My uncle swore by seafoam in the crankcase and I found out the hard way

Poured a whole can into my 2002 F-150 before an oil change like he said and it blew a cloud of white smoke so thick my neighbor called the fire department, has anyone else had a mechanic give them junky advice that almost ruined their motor?

2 comments

2 Comments

leo_mason1mo ago

Well now hold on, I've put seafoam in my old Chevy before every oil change for ten years and never had that happen. You might have had a different issue going on like maybe you already had some buildup that got loosened up all at once, or you poured it in too fast with the engine running. That smoke is normal for a few minutes, it just burns off the carbon deposits.

lilyb271mo ago

Seafoam is a bandaid at best, and a gamble at worst. I've seen plenty of motors get a fresh set of problems after a dose of that stuff, especially the older high-mileage engines. It doesn't just clean deposits, it can turn gunk that was holding things together into sludge that clogs up an oil pickup screen or a lifter. The smoke isn't just carbon burning off either, you're also burning off the seafoam itself which means it's getting past your rings and into the oil pan. I've met more than one mechanic who won't touch the stuff on a car that's got over a hundred thousand miles because the risk outweighs any benefit. You got lucky with your Chevy, but plenty of others have learned the hard way.