Home Forums Fishing Freshwater SeaFoam Fuel Additive?

Anyone use this stuff in outboard motors?

Buddy has an older 2 stroke yamaha that he just took out of long term storage. He's gone through it and dropped the lower, changed impeller, etc.

After 17 years of storage it started on the 6th pull...

I use it on all my small engines after less than optimum results from Stabil. However I switched to non-oxygenated fuel at the same time so maybe that is the reason for far less engine problems. On rough running engines I remove the air cleaner and spray Seafoam directly into the carb from a spray bottle with the engine running. Cleans the carb up without doing a carb rebuild.

I have used it in my outboards for a long time. When they start idling rough I run a couple of cans through it.

There are about a bazillion YouTube vids extolling the stuff, and none that I can find that condemn it. There's one guy in particular who does extensive comparisons of SeaFoam versus Techron, Marvel Mystery Oil, and more. Find his channel at Project Farm.

THE number one "must do" with outboards is to use non-ethanol gas. If you can't get it, then use an additive that counteracts the alcohol. Lucas and others make them.

I just picked up another bottle of the stuff this week. Generally I treat all the gasoline going into small engines with SeaFoam and run them dry over the winter, but I usually get caught with gas in the lawn tractor over winter, so I figure that having SeaFoam in all the gas prevents any long term non use, but 17 years is a bit excessive imo. I was talking to a John Deere dealer in the Milwaukee area and he told me that 90% of their engine running issues is related to the high ethanol fuel that they use there. He takes his gas cans up north when he goes to visit his daughter to fill them with better fuel. We can get 89 octane non-ethanol fuel here at Fleet Farm that has a lower flash point than the 92 octane premium and my small engines thrive on that gas.

I use it in every small engine i own. It will smooth out a rough running motor in short time.

I've used it in my small engines with good results, I'm usually not much for miracle elixirs but the stuff does seem to work.

By far the best maintenance on carbureted engines is to prevent problems before hand. Non ethanol fuel and running them dry before any kind of long term storage will prevent the majority of problems with small engines.

Its really a good cleaner for the fuel system
The one thing it is not is the stabilizer some give it credit for
Hank

Like boatboy says, not a stabilizer.

And it is such a good cleaner, it can cause problems by cleaning gunk out of the tank and pushing it down the lines...

I use it in everything including my 4 stroke Yamaha 150 and use it as stabilizer also. Have for years with no issues whatsoever. I stop boating at Labor Day and start again in April, for reference.

What some one is doing and works no reason to change

But here is something I have seen over the years

I dont use any stabilizer and never had a problem, till now
I dont winterize my stern drive is in a garage never had a problem, till now

My point lots of carb kits, manifolds and engines sold even though a practice has worked for years
Of course we all know over the years fuel has changed quite a bit that is a factor

Hank

I got a new, small outboard 7 years ago.
Within 2 years, I started having fuel pump problems.
New fuel pump started failing after a year.
I talked to some guys I known that have been running small out boards for decades.

They both said to use Seafoam.
It fixed my problems.

Seafoam sprayed through the injectors of my 30 year old truck made it run and idle better.

Two chemicals that will cure a host of problems
Seafoam and Chemtool

I tried it in a generator once as a fuel stabilizer and will never use it for that purpose again!

It may have other uses, but I'll stay away from it for any purpose.

That is a totally worthless comment. WHY? What happened?

Run a can through the gas tank, every time oil is changed. From small engines, 4 wheeler, car and truck. Can not remember having a fuel issue in any of them, since I started doing this.

It apparently failed to keep the fuel from separating,resulting in a gummed up petcock and carburetor. I had been using Sta-bil for a few years before this with good results. After cleaning up the affected parts and getting the generator up and running again, I switched back to Sta-bil and all has been well for a few years.

I'm using it in my Yamaha F150 and it has worked great for me. I'll keep using it. Stabil is a good product but I like SeaFoam better