My motorcycle is in need of a tune-up. Being a lazy SOB, I’m trying to cheat a little by using a gas additive instead of “doing it right.”
A number of the bikers on my online user group swear by a product called “Sea Foam Motor Tune-Up.” I poked around on the web and learned that Sea Foam is no ordinary gas juice.
If its fans (and the label) are to be believed, this stuff does just about everything except make your vehicle fly. The label describes Sea Foam in the following bullet-point list:
- Injector cleaner
- Carburator cleaner
- Carbon cleaner
- Fuel stabilizer
- De-icer anti gel
- Upper cylinder lube
- Frees lifters - rings
- Dries oil and fuel
Also, in sunbursts:
- “Helps pass emissions tests” and
- “Cures hesitations, pinging, rough idle”
It can be added to your gasoline, diesel fuel or even motor oil; and it works in 2 or 4 cycle engines.
Adding to the mystique, Sea Foam is notoriously hard to find. Most auto supply stores (except some NAPAs) do not carry it; likewise the marine supply places I tried. (In fact, most of the places I called never even heard of it.)
Sea Foam’s strongest following are old-timers who’ve been using it for years to breathe new life into wheezing old jalopies. It appears to have been around a long, long time. (Not surprisingly, it comes in an olde-timey all-steel 16 oz. can. Very 1950s-ish.) The label says it’s made in Hopkins, MN, and it does not seem to be the product of some other big-brand chemical/petroleum company.
I purchased two cans of the stuff today (at a NAPA store 15 (!) miles from my home) and plan to try it soon. Before I do, I’ve got a few questions:
- Does this stuff work?
- If so, does it work better than other brands of gas additives?
- And what – exactly – is in it? (The can says petroleum distillate, petroleum oil and 2-propanol CAS. That sounds a little vague to me. Then again, Old Man Seafoam probably guards his recipe like the Coke people.)
