Using fuel injector cleaner at every oil change

[tiger_handheld]

hey guys,

so i've been using Sea Foam fuel injector / engine cleaner (poured into the motor with engine oil) with the last two oil changes (roughly 4 month intervals). is this a bad thing?

I've heard good / bad.
Good: the usual, keeps engine / fuel injectors clean etc. etc.
Bad: "carves" pistons due to the "cleaning" agent , frequent use of injector cleaner is bad

Any help would be nice. I only use 1 can 50/50 split between fuel / engine.

[yray]

Depends on what car... But every 4months

[tiger_handheld]

08 mazda that has about 60k on it now.
my oil changes are every 7k or 4 mos' whatever is first...

[bcrdukes]

Ummm...what? Hope not serious.

[sdubfid]

Am I reading this right? You're putting fuel injector cleaner in your motor oil? I've never used fuel injector cleaner in my life and never had an issue.
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[Timpo]

yea usually fuel injector cleaner goes in your gas tank, not in the crankcase

[yray]

fouled plugs galore if every 4 months in gas

if in oil... your engine still runs?

[predom]

Honestly, has no one heard of seafoam? Yes in you can put it in your oil.

Sometime I wonder if this is still a car forum.
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[Timpo]

Originally Posted by predom

Honestly, has no one heard of seafoam? Yes in you can put it in your oil.

Sometime I wonder if this is still a car forum.
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from what I understand, don't you put seafoam directly into your intake?
not your crank case.

[TurboFC3S]

first off if you use injector cleaner too often it will likely start eating away at things like your injector o rings and more

Second I hope your not serious about putting all this in the crank case. You should put Seafoam In through the throttle body not recommended for Inside the motor. If you do for some reason run seafoam in the motor oil, it should be a small amount and the oil would need to be changed within 20 kms

If your worried about the oil system gunking up instead of risking damaging things with Seafoam in it run diesel oil instead for a oil change or two as it has lots of detergents in it which helps clean out the motor safely

Your car is so new none of this is even nessecary anyways your just going to reduce the engine life by doing all this so frequently ...
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[Splinter]

Originally Posted by TurboFC3S

Second I hope your not serious about putting all this in the crank case. You should put Seafoam In through the throttle body not recommended for Inside the motor.

Unless you, ya know, follow the directions on the can that say how to add it to engine oil...

Armchair mechanics are great people. 'I've never really used this but here's how you're doing it wrong'.

OP: Adding seafoam to your oil keeps deposits from building up in the oil system, but they should take YEARS to build up, not months. I personally don't believe in oil flushes, but if you are going to do them, do it once a year tops. Every time you use one you cause a tiny bit of damage to all the bearing surfaces and cylinder walls. Not a huge deal by itself, but it's aggregate.

I use a can of seafoam about every 6 months in my gas tank, probably way more than I actually need to.

[TOPEC]

a can of seafoam is recommended to be split into 3 parts, 1/3 into the fuel to clean the fuel system, 1/3 into the valvetrain via a vacuum source, and the last 1/3 poured into ur engine oil. This way it'll clean out ur fuel system, ur valves, and what ever sludge is built/deposited in ur crankcase. That is the procedure written on the can is the recommended way of seafoaming ur car by many people.

OP, u shouldnt be seafoaming ur car so often, BUT!! REMEMBER to change ur engine oil asap after using seafoam as seafoam breaks down engine oil i believe

[tiger_handheld]

this is what I use: Sea Foam® SF16 - Fuel Additive | O'Reilly Auto Parts (it says fuel system but on the can it says fuel / engine etc..)

and yes - I put 1/2 into the crank case while putting in engine oil
and I put the other 1/2 into a full tank of gas as i'm pumping gas (gas , bit of sea foam , gas , bit of sea foam etc..)


I will stop adding them for the rest of the year since last oil change was in Nov 12 , and I recently did one in March 13.

For engine oil - I use synthetic (probably too much ) but the price difference is so nominal (+ $3/4 ).

[TOPEC]

Originally Posted by TurboFC3S

If your worried about the oil system gunking up instead of risking damaging things with Seafoam in it run diesel oil instead for a oil change or two as it has lots of detergents in it which helps clean out the motor safely

diesel motor oils have a high concentration of phosphorus content, which damages cats. if ur catless sure go ahead and run diesel motor oil

[godwin]

OP really need to ask himself what is he trying to achieve? What are the metrics he can use to measure? (oil analysis etc).

Throwing in chemicals is not bad by itself, but whether it makes quantitative difference (not to mention cost benefit ratio), is another story.

