not smoke at all, the tail pipes are clean as well, as in no soot
i hope that this is what will be coming in the future of diesel, low sulfur = more power
When is the diesel GS (or would that be GSD) hitting the states? I'll be in line...hehehe
G5
yea they are diffrent for the frezzing and btu points
Quote from: rangerbrown on May 14, 2007, 10:39:29 PM
yes and you can also let a vac line slowly suck it up to do a even better job, but pleas read the directions, as you can hydro lock it fast if you not carfull. be really for a lot of smoke.
run the engine till it hot
run with the seafoam being sucked in
when you start to see smoke shut it off (after removing the can from the vac line) for about 5 min
then start and drive or rev it to clear it out, driving it is cooler
it can folw plugs so be ready to replace one if the idle gets ruff, and change the oil as well as there is a lot of corbon loose now.
Getting ready to try this... How do you get it to suck up the seafoam? GS is gravity fed, I didn't think there was enough vacuum to suck fuel out of a container of seafoam, unless I find a tiny funnel or something.
There's plenty of vacuum to suck out a bit of cleaner. The problem is keeping it from sucking out too much. I'd get some aquarium line, an aquarium valve. That way, you can open and close the valve to regulate the flow. You could even get a T and have both cylinders sucking seafoam at the same time.
Quote from: Egaeus on May 15, 2007, 10:38:40 AM
There's plenty of vacuum to suck out a bit of cleaner. The problem is keeping it from sucking out too much. I'd get some aquarium line, an aquarium valve. That way, you can open and close the valve to regulate the flow. You could even get a T and have both cylinders sucking seafoam at the same time.
Where are you talking about hooking a line up to? I was thinking of just sticking the fuel hose into seafoam instead of the gas tank, in which case I can't see how you would regulate it since if you don't flow enough, the engine is going to die. Sounds like maybe it needs to be hooked up somehow to flow along with the gas, but not too much? If so does this work any differently than just adding it to the gas tank?
Some googling indicates that some people say just feeding the engine straight seafoam until it stalls can cause hydrolocking, but other people say seafoam is combustible and has no water, so hydrolocking isn't possible. So I'm not sure what the heck I'm supposed to do other than add it to the gas tank...
The engine won't run on seafoam alone. You have to hook it to a vacuum line.
Quote from: Egaeus on May 15, 2007, 10:49:44 AM
The engine won't run on seafoam alone. You have to hook it to a vacuum line.
Right, but other than the fuel lines where is there vacuum line on the bike? Or can I just hook the aquarium line up to the vacuum ports on the carbs and stick the ends into the seafoam? The directions also say to add around 1/3 of the can and then dump in enough to kill the engine, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea or if it's even possible using a small line...
Yeah, use the vacuum take-off ports on top of the carbs. Believe me, you'll easily be able to pass enough to kill the engine.
Quote from: Egaeus on May 15, 2007, 11:22:52 AM
Yeah, use the vacuum take-off ports on top of the carbs. Believe me, you'll easily be able to pass enough to kill the engine.
Got it, thanks. We'll see if I can avoid a visit from the fire department down the road tonight :)
You can get sea foam in a aerosol can too, it makes it easier to squirt directly into the carbs. I think it has adifferent name but the labels look the same and they're sold side by side most of the time.
As far as the dieseil kerosene jet fuel military fuel debate; they are all slightly different. Kerosene and jet fuel (jet-A) I think are almost identical except that the jet fuel has tighter quality controll. Anything that can run on diesel will run on jet fuel or kerosene and most of the things that are supposed to run on kerosene or jet fuel (like heaters and jets) will work on diesel except that diesel is dirtier and has more sulfur so it'll smoke more and do more fouling. Hell, diesels aren't that picky, you can pour in old fryer oil in there, that's basically what bio-diesel is.
On a side note, I have heard of some diesel motorcycles in development.
I don't know how it compares to kerosene and jet fuel, but the new US standard for diesel fuel has much less sulfur.
So in a nutshell
Which seafoam? The Spray or the tank additive? TO CLEAN A GUNKED CARB.
And how much of the additive do you add to a full tank of a GS500
I read the whole thread and it just seemed like one big kerosene rant..
Seafoam is a tank additive.
Read the can for instructions as to how much to add.
OR? You can just tell me how much you poured in to how much gas was in your tank, Because all it says is 1 pint serves up to 8 gallons. now If i did the division that would be very little! Anyways what about trying the vacumm line way. Does that work better or more effecient maybe?
