Technical Seafoam or Marvel Mystery Oil horror stories

I'm a Seafoam guy but I hear Marvel Mystery Oil does about the same thing and has just as strong a following as Seafoam. I've used Seafoam for years and regularly sing it's praises but I imagine somewhere, somebody must have a horror story. Maybe it dislodged the carbon that was holding the piston rings together, or it loosened some crud that went on to block an oil passage causing a wiped cam bearing? These products can't be so great that nobody has ever had a bad experience with them can they?

 

I just "don't believe" in that ...'mechanic-in-a-can' stuff!
STP motor honey( if its smok'in like a freight train) is about all I would ever use.
6sally6

 

The only story I've ever heard was I feller was having trouble with his sbc powered Firebird and tried that Marvel Mystery Oil but instead of a bottle of the stuff he used it instead of oil. I was told it was a fail by the guy that sold him the product.

 

Best I ever used was Shine , it cleaned out the driver as well as the fuel system ! By the time you were capable of driving the the gas was up to power and the system was cleaned up as new good to go .

 

I used to use Red Line Fuel Injector Cleaner. It's become pretty rare around here, so I've switched to Lucas System Cleaner.

As for being some sort of snake oil... I started using in my motorcycles many years back, at every oil change, a weeks worth of it, daily driving 82 miles a day to work and back.

That said, unlike most automotive cylinder heads, where you really DON'T know what it's doing...if anything...
On 170-190hp, Sport Bike cylinder heads, with the air box removed, either remove the throttle bodies OR just open the butterfly's and shine a flash light into the "straight line to the valve" ports... Not only are the port walls clean, but after 97,000 to 105,000+ miles (total of 9 bikes verified by me), the back side of the valves are nice clean shinny metal..! This by the way isn't on one bike...I started this "cleaning method" back in 1987 on my second bike, and every one since. All with the same outcome...clean intake ports and valves.

Funny thing, my cars get a similar treatment.

Mike

 

Seafoam works on old neglected 2 strokes. Outboards, Trimmers and Chainsaws. Cuts that black tar and frees up sticky rings and reeds. As far as 4 strokes. One word. Meh.

 

Horror stories? Yep, my worn out junk was still worn out junk after using these products.

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I've used Seafoam on many older motorcycles I've resurrected. I let it finish up my shoddy carb cleaning efforts. I also run some MMO in my old Gold Wing from time to time. I figure a little lube and cleaning of the carb and intake parts can't be a bad thing. In a couple cases, also on motorcycles, I've used MMO in the engine oil for about 50 miles between almost back-to-back oil/filter changes to hopefully clean out the crankcase a bit on a engine that's been sitting for years.

I've not used it in any cars though...mostly when bringing old stuff back to life after neglect.

Lynn

 

I've had Sta-bil gunk up in the bottle sitting on the shelf.

 

Had a full can of Seafoam fall from the bench and land right on my big toe once... I guess you could say it was horrible.

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The bottle has a spot to write down the date you opened it and a warning on when it needs to be used up. If it jelled up and you hadn't opened it, then either you or the store that sold it to you must have had it on the shelf for a very long time.
I use the "Sta'Bil 360*" in the ethanol gas of today in both my hot ros and have had carb top off on one looking for a problem that turned out to be elsewhere and there was none of the crud I have seen in pics here from ethanol gas, This was in my roadster after it sat in the shop all the way thru the Winter.

 

Leaded gasoline caused a bit more more sludge, mistuned carburetors added to that, defective point ignitions, 6 volt generator systems, thermostat was routinely removed. And then the non-detergent oils. Sludge City.

Running a few quarts of Kerosene in the crankcase now and then was probably as natural as breathing, or near enough. The key then as now is to never place the engine under load. Of course if the engine was simply worn out this wouldn't improve anything.

I never messed with SeaFoam but maybe it works fine. Marvel's does work for its intended purpose (removing gum & carbon) and is supposedly OK to run in the crankcase. I mostly run it in the fuel. It's not quite as drastic as Kerosene or Diesel.

 

After a hone on cylinders I use MMO on a white t-shirt to wipe the cylinder walls when the t-shirt stays red the cylinder is clean enough to assemble. I've type "F" auto trans fluid too.

 

