Has anyone on the forum had issues after using sea foam on their truck? After reading all the posts on seafoam and the miracles it works with our mini trucks I decided to treat keikei (my 90 sambar) with a bottle of seafoam I followed the manifacturers instructions and added a third to the gas tank and I took on the scary task of adding a third to the manifold vacuum line. After adding about a third of the third i had to the vacuum line i accidentally stalled her out. So I decided that was good enough and let it sit for a good 15 min when I started her back up there wasn't as much white smoke as I thought there would be. I drove her hard for 15 min to a half hour and when I came back home I noticed my idle is inconsistant it will idle normally for 20 seconds then for about 2 seconds drop down to a lower idle then come back. The truck idled perfectly before the seafoam and there doesn't seem to be any difference in performance while driving after having seafoamed her. Did I do something wrong?
No it's just a drop in idle speed that wasnt happening before the sea foam. It used to idle smooth and solid.
Is it possible I added the sea foam to the wrong vacuum line? I am running premium fuel right now too would that have anything to do with it?
Seafoam I had similar issues when I did the same thing to a 95 GMC 5.7V8 TBI with 358,000kms on it. I over dosed it a bit and it it did a few goofy things for awhile. I had carbon coming loose from everywhere and sticking under valves wich resulted in the engine only running on about 5 or 6 cylinders. I filled it with Premium fuel and continued to drive at highway speed and the engine came back stronger than ever. It had inconsistant idling characteristics for about 2 days and then that cleared up as well. The truck has 365,000kms on it now and the engine idles dead smooth. Try the premium fuel and run it for a few days to see if it clears up or not before you get too worried about it.
Seafoam If it sucked it up you had a vacuum line to the engine however you may have some residual seafoam occassionaly entering the engine and resulting in the idle issue. Does the engine seem to make good power at highway speed?
Well I never really reach "highway speed" I primarily drive around town and the max I hit is like 70 to 80 kph but driving around the city it seems strong no power Los that I can feel at any speed
Seafoam Good. Then if it's just an idle isuue I'd give it a little time to run it's course through the carb and engine and it should clear up.
I have had some problems with starts after I have been running it hard. After i shut it down for a while when i fo to start it for some reason it will turn over but has a very hard time starting and staying running if I give it too much gas it dies and takes a lot of cranking to get it to start at witch point I have to sit and wait for the idle to return to normal. This was happening before sea foaming and it seems to still be happening after
The truck is at just under 48000k I've only owned the truck for s few weeks but I replaced the air filter and it had an oil change right before I bought it
Does it have EFI or is it carbed? Might be a plugged idle air control valve if it's EFI. Try putting a vacuum gauge in your system somewhere. It's possible that there was a leak at some point that had been covered by gunk and you've "cleaned" it up and caused it to leak slightly. You can also try spraying some of that seafoam around various hoses and points on the engine. If the pitch changes when you spray (i.e. it sucked some of it in) then you've found a leak. Is the vacuum hose you disconnected reattached securely and in good shape (no cracks)? As an aside, there's really no reason to run premium gas in these things.
It's carbed. I'm sure the hose is attached securely while I was looking for a vacuum line to use for the seafoam all the lines seemed like they were in good shape. I'll give spraying the lines a try. And if I can't find anything I'll start looking for a vacuum gauge.
Ok so the problem seems to have gone away now I'm thinking it was just sea foam leftover in the engine slowly working itsself out. Guess I pushed the freak out button a little early on this one. Thanks for all the help goldstar and spikefiend! Still not sure weather or not the hard starting after running it hard has cleared up though.
vacuum leaks are 85% of carb and idling problems, use a vacuum gauge or carb cleaner, carb cleaner will send the engine to high idle if you have a vacuum leak, make sure the vacuum port in the air cleaner canister is working properly, also check that your vacuum advance hose isn’t cracked coming off the distributor to the vacuum manifold tree. The vacuum manifold tree is brass on the bottom to go in to the block and plastic on top. Plastic wears out with time and will break or leak, which causes a vacuum leak. Some manifold vacuum trees are 3 or 4 port, make sure to replace it with a new one. When I buy parts I buy 3 at a time that way I have them on hand or in case they can’t get them any more. The vacuum manifold tree is located behind the carb. If you looking at the carb from the right side of the bed, it will be to your 1 O’clock tucked down inside. Remember to use a marker or different colored tape to mark the vacuum lines so you know where everything goes back too! Good luck!’
