To Seafoam or not to Seafoam

[nvr2old]

I just brought my '76 Honda 550F Super Sport out of a 12 year hibernation. Before I tucked it away I poured Stabil in the gas tank ran it around the block several times to get it through the carbs, parked it and drained the carbs. I was amazed that it fired right up and runs perfect. It idled right off the bat. Cool. But, it squirts a bit of gas out of the overflow tube when I run it or even turn the petcock on. It's only one carb doing it. Seems to me it might be a stuck jet. I really don't want to pull the carb rack if I don't have to. Has anyone tried Seafoam to maybe clean out a bit of dirt or sticky jet? Dammit, Jim, I'm a painter not a mechanic...

 

[salty_monk]

Yeah, I'd try seafoam first for sure. My friend had a Honda Nighthawk he'd regularly let sit for months at a time. As long as you could actually get it running a high dose of seafoam would sort it out within half a dozen miles of riding....

 

[steve murdoch]

A fan of Seafoam as well.
Sounds more like a stuck float instead of a jet. I would tap "firmly not a wallop" on the offending carb float bowl with the handle of a screwdriver or wood handle of a hammer.

 

[rphillips]

I'm a firm believer. What have you got to lose? Even if it don't help it, it sure can't hurt anything.

 

[jimhickcox]

I like Seafoam. For stubborn issues I'll even dip into the B12 Chemtool.

I was just writing about this elsewhere, but I have exactly the problem you're describing pop up a couple times a year on one or another of my bikes and I find that if I catch it early I can fix it by just driving around and leaking some gas for about twenty minutes. If not, I run it off a bottle, get it up to temperature, and then transition the fuel out for cleaner until the bike kinda chokes on it, then let it sit overnight. If neither of those works, then I'll pull the carbs and clean them.

 

[chuck hahn]

I put a half can in my gravity bottle and fill the bowls. After a overnight soak in full strength sauce itll be ok. then add 2 ounces per gallon and ride away.

 

[Nessism]

I like Seafoam. For stubborn issues I'll even dip into the B12 Chemtool.

Guys on Bob Is The Oil Guy don't have many good words for Seafoam. They do like the Chemtool, though. I like the carb spray. It dissolves brown varnish really nicely.

 

[bonanzadave]

I put a half can in my gravity bottle andfill the bowls.

Guys on Bob Is The Oil Guy don't have many good words for Seafoam.

I have no scientific proof but I would stick to what it says on the label for the amount to add. I had some pretty clean carbs and was over-dosing with stable and seafoam and the new orings and rubber bits started breaking down in a matter of a couple years.....
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[nvr2old]

A fan of Seafoam as well.
Sounds more like a stuck float instead of a jet. I would tap "firmly not a wallop" on the offending carb float bowl with the handle of a screwdriver or wood handle of a hammer.

Thanks Steve, that was the first thing I did with my limited mechanical abilities. It seemed to help a bit but was not the cure all. I have a friend whose an excellent car mechanic that has told me not to use Seafoam, but I thought I'd pass along the question to my fellow motorcycle riders and you guys say try it, so I probably will this afternoon. I agree,as long as I follow the directions I have nothing to lose. Pulling carbs is a bi--h.

 

[chuck hahn]

I emailed seafoam directly and asked them if it will eat orings in motorcyle carbs specifically and they said no. I havent had any issues for many years of seafoam use.

 

[rphillips]

2old, Wondering if your car mechanic had what neg. effects Seafoam could have other than if it don't work you've wasted appx. $6.00?

 

[chuck hahn]

WELL heres exactly what i did just 2 weeks ago when i picked up that 600 dollar gs1000. Started it and ran on choke but not with choke off. Classic clogged jets symptoms. So i emptied out the gravity bottle and dumped in half a can of straight seafoam Ran it on choke till it started popping and stuttering as gas was burnt off and bowls filled with seafoam. Next morning i drained the bowls and put gas to them. As you can all see in the video thats been posted all ill symptoms are gone and it runs like a scalded cat.
I rest my case on seafoam

 

[Cipher]

White oil and alcohol.
no one here studied any hs chemistry?

 

[nvr2old]

2old, Wondering if your car mechanic had what neg. effects Seafoam could have other than if it don't work you've wasted appx. $6.00?

He told me it would damage rubber o-rings and just gum the small parts up worse. Earlier this afternoon I put about half a can into about three gallons of gas in the tank. Took it for a ride to get it mixed into the carbs, but it didn't help..at least directly after my ride. The one carb still spurts gas. Not a steady drip, but actual spurts of gas every 30 seconds or so with the petcock open. Hmmm. I'll fire it up tomorrow morning to see if letting it sit in the carbs overnight does anything. If it doesn't work or if it helps a little bit better then it was, I may go with Chuck's nuclear option.

 

[chuck hahn]

Larry.. Sounds to me like theres a tiny chunk of something jamming the float needle on that particular carb. Try running a line off the drain and putting petcock in the PRI spot and run some gas through it to give it a flush. See if theres anything in whats flushed into your catch can. Ive had little specs of what i can only assue was fuel line rubber sloughing off from just being old and deteriorating. IF the fuel lines 4 or 5 years old it may worth changing tat too.

 

[LAB3]

When I swapped out the lines on my current bike two years ago I used just plain jane rubber hose from the auto parts store. Then about six months back I came across a hardware store that had bulk fuel line made of that same solid plastic looking stuff that the stock lines are made of and grabbed three feet of it and threw it into the trailer thinking I'd replace the rubber lines with it when I had a reason to pull the tank off to do something else.

A couple of weeks back I finally got around to doing just that as it was (well beyond) time to check my valve clearances. Sure enough, the inside of that rubber hose was awfully "gooey" looking. The fuel system wasn't giving my any problems up to that point but I'm darn glad I swapped out those lines before it did. Rubber hose works well enough, until it doesn't!

 

[rphillips]

I've heard about it will deteriorate "O" rings, but not heard of gumming anything. Dissolving gum, or deposits, is what it's designed to do, it'd be hard to imagine it may do the opposite... Hoping things get fixed without taking carbs apart. If you do got to take your carbs apart to check the needle & seat, our Suzuki's have "O" rings on the seats that cause same problem as leaking needle, I took mine apart 3 times before I found that "O" ring the problem & needle & seat was fine... Good luck.

 

[nvr2old]

Thanks for all the insight, guys. The fuel lines on the bike are actual fuel lines and look to be fine, thanks for making me look. I turned the petcock on this morning, and sure enough it's still spurting a stream of gas out of the overflow tube just about every 30 seconds or so. Almost like it's under pressure. I'll try filling the bowls with straight Seafoam and leave it overnight again. If that doesn't help, I guess I have no choice but to pull the carbs..argh. The bike runs amazingly well, so that's one good thing anyways..

 

[unfocused]

I'm a firm believer in both Seafoam and Lucas. However, niether of these will fix a damage rubber part or stuck float - a dirty jet will not make fuel squirt anywhere.

 

[wyly]

I have a CBX and those 6 carbs are complex and very sensitive. I normally run a tank of fuel with seafoam through it every fall before I put it away for the winter. Two years ago I forgot to add seafoam I didn't it really didn't perform well sputtering and hesitating on spring startup, I added some seafoam to the tank and did an Itialian tuneup, it cleared up any problems in less than 50 miles

Last fall I did the seafoam procedure and drained the carbs to be sure, last month it fired right up first try with no issues.