Snake Oil

BD this post is just for you...... 😎

I was over at another tractor site just now and ran across this. Since I am an avid Snake Oil user and you have brought it to not just mine, but other's postings on this site how you despise it and consider it a waste of time and money, I thought this would make your day.......😘

Quoted at my discretion from a confirmed non-user, er ah ex-non-user's post:

"Sometimes it's great to be wrong though. I've always thought of fuel additives as a good way to burn up money at a high rate of speed. Well, no more, count me a believer.

My ZTM was surging badly, I know exactly what the problem is, dirty carb, but I just didn't feel like tearing it apart. Had some Seafoam that I used to use on my boat laying around and figured "what the ****". I mixed up a 50/50 Seafoam/gas mix, disconnected the fuel line from the tank and fed it into the engine. Did this a few times, you could hear it (and see it, plenty of smoke) when the Seafoam hit, and I thought, "huh, I think it might be getting better". After I think the 3rd time, it was pretty obviously better, but still not fixed. Mowed for awhile with some Seafoam in the gas, then, when I finished, fed it another 50/50 mix of gas/Seafoam and put it up for the night. Well, guess what? Went out today, started it and.. You guessed it, no surging; running like a top. Apparently whatever was lodged the Seafoam ate or allowed to pass through.

So... I'm eating my hat. I always told people they were wasting money with "that stuff" but, here I sit, having saved hours of work (to rebuild the carb) and 50 bucks (for the rebuild kit) with 1/2 a can of Seafoam. I'm shocked, I really am, I didn't expect it to work at all, but.. It did. I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad about it, happy because I don't have to rebuild the carb, sad because I spent so much time rebuilding carbs when a can of "snake oil" might have fixed it.

I did, today, before I tried the mower, happen to be at Autozone and picked up a can of Berryman's which I understand is stronger. It was clear last night that "this is starting to work" so I figured maybe "more power" was the answer. But I didn't even need that, just letting the Seafoam sit was all it took. I did run a little of the B12 through the engine tonight to just clear anything left out of the carb, but, it's running like a top again.

Learning something new, every day. "

Hope the owner shares my enthusiasm with this revelation and not find it an intrusion on his privacy....🤔. Just couldn't resist it. 3rd 😇, naw this is a LAMO.

I have always put fuel injection cleaner in my vehicles , probably twice a year I put it in the tank. I have never had a clogged injector or any other injector problem , my vehicles run top notch. Someone can say its wasted money but I think the right additive for the job is not all smoke and mirrors. I put an additive in the transmission of my Camaro because it would leak ATF if it sat a long time (winter storage) This was a product to stop leaking ATF and it worked and worked well. To each his own !

I had almost the identical experience -- only it was a gas powered forklift. A friend said that sea foam worked so I bought a bottle when it was handy and had it on the shelf. My forklift got to where it wouldn't idle any more -- you had to keep the throttle open just a little . I added some sea foam to the gas tank and ran it a bit . The next day when I went to use it it ran and idled perfect.

For everyone of those stories there are 10 that tried it and it didn't work. Who's to say that just running it that long under those conditions wouldn't have resulted in the same outcome. No one will ever know because you only saw one side and heard one story. Could well have been something in there that got dissolved by the potion, but it's just as likely it got flushed out from regular use.

Never tried Seafoam, heard a lot of good things about it.

I would like to try an experiment, maybe someone has already done it...

Take an ethanol fouled carb apart and see if the Seafoam will dissolve the goo.

If it does, I would say it is a viable product.

The most notable use of snake oil working for me was when I had bought an old IH Scout. The power steering when turning the pump would lock and toss the belt off. I used a can of something made for power steering and directions on can said to jack weight off front end and then work steering from side to side with no load on it. I did that and it did not take long before it freed up and started working even with weight back on the wheels. Fast forward not to long after a few weeks ? I was over at my cousins house and he was working on his old scout or maybe a Ford truck. ?. He was pulling the steering gear out. I told him about what I did and to stop removing it and put it back together and get some of that miracle in a can. I think it fixed his too.

Just to prove a proven (to myself) point to myself I had some old equipment, both 2 and 4 stroke sitting around that I had written off as unusable many years earlier. Just using Snake Oil I got them all easy to start and running smoothly. No question there. They didn't and then they did and nothing different but Snake Oil.

I have never used injector cleaner and have never had a clogged injector or any other injector problem. And this is using good ole E10.