I had an indeterminite amount of gas in the tank (between 1 and 3 gallons), and I dumped in a glug or two of seafoam. Waaaay too concentrated, but beyond that I don't have any kind of measurement to give you. Sorry! :dunno_white:
Quote from: robbie on May 15, 2007, 06:22:45 PM
OR? You can just tell me how much you poured in to how much gas was in your tank, Because all it says is 1 pint serves up to 8 gallons. now If i did the division that would be very little! Anyways what about trying the vacumm line way. Does that work better or more effecient maybe?
If I'm not mistaken, the vacuum line method cleans the intake valves, etc. It definitely won't clean the carb jets. It doesn't get down there.
I've used Seadoam to clear up carbs on an old Goldwing I had. Found a site that had a method for cleaning carbs without removing them from the bike. It works well as long as the carbs are only partially blocked. If the bike sits long enough for the passages to get completely blocked nothing short of disassembly will work.
Basically, you drain the carbs, then add a mixture of 25% Seafoam, 75% Gas to the carbs. Disconnect the spark plugs, and run the starter for 5 seconds or so. Let the bike sit for at least half an hour, longer if it's been sitting for a couple of years. Then hook the fuel line back up and start it. Make sure you're outside, because the bike will smoke like crazy and stink like he!! for a minute or two till the mixture gets burned off. Repeat if necessary.
For normal use, just throw half a can or so into a full tank. That should help a lot if you live in the great white north, and forgot to winterize your bike.
I use a half can to a full tank of gas :thumb: :thumb: Stinks like hell for a couple of miles, but after that it runs like a dream :thumb:
I've read 1 ounce per gallon of gas, so call it 4-5 ounces for a full tank. You can put more in but it will probably smoke for the next 200 miles :)
Yeah it will :laugh: But the shaZam! is almost magic :thumb:
Of course, in the time it's taken to talk about seafoam, you could have torn down your carb, cleaned it out, gave it a good polish, chromed it, covered its woo-hoo in gold due to an unfortunate smelting accident, and had it put back in.
Whoa!!!!! Your carb has a WooHoo :o :o :o You might want to check into that, I dont think thats normal :laugh:
Quote from: Egaeus on May 16, 2007, 09:29:48 AM
Of course, in the time it's taken to talk about seafoam, you could have torn down your carb, cleaned it out, gave it a good polish, chromed it, covered its woo-hoo in gold due to an unfortunate smelting accident, and had it put back in.
Actually I did tear down the carb in that time :) Luckily it was spotless so no seafoam for me.
Here's the stupidest part... One of the reasons I decided to go ahead and check out the carbs instead of using seafoam was that I just changed the oil and didn't want to have to do it again after a seafoam treatment...
Quote from: spcterry on May 16, 2007, 09:34:25 AM
Whoa!!!!! Your carb has a WooHoo :o :o :o You might want to check into that, I dont think thats normal :laugh:
Yeah, and when I twiddle it's woohoo, it makes it run faster. Or maybe that's the idle screw....
Anyone know if you get this 'SeaFoam" in Australia?
I know Holden has a Top End Engine Cleaner which is magic stuff at removing carbon deposits from the intake system of car engines. I guess it would do the trick too on the Gs500.
The "SeaFoam" topic came up a while back so i rang all the bike/car outlets here in Adelaide but no one
has ever heard of it.
You'll have to order it from the US.
Quote from: Egaeus on May 16, 2007, 09:29:48 AM
Of course, in the time it's taken to talk about seafoam, you could have torn down your carb, cleaned it out, gave it a good polish, ...
Except if you are like me, I break two things for every one that I fix. It has taken 3 dead-ish bikes for me to figure that out. :icon_confused: Now I do gas and oil and as little as possible else... I just don't care if it is running perfectly, because if I try to make it perfect, it will stop running all together!!!
I just seafoamed the crap out of my 91 GS500 yesterday.
It would idle but it bogged down under load and would stall or ride really rough. The carb had probably never been addressed.
I fed the sea foam up the vaccume hose, put some in the gas tank, and some in the oil. All those things were suggested in the directions so I figured, eh, let's do it all. If you're careful you can actually do it on a GS with one can. $5 = C H E A P.
I let it run for a while until it started to smoke and cut the engine. Then I went inside and made myself some food. When went back out I did a full oil change and then started up the bike and watched the 5 minute smoke show that made my neighbor's house go bye bye. I thought someone was going to call the Fire Dept.
I had to adjust the idle screw three times as it maxed out in revs...
When the smoke cleared I jumped on and took it for a ride. It pulled harder and ran smoother than it ever had under my ownership. I could get it to idle below 1000 rpms... though I set it just above.
I wasn't sure if the stuff would work but it does. Youtube "sea foam" and you'll see that sea foam is actually used and loved by many engine owners. Stuff's F.M.
F'n Magic.
Eventually I might have to pull the carb... but as long as I have understanding neighbors, $5, and this damn laziness... I'm sea foam all the way.