Honda carb clean-out: how much Seafoam is enough?

I use the recommended amount to prevent, and double the recommended amount to treat problems.

profdant139 wrote:
So you can use pure Seafoam -- no gas?? Won't it run too hot and damage the components? (That is probably an ignorant question, but that describes me perfectly.)

Good questions but I do not have a scientific answer.

Remember when I was running the pure Seafoam I was with NO load. It really was just an accident. I was just going to store the generator with the carb full of Seafoam and hopefully pickle the engine in the process. I pulled the manual choke to full closed when it started to die when the carb filled with pure Seafoam to suck as much as I could into the piston area as it died.

It just kept on running on pure Seafoam with full choke but the engine was at operating temp already.

Old gas tractors would run on gas but also kerosene after they got hot running on gas.

As Jim pointed out as well I recommend just to run 2 oz per gallon of gas (we once again can get 90 octane pure gas so that is all we buy for small engines). Even if the generator is running a little rough over time it will most likely will smooth out.

Seafoam can stick rings as well as unstick them so read the rest of this story.

We picked up a 2000 Polaris 325 Magnum ATV and I was running like a 4 oz per gallon mix for the heck of it. The tank and carb shut off valves failed and over a few days about a gallon of gas flowed through the carb filling the piston hole and flowing on into the crank case.

It was hydro locked so the starter never move the piston. We pulled the spark plug and got the gas out and drained the oil and only pure oil came out at first so I knew we were OK.

After the oil change I got it to running but with the carb shut off needle valve sticking open it was loading up some and after 15 minutes it lost all compression.

We tested the auto compression release and it worked correctly so we tore down the engine top end. I had to drive the rings out of the ring grove because they had 'coked' into the ring grove because the piston/head carbon build up was dissolved by the Seafoam gas mix and flowed it into the ring groves that cooked/coked after running for 15 minutes.

It that were to happen again to a dirty engine I would just put in a heavy Seafoam mix into the tank and let the gas flow out the oil drain plug until I thought it had flushed the dissolved carbon out the drain plug.

Folks back to small engines if one runs fine under full load the carb is OK. Run the 2 oz to a gallon (1:64 ratio) of gas and you will be fine. I love Seafoam because it works while I sleep. :)

If things are really bad, there's no getting around pulling the carb, squirting the jets, main and pilot, out with carb cleaner. Let sit, more carb cleaner, then blow out with an air hose.

Another option, drain fuel bowl, close up, pull the intake fuel line, top of the carb float bowl, and fill up with Sea Foam. With switch off, and carb choked, pull the starter handle 3x, to fill the jets with Sea Foam. Let sit 48 hours. Fill fuel tank with fresh fuel with 2oz of sea foam per gallon, start up in Eco mode and let run for 5 minutes in eco mode with no load on the generator.

If it runs right, the Sea Foam got all the varnish out of the jets, if not, time to tear down the carb, or just buy a new main jet and replace it. Soak the old main jet in carb cleaner until it is possibly usable again.

some times more is not better stay on your system and it will be fine.

Generator Jim wrote:
The Sea Foam concentration listed by Gale will also clean carbon from the muffler.

If 3 or 4 ounces are in the oil, it will clean the inside of the crankcase. Be careful, it may also remove the carbon sealing the piston rings and the engine will start to really burn oil.

JimL

Gee, from the handle I spect' the resident expert just spoke... :)

If your generator is running fine and you have a routine to treat gas with SeaFoam you don't need to go to more extreme measures. Just make sure you either empty the carb after using or use treated gas all the time. SeaFoam is great stuff (I use and love it) but unnecessarily over treating can actually damage stuff as described in above posts

The Sea Foam concentration listed by Gale will also clean carbon from the muffler.

If 3 or 4 ounces are in the oil, it will clean the inside of the crankcase. Be careful, it may also remove the carbon sealing the piston rings and the engine will start to really burn oil.

JimL

So you can use pure Seafoam -- no gas?? Won't it run too hot and damage the components? (That is probably an ignorant question, but that describes me perfectly.)

2 oz per gallon full time in the tank should keep it clean. We have a 6.5 HP China knock off honda engine and an 18 HP B&S that if i will get them hot and add pure Seafoam as the last oz of gas is leaving the tank then go to full choke when they start to die they will run on pure Seafoam until the cows come home or the Seafoam runs out.

On the 10 year old 4000 Onan RV generator that had .2 hours showing when we started working with it for a neighbor we got it stated by spraying carb cleaner on the intake air filter. Then we removed the gas line and dumped it into a 5 gallon gas jug and added a line to the carb fuel intake connection and inserted a small funnel and ran it on pure Seafoam using a small shot of Carb cleaner spray over and over to keep it running until it warmed up some then letting it die with only Seafoam in the carb and intake system.

That helped a lot and we did that again Monday and giving the pure Seafoam until tomorrow evening to see if it will run smooth with roof AC running. It was much improved after the first treatment. I hate tearing down a carb on a never used generator that I do not own. :)