Seafoam and Prius

Seafoam is not something you put into your car. Unless your car has issues, there's no reason to put chemicals in it. Regular gasoline has detergents to keep the engine and injectors clean

 

I think the Prius will ignore your snake oil just fine and run as well as it would have if you had not added it.

 

What is your

No, it's not.

It probably won't hurt your car, but if you're needing to put SeaFoam in a one year old car, then you have much deeper problems than the SF is going to be able to solve!!
There are some theories in the M/C community that if you go crazy with this stuff then it can actually wash some or most of the lubricating oil out of the bore and cause more damage than you're trying to repair....and I've heard some people specu-guess that it can damage the catalytic converter in stupid high quantities.

I don't subscribe to these theories, and it's almost certain that even if you put a whole can in the crank and one in the tank, you're going to accomplish nothing more than lighten your wallet by $20....because there's certainly people out there doing so regularly.

If you've already bought a K$N air filter, you may need to clean out your throttle body and MAF sensor much more quickly, but there are some better and cheaper products out there for that.

Spend the $20 that you would have wasted on the SeaFoam for a certain fuel that they sell that has a special cleanser in it (up to 10%)
There will be a label somewhere on the pump similar to this one:




Good Luck!

 

NO.

By believing their marketing hype you sure have wasted a LOT of money over the years.
SeaFoam is a decent fuel stabilizer and light duty fuel system cleaner.
But there are better products out there for both of those functions.

ALL of the other claimed uses are not necessary and can be down right bad......like dumping solvents into your crankcase where they dilute the oil.

NOW is a good time to break a bad habit.

A can of Techron every few thousand miles is OK; otherwise don't add anything.

 

I use B-12 Chemtool (basically Seafoam from a different maker).

I've NEVER used it in the crankcase on either my truck or motorcycle. I've used it regularly (about once every 3 months) in every vehicle to keep the fuel system clean. If I have any performance issues, it's the first remedy I try since (in spite of modern fuel technology), contamination can still get into the gas you buy.

It's perfectly safe to use on any ICE. As the Prius probably does not get used as much as a standard ICE, you might only want to use it once every 6-12 months...or if you suspect you got a bit of bad gas.

 

Nope, wrong.
The two products are not even close, as far as the ingredients go.
The B-12 product is a MUCH better cleaner.

If you really want to see the difference, look up the formulation of each on the Material Safety data sheets.

I swear by Berrymans B12 Chemtool for use with carbs and for problem solving but I think Techron might be slightly better for routine use with injectors as it contains a tiny bit of lubricant which straight cleaners lack.

 

E10 = emulsification = bad news, but $$$ to repair in hybrid and non hybrids. Moisture (or just tank condensation) will start the above process. Keep tank as full as possible or if vehicle will be sitting for a couple of weeks or longer, Seaform is what I use in my vehicles. My Gen2, with the bladder is the exception. Fuel gets depleted, bladder shrinks, reducing the chance for condensation to form.

Bottom line: if you use the Prius constantly, there is no reason for additives needed.

DBCassidy

 

Agree

 

youtube shows someone put seafoam into brand new lawnmower and of course you get white smoke.

 

Hey, a white contrail to go with my Blizzard Pearl Prius.

 

When I hear statements from Shell that their V Power high octane gasoline has 5 times more detergent in it than cheaper fuel, in my mind I could see that a full tank would equal or surpass the amount of money that somebody would spend on a bottle of fuel injector cleaner that would do about 10 tankful's or more in a Prius.
I use the cleaner myself on a fairly regular basis as I will buy gas at the cheapest place as a rule, always a busy spot, but I find the cleaner does break up any moisture in the tank in the same way a small bottle of gas line anti freeze would.
When we get to the moist foggy weather here soon where nighttime humidity levels hit 100 % and the sea fog starts showing up, I once or twice had the engine start up knock... I hadn't used the fuel line cleaner for a couple months so I added it and no more knock. Might be a fluke, but maybe there was too much moisture in the system either from wherever I fueled up, or in the air.
Likely there is enough detergent in the gas, and probably all the stations get the same stuff from the refiners, but I don't think some additives will hurt things. All in moderation.

Roland

 

What exactly is this "the cleaner" that you use ??

 

It is a red liquid, labelled as fuel system cleaner, a Canadian Tire house brand. As such, I didn't mention the name in the first post as it is something that is possibly made in the US and labelled differently up here, or maybe something unique. I've used it for more than 10 years with different cars with good results, always buying it whenever they have a half price sale, which thankfully happens at least every year or so when I need some again.

Cheaper than spending on the premium gas that they say has more detergent, and octane that is not needed for our engines. One tank as I mentioned instead of regular grade here is about what my bottle of cleaner costs which lasts around a year.

Roland

 

Definitely not necessary or advised! Use a good quality gasoline and you'll be fine.

 

Just put a full tank of premium gas from Chevron or Shell and do a long distance drive and it should clean up your filters and engines lol

 

+1 Agree. I heard that CR did some tests on B12 way back and it turned out working and cost effective. Personally, I use techron that also has good evidence it work well.

 

The papers done on techron showed it worked better in city driving (longer exposure time?).
Besides, the low levels of techron or similar amine cleaners in commercial gasoline is good for prevention or deposits, but not for cleaning where you need higher concentrations.

 

I've been a fan of BG-44K. Having said that, I might use it once a year.

I'm a much bigger fan of just being sure to use Top Tier Gas when I fill up. This helps to keep things from building up in the first place. The big plus about Top Tier is the detergent specs apply across all grades and not just premium. So, you can get the same benefits from just using regular.