[SpuGen]

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld

this is what I use: Sea Foam® SF16 - Fuel Additive | O'Reilly Auto Parts (it says fuel system but on the can it says fuel / engine etc..)

and yes - I put 1/2 into the crank case while putting in engine oil
and I put the other 1/2 into a full tank of gas as i'm pumping gas (gas , bit of sea foam , gas , bit of sea foam etc..)


I will stop adding them for the rest of the year since last oil change was in Nov 12 , and I recently did one in March 13.

For engine oil - I use synthetic (probably too much ) but the price difference is so nominal (+ $3/4 ).

You're supposed to put it in 1/3 Tank, Crankcase, Vac lines, run a cycle (tank) then change your oil, filter, and plugs.

It's the same with using ATF as a flush.

The way you're going on about it is borderline OCD.

[Splinter]

I personally don't believe in engine oil flushes on cars I own. Maybe when I first buy them if the oil looks like crap when I change it, but oil is a cleaning agent. Plain old oil, never mind all the other stuff they add in.
As long as you keep up on regular oil changes, you shouldn't be getting buildups.

Nothing wrong with running synthetic. I put Synthetic in my 79 Trans Am and my 83 Brat on the original motors, just to prove that it wouldn't hurt anything. It didn't.

[c4@urdoor]

Modern oils, specifically synthetics have a lot of chemicals/detergents in them that prevent oil sludge or any kind of oil build up, especially with newer cars.

It's absolutely retarded to seafoam a car more than once every 30,000 kms, and that's depending on vehicle, oil changes and driving habits.

ie, an older vehicle with regular oil being driven in short stop and go trips will need a good seafoam treatment way more than a newer model car with synthetic oil....
There is a good chance you're doing more harm than good buy dumping that stuff into your system so often.

[tiger_handheld]

Originally Posted by godwin

OP really need to ask himself what is he trying to achieve? What are the metrics he can use to measure? (oil analysis etc).

Throwing in chemicals is not bad by itself, but whether it makes quantitative difference (not to mention cost benefit ratio), is another story.

I was trying to achieve fuel economy as per the trip computer on the car. I have seen that - it has gone from 10.1 - 9.3. I wanted to keep it around 9.3 or better yet lower. Thats when I was told about the "bad" about frequent use of cleaners.

[XplicitLuder]

When I get home ill link you to something that I know maxima users do to achieve better mpg. Kinda the same thing u do but with a diff additive I believe
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[CP.AR]

Oh the joys of seafoam...

Seafoam in a WRX - YouTube

[godwin]

You would probably find more efficiency by get a OBD data logger with throttle position, fuel use and GPS interface to see if you can improve on your driving, or route especially if it is a DD than Seafoaming an already clean car. You should have a baseline state of the fluid sample of your car before you seafoam. Places like Blackstone often interpret the data for you, based on the year and mileage of your car etc.

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld

I was trying to achieve fuel economy as per the trip computer on the car. I have seen that - it has gone from 10.1 - 9.3. I wanted to keep it around 9.3 or better yet lower. Thats when I was told about the "bad" about frequent use of cleaners.

[underscore]

SpuGen has the instructions right from what I remember, you're not supposed to be adding it every oil change and leaving it in there for that long.

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld

I was trying to achieve fuel economy as per the trip computer on the car. I have seen that - it has gone from 10.1 - 9.3. I wanted to keep it around 9.3 or better yet lower. Thats when I was told about the "bad" about frequent use of cleaners.

Did you start using the cleaners right when you decided to try and achieve the better fuel economy, or did you try for the economy for a while then add in the cleaners? If you started both at the same time chances are the subtle changes to your driving got you the economy, unless your car was abused before you got it there shouldn't have been much buildup on a 08.

[cdizzle_996]

.........but why?

[tiger_handheld]

Originally Posted by underscore

SpuGen has the instructions right from what I remember, you're not supposed to be adding it every oil change and leaving it in there for that long.



Did you start using the cleaners right when you decided to try and achieve the better fuel economy, or did you try for the economy for a while then add in the cleaners? If you started both at the same time chances are the subtle changes to your driving got you the economy, unless your car was abused before you got it there shouldn't have been much buildup on a 08.

my driving habbits have never changed. it's a DD and I drive highway to and from work on "cruise". A few months ago I noticed fuel economy was hitting the crapper and I added a bottle of techron with that oil change - Nov 12. I saw a slight improvement (10.1-9.8/9.9) and kept going the way I did. During my last oil change I added Seafoam and after a couple of days I saw it go from 10.1-9.3.

If fuel cleaner didn't work my next step was to check the spark plugs -> plug wires -> and last O2 sensor.

Car wasn't abused - it was pretty much brand new when I got it.

What happens if I leave it there until July? (Mar +4 months)