Seafoam usage clarification

B

beatbox

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Wanted to clarify on how to put seafoam in the bike (07 ninja 250).

right now i have perhaps 30-40miles worth of gas (without accounting for reserve) left before i usually fill up.

do i put in seafoam and fill up gas to the top and let it sit overnight?
put seafoam into the current amount of gas and let it sit overnight?
put seafoam into the current amount of gas, run it for a bit and then let it sit overnight?

iv heard that some ppl have strained their batteries or flooded their engine, thus having a nonworking bike for a few days.

your input is appreciated.
 
If you have 30 - 40 miles of gas left before fill up, get your seafoam with you and bring it to the gas station. fill up gas and put in the recommended amount of seafoam in there. Let it mix well and let the seafoam work into the fuel lines. You may have to grab a cup of coffee while at the gas station. After that, then ride it home and let it sit overnight if you want.
 
For a solid treatment, put about half a bottle into your tank now, swish it around and run it.. When white smoke starts coming out, vary your rpm's from idle to red for a minute or two and then let it sit overnight. Top up the tank with at least 10l of gas and go for a long ride. Warning: It will be tough to start in the morning. After that, you're good.
 
FiReSTaRT said:
For a solid treatment, put about half a bottle into your tank now, swish it around and run it.. When white smoke starts coming out, vary your rpm's from idle to red for a minute or two and then let it sit overnight. Top up the tank with at least 10l of gas and go for a long ride. Warning: It will be tough to start in the morning. After that, you're good.
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half a bottle?? isnt it 1/3 of the bottle (then again my 250 has a smaller tank)?
that warning is what im afraid off. can you shed some light on how to overcome this 'toughness'?

thanks
 
I think the toughness is just the sh*t that gets unplugged that has to work its way through the system. You could work around that by opening up your carbs instead of using seafoam to clean them (which is why i'm assuming you're using seafoam).

I've used it before on a friend's 250 and it worked well. In his case it was bad fuel so we drained the carbs/tank, put fresh gas and seafoam and ran it through, rode around a couple times. IT took some time and carefulness to get through the "tough" part. Just believe hahaha
 
Actually the tough starts are because seafoam doesn't burn as well as gasoline. The best way to overcome is to jump-start the bike in the morning (make sure the car engine isn't running). By the way, what I described was the intensive treatment. for occasional touchups, all you need to do is add about 1/3 to a full tank.. I do it every mid-season and when winterizing.
 
The way I've always used Seafoam is to just dump half the can in the tank. To be safe you dump it in there when you have lots of gas. To be adventerous you can do it with little to almost no fuel in the tank. (I did this once with my old VF500 and the Seafoam cleaned out all the gunk and rust and the tank spung a leak :()

To use Seafoam to clean the combustion chambers I remove the Airbox (with the bike not running) and expose the carbs....I dump the Seafoam into the carbs and flood them. After a bit I twist the throttle open (bike is still not running) and that dumps the seafoam into the cylinders. I then remove all the spark plugs and give the starter a few turns to clear the seafoam from the cylinders. (this is very messy)
Then I clean the plugs and re-install them...move the bike somewhere with open space and fire it up. (will be hard to start and will run rough at first) when it starts it will smoke and smoke and smoke. When it smokes no more I change the Oil, and install fresh plugs.

That method is a bit extreme and might be obsolete now with the seafoam spray that you can buy now.
 
matthew said:
Maybe its just my bike then, but whenever I added the Seafoam straight into the carbs, the carbs would be fouled up.
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The carbs or the plugs?
 
In my description above...where there is about 5-15 minutes of smoke coming out the exhaust....I change the plugs only because after all that effort I want fresh plugs in.

After that the plugs do seem to look good, but in every situation the plugs were about due for replacement anyways. I wouldn't recommend changing them if they are still good.
 
I've done a couple of intensive treatments with Seafoam before replacing the plugs (based on mileage recommendations as they were still looking good).
 
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