I have had nothing but great results from sea foam, it is not snake oil.

I wasn't a fan of Snake oils either until I tried Seafoam in my wood splitter, it was surging and only ran well if half choked. I poured half a can in the tank and ran it for several hours and the next day it ran great and has been good since, that was about 5 years ago, I posted here about it at the time. last year my generator acted the same way so in went the Seafoam. Well I had to use it a few weeks ago and it ran great. BTW it is a Generac which most folks here dislike but it has been great for me since 2008 it only gets used a couple times a year, once was Thanksgiving day with everyone waiting for Turkey but the generator did the job both the oven and stove top as well as the fridge and lights but you could realy here the governor kick in every time the oven cycled.

So how did the magic elixer get in the engine to do it's magic if the engines wouldn't even run? I do use seafoam for long term storage and like it, and think it might cut light varnish. But I don't believe it' magic and there is usually another reason for why things happen. It may in fact dissolve some varnish as long as it's not too bad, but to start a non running engine and get it to run good I would have to see.

I had a water transfer pump powered by a 5 horse Briggs start running lean midway through the spraying season. I was not in the mood to take the carb apart so I grabbed an old can of Sea Foam and poured some in the gas tank. The pump ran lean for 30 seconds then cleared up and ran fine for the rest of spraying season. I am not good about preparing small engines for storage, And this pump is included. At the end of the season I toss it up in the loft of my heated shop and fire it up next spring. Well the next spring it ran lean again, so more Sea Foam was dumped in the tank and again it straightened out and ran fine for the rest of the summer. That was five years ago and I have not had to treat it since then. Yes I use 10 percent ethanol.

I saved a leaking steering rack on a high mileage Silverado.

It was leaking badly from worn seals, bad boots, dirt and grit inside.

I started topping it up with Lucas power steering stop leak. In a few days the leaks stopped, drove it another couple years and sold it.

I told the buyer there was a problem, as far as I know he never changed the rack or fixed the boots, and that's been about 3 years now.

Dads leaf vac fired right up and he filled the traier so he shut it off. It would not restart. I drained the gas tank and added seafoam. After a few pulls it started and ran ruff. I pulled it outside and let it cough and smoke for a minute and then it ran fine. Still working just fine.

Seafoam is a blend of a couple petroleum based solvents and Isopropyl alcohol. Ain't magic, just a solvent blend. As a solvent it could very well clean up some crud from a carb and save the work of a teardown. The alcohol will dissolve some things that the petroleum solvents won't and will bind to water in the system and burn it while running.

....call it what ya want....Seafoam is GREAT stuff. I've been using it for years and I am still amazed at what all it cures....for $7.00

I have a small chainsaw that I bought in 1972, wouldn't start today. Put a strong mixture of Seafoam and fuel in it, a squirt in the carb throat and pretty soon it was cutting wood. I think I did put a kit in the carb about 25 years ago, might need another one!

MSDS says Naptha (for hygiene), Alcohol (for controlling small amounts of water in the fuel), and light mineral oil (for lubrication like would be required if atomized and shot into the carburetor of
a 2 stroke engine to get it running, or determining why an engine won't start..... fuel related or ignition related......whereas starting fluid had no lube qualities required by 2 stroke engines, like
Evinrude outboard motors in Wisconsin.....aka namesake Sea-Foam, ). I noticed some starting fluids today do advertise that they include lubrication.

There is a process called "Decarb" that is in the iboats boating forum archives, or just doing a www search of the word will bring it up, whereby you clean up a gummed up/carbon contaminated
engine with Sea Foam. Testimonials all over the place about the process and that Snake Oil works.

Doing a www search on this topic: "Evinrude outboards and Sea Foam", brings up about 1,650,000 results...........must be something to it.

The words "evinrude outboard" probably will bring up a million five. LOL Try it and see.

As I read this thread, a question pops up--I use Sta-bil year round in most of my equipment. If I were to add Seafoam to gas which already has Sta-bil in it, are the two compatible? Or will I have a bigger mess to deal with?

Matter of fact, I figured since the word was in the question that's what brought the numbers up to that mind boggling quantity. The story I got was that Ole was having problems with cold weather and his outboards back in the day. As the story goes, he commissioned somebody to come up with a Snake Oil that would solve the problems SF solves. True-False, who knows but having the light mineral oil for spraying into 2 stroke carbs gives the tale some merit.