mustang99v6

What's up all? The other day me and my buddy were doing some maintenance to both our cars at the same time. Once a year I usually do a 3 way seafoam job to my car. My buddy had heard of it but never did it. I've always seen good results so we did his. After all the smoky fun, he said since he trusted my opinion on that, that I should trust his on some Marvel Mystery Oil. I'd heard of it of course, but never tried it. He uses it in his ford SUV and gets an extra mile or two MPG when he uses it. I haven't used it yet, but it got me thinking about the effects of seafoam in the gas tank. So, just referring to the seafoam as a gas additive. What are the effects of it and what is it doing overall for my engine? I know it's cleaning things out. (I change my fuel filter after using it). But, could it be used every couple of tanks of gas without any ill effects? If so, what are the gains? Now, same line of questioning for the MMO. I don't personally know anything about it, so any experience would be great. Lastly, I come from a german car background. We used to use the BG line of products. BG44k works. In fact, it is the only pour in the gas tank treatment I have ever recommened to anyone. So, if you have any knowledge of it too, that would be great. Thanks for you help in advance.

RyansQuick6

You shouldn't do it but maybe every 40k miles, there's no need unless you're running cheap gas and not changing your oil properly.

I prefer seafoam, and I've used all 3. Doing it too often will ruin a bunch of plugs, and eventually shorten the life of O2 sensors and cats.

mustang99v6

Ryan, what up bro? Long time huh? For me at least..... ha ha. I got a M3 so I been toying around with it for a while. But, I'm about to pay some attention to the stang again.
Okay, so you say seafoam. I'm cool with that, but can it be used more frequent than that? My buddy says they run MMO in every fill up. Also, he used to log in Alaska, and they run it in chainsaws up there, 24/7. So, is it worth it at all to run in the stang? As for BG44k, I'd run it every day of the week if I could afford it, but it's close to $20 a can down my way. So I only get it in there every few months. As for your cheap gas comment...... isn't 97 considered cheap gas anyways? ha ha. I try to run 91 at least but the damn ethenol ruins it no matter what. I'm having a hard time finding it without, so I would say my gas is cheap. Damn, I miss mizzou, we could get 108 purple lightning up there!!!!!

Daehawk

I've used the Marvel Oil. This was around 1992 on a 1985 Trans-Am. It had a valve that was pinging. Stopped it instantly and it never did it again. I keep a bottle handy now just in case.

NeoTokyo

I use SeaFoam for my cars as a general cleaner about once a year.

It works great and I have always had good results with SeaFoam.

I have used Marvels before and while in maintained cars, I dont see any need to I do have an awesome story about the stuff.

When I was in Redding Ca. (Nor Cal) I took a Bus trip up to Portland OR. to grab an 85' BMW for a friend that he had won off of Ebay through an impound Lot.

I brought the Marvels with me as a just in case.

When I got there it was hovering around 28-30 degree's and the car didnt want to start.
When it did, it ran ROUGH and knocked something crazy, smoked and would die!

I put the Marvels in the oil and in the fuel and after a few more tries at starting her she began to stay running.

The loud knocking, rough idle and smoking went away pretty quickly after that.

The drive home was smooth with no problems and got pretty decent fuel economy.

After my friend was able to rip into her he found just how badly the poor Beemer had been maintained. Sludge build up like no ones business and oil that looked like it hadnt been changed in years.

I have used marvels in other neglected cars before and it always got them running smooth enough to go where they needed.


So for me I use SeaFoam as a yearly cleaner and Marvels if your yanking something out of a field or back to life.

billytk

So would seafoam be recommended for occasional use just to clean out the injectors etc. or is it more for fixing "issues" that have come up?

mustang99v6

Well, this is what Ryan JUST SAID on that subject:

You shouldn't do it but maybe every 40k miles, there's no need unless you're running cheap gas and not changing your oil properly.

I prefer seafoam, and I've used all 3. Doing it too often will ruin a bunch of plugs, and eventually shorten the life of O2 sensors and cats.
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mustang99v6

Thanks Hawk and Neo for the info on MMO. So, let me ask this, would you guys use it as an every tank or every other tank additive? or relegate it to once a year or so like seafoam? Does the marvel have any of the cat and 02 killing effects that seafoam has? And on that subject too, I'm assuming the seafoam kills that stuff because you put it through the intake. What if you just used it in the gas only? Would it do anything more than just scrub your injectors a bit cleaner than the detergent in gas already does?

NeoTokyo

I cant really speak on the affects it has on O2 sensors or the cats, but SeaFoam claims to help clean the cats.

Adding anything to a system that isnt designed for as regular use can cause harm, just do it in moderation.

As for running Marvels in every tank of gas, I wouldnt worry about it.
By law all fuels intended for automobiles are to have SOME percentage of quality cleaning agents in them.

For small engines, its good stuff to use more often for extra lubrication and fuel stability as fuel can often be left in the res for weeks or even months at a time.

Derf00

Marvel has been around a lot longer than Seafoam.

Marvel is an upper cylinder lubricant/cleaner meaning you add it before you change your oil out in the crankcase/differential/tranny. It's supposed to get rid of varnish and sludge. I would not run it through the intake like Seafoam.

As already stated, unless you don't do regular maintenance it's not a good idea to do too often (if at all). It can cause leaks on older engines.

Seafoam as far as I'm concerned is more for intake cleaning, not crankcase. Berrymans is similar to Seafoam and is not usually recommended for the crankcase either. That will eat seals.

Like Marvel, I'm not a big believer in the Seafoam for regular maintenance. If you maintain your engine you shouldn't need it. Just my .02