Back in the day, I had a 65 Pontiac tempest. 6 banger 3 on the tree.
Rusted out beater. Back in them days one of the things we did for fun was take an old beater car and fill with your buddies and a couple beers. We spend the whole day back in the woods up and down the 2 tracks slingin dirt, doing donuts, in and out of ditches. Every weekend it was someone else's turn to rag on their beater. Nobody ever got hurt and it was good for a lot of laughs.
One Saturday after beating the snot out of the Tempest, I come limping into town no oil on the stick, collapsed lifters overheating. I stopped at the corner where all my buddies hang out. Dave opens the trunk on his beater, (used a screwdriver) hands me a quart of Rislone. "Here, dump this shit in. Better than not having any oil."
Drove her around like that the rest of the night. The next day that car smoked so bad you couldn't keep oil in it. Seemed the Rislone had loosened up the rings. 1 quart was probably close to 30/% mix or more with remaning oil. Way too much.
From then on we just dumped dirty drain oil or gear lube through it. Whatever we had. The Tempest body give out and I put the smoking motor in a c10. Drove her couple more years.
One late night driving home in the Chevy truck she broke a rod. I coasted off the side of the road and left her.
The next day my buddy "Spike" says let's go get her. We grabbed a chain and headed out. When we got to the truck, I jumped in and hit the key. She fired up banging and clanking smoking, sounded like hell. I give spike a thumbs up, put the gas pedal on the floor dumped the clutch. She was banging and smoking making noises from hell, I kept it floored all the way to the shop (2 miles) and coasted in. Spike followed me in. He said it looked like Don Garlitts dragster coming apart. Pieces of piston and broken block hitting the pavement. She had 2 rods out the side and one out the bottom.

Sorry to get side tracked but that was all related to my experience with Rislone. Pay attention to how much and how long you leave it in.

 

Gas & guns, I suspect the "no oil" had more effect on your motor then the 1 qt of Rislone had, especially if you drove it the rest of the night with only the qt of Rislone in the motor.

I discovered years ago that there are no additives that fix wore out motors with mechanical issues, but some might buy you a little extra short time of use before the complete failure occurrence. I've also discovered the most people are unhappy when the fix in a bottle or can doesn't last as long as they had hoped for. Gene

 

Do you Folks even no what the Hell SeaFoam is. It's a fuel Stabilizer for Gas, Mechanic in a can, were the Devil that come's from i Haven't a Clue. But Treat my Gas in all Lawn Equipment and Tractors and Store with Full Tanks all Winter and never had any problems with Varnished Fuel System and a Must in This Sorry Ethanol Gas.

 

Gene, I'm in total agreement.

 

I also do not believe in M.I.C., But i damn sure believe in sea foam. Put a can in(fuel) before i start on trips and carry at least one can with me on trip. If i could type faster i would tell a example of SF but it would take about 2 hrs. LOL

 

I've heads tales of woe from Seafoam, but never any with MMO. Which my dad turned me onto maybe in 1964 to soak rusty bicycle chains in. I learned how to use it and not over-prescribe by using too much. I've used it to help stuck engines, quiet down noisy lifters, lubricate small mechanisms. I keep a small plastic bottle under the kitchen sink. A few drops on a new light bulb keeps them from galling in the socket.

 

Every spring I put a pint of Mystery oil in the crankcase and another pint in the gas tank on all my older cars. Did it do any good? Darned if I know, but it never hurt anything either. I guess it just feels good to give my engine a treat every spring. Take good care of your mill and it will never let you down.

 

Marvel is great for freeing stuck piston rings. Never had it fail me. This stuff works.

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IV bag of MMO in my rpu.

 

My name is Monkey and I like dope and MMO

 

I sea foam all my yard stuff and the hot rods for storage. never had an issue with it.

 

For a short time after I was discharged from the service, I worked at an American Motors / Jeep dealer. One day a flathead Rambler was hooked up to the diagnostic machine and the car had a noticeable uneven idle. While the car was running the mechanic added a can of Marvel Mystery Oil and within 30 seconds the car was running well and the idle was no longer erratic. I assumed at the time it simply freed a sticky valve or 2 but kind of neat to actually see the effect on the diagnostic machine displays.
- EM

 

Any Chemical set long Enough it will Change State, or Phase. Shelf Life, Chemicals are made from Solids, set long enough and Degradation and Evaporation it will turn back into a Solid.

 

I put some Sta-bil in my mini-bike in the fall and in the spring the bottle on the shelf was all sludged up. So from then on I drained the gas from the tanks and put some Marvel Mystery Oil in the empty tank and let it run down until it dripped out the bottom of the carb bowl. Never had a problem since!

It may sit for a year or so and I fill her up with gas and away we go.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^ How long had you had that bottle and how long had it been opened? I've been using Sta Bil for many years and never experienced any jelling. The bottle does have a cautionary note to use it up in a year once opened. Even has a place for you to write down the date you broke the seal and first used out of the bottle.

 

I have used MMO for air tool line oiling for many years.
As far as fuel conditioner, I don't use any. I use AV gas in all of my gas power tools.
It can sit well over a winter without going bad.
It also smells neat when burning.

 

I did the kerosene trick in my old F1 that had low oil pressure. Ran for about five minutes and had no oil pressure. Pulled the bottom of the pan, and lots of sludge had migrated to the oil pump pick up. Cleaned it out and had low oil pressure again, but it was better than zero.
Stabil I do use if I am using gas from a can to fill anything, like small engines, and my plow truck. So far, no problems. Everything seems clean.
Marvel Mystery Oil I use too, but I've never resorted to adding it to an engine or fuel system. That said, some swear by it. Some swear by the kerosene trick too. I swear at that one.