Just a coupla quick questions...
I just replaced a torn rear brake caliper gasket on my 80 sportster.

1. What DOT rating brake fluid should I be using?

2. I've read in a few posts where sea foam and marvel mystery were added to fix their problems?

I'm very skeptical about some addatives, never used either. What are their uses, benefits? Any cautions of using them in oil or fuel? Some education please.

Thanks in advance.

 

Seafoam, Excellent product. If your having carb problems, Injector problems ect, bike running rough, things of that nature this stuff is like magic. Ive used it in every bike ive ever owned. It makes a carb'd bike run excellent. Im useing it in my 1st injected bike and its gotten me smoother ride and so far better milage.

The way i use it for the first time is i use atleast a quater bottle to get things rolling. Shake up the gas rocking the bike foreward with break on. I usually do this with half a tank of gas. Run the bike a bit, let the seafoam get in the carbs nice and good, then let it set for 24 hours. Then run the bike and see the difference. Its unclogged Jets for me, stuck or varnished floats ect.

It really works well and id recomend it. I use 2-3 ounces per fillup on a 4 gal tank every fillup now. About an ounce per gal. Stuff is cheap enough and the can is huge.

Hope this helps. Have no idea on the oil additive, i run Synthetic Royal Purple Max cycle 20/50 all around.

 

Just to add to above post,seafoam will also dissolve sludge build up in the crankcase when added to oil.
Mmo when added to fuel will clean the system and also act as an upper cylinder lubricant. It will also dissolve sludge in the crankcase,just much slower than seafoam does.
Both products do exactly what they say they do,when used as directed.
Mmo seems to get high marks over in the Bob is the oil guy forum. I have and do use both of these products,as long as you use as directed you won't have any problems.
Mmo is high in phosphorus(anti-wear agent)as well and when
added to oil it helps reduce wear. Phosphorus is the "p" in zddp,

 

I use Sea Foam on both my bike and my truck. If you put Sea Foam in your oil, I've always been told do it before you change it, run it for about 20 minutes, then put fresh oil No Sea Foam in. Works great through the gas tank as well. Cleans things out nicely. I also use it on my supercharged truck to clean out the upper intake manifold. Good stuff. my .02, no experience with other

 

Seafoam = Snake Oil

 

Well you may have been told to remove it after 20 minutes but no where on the directions does it say to drain it either.
In fact you are supposed to leave it in for the duration of an oil change interval in order for it to dissolve deposits. It's not a super strong product,it needs time to work as does mmo.

 

Has any of them got quantitative tests to back up what they claim or is it just someone having a placebo effect feeling? How much sludge is there really in a well maintained engine? I don't know about the past but in the last 20 years, none of my cars have ever had any sludge build up under the valve covers yet.

 

Seafoam does work, but it's not a magic bullet.
Seafoam does a very good job of cleaning a dirty (varnished) fuel system, carb or EFI. It also stabilizes fuel so it doesn't turn to varnish if the fuel sits for several months, like during storage.
But if you ride your bike regularly and use quality (name brand) fuel you shouldn't have a varnish issue. Better brand fuels have detergent in them that keep your fuel system clean to begin with.

If you're running a good synthetic motor oil, putting Seafoam in the oil serves no purpose because synthetic motor oils have high detergent properties. You won't find sludge in a 100,000 mile motor that's been run on synthetic, so what's the point?
Have you ever heard someone say "synthetic oil causes oil leaks on older motors"? Well, it sort of does but really doesn't. On high mileage motors that have been run on dino oil, sludge builds up on the edges of the gaskets in the motor. These old gaskets are still sealing only because of the sludge on them. Once synthetic oil is installed and it starts dissolving the sludge, the old, dried out gaskets start leaking.

I also would not put any kind of "cleaner" product in my motor oil and run it for an extended period, it lowers the viscosity of the oil, and since an oil change on a Harley (dry sump) motor doesn't actually empty the entire oil system, there's cleaner left behind after the change.

Today's synthetic, high tech motor oils, already contain excellent additive packages, the ingredients of which are designed to work in balance with each other. Unless you're an oil engineer/chemist, throwing extra additive junk in your high tech oil is foolish IMO.

 

Watched my buddy put seafoam in his 1996 883 he bought that was running like crap. Really sporadic idle and just all around poor performance. He added the seafoam to his tank and sprayed some in his carb. Started it up the bike smoked like it was on fire for about 15 minutes. After it was done his idle was damn near perfect and the bike was running a worlds better while going down the road. So I guess it does something.

 

There are many threads at bob is the oil guy on both of these products and yes there are before and after pictures taken
with the valve covers off to see whether or not the products did anything.
I've read the threads and seen the before and after pictures so unless every poster in those many threads photoshopped their valvetrain I am going to chalk it up to the stuff actually works.
As for my own experiences with seafoam I put it in my old lady's Chrysler mini-van with the 3 liter(known sludger) engine. Thru the valve cover I could see baked on oil so I went and grabbed my Milwaukee inspection tool(it's got a camera and light meant for looking into wall cavities) and the head had obvious sludge.
So I grabbed 2 gallons of pyb,and 2 cans of seafoam from the part source. I changed the oil and ran 2 consecutive 2000 mile oil change intervals,adding half a can to each change.
By the end of the second oil change the cam was now visible and instead of being very dark brown I could see shiny metal.
After inspecting with my camera I saw that the seafoam had cleaned the entire top of the head almost spotless.
So,sir,I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that seafoam will clean sludge from an engine.
I have since put about 40000 miles on that van and it runs like a champ. It even got rid of a tick the motor had developed.
My mustang wasn't idling properly so after starting a thread a member suggested seafoaming it so I seafoamed the vacuum lines and the idle was consistent again,instead of
surging. I thought it was some sensor but apparently it was a slightly clogged vacuum line.
The mustang and the surging was a problem for about 2 months before treatment.
I also had a 96 dodge with a 5.2 liter. That truck was poorly maintained to say the least. You could stick you finger in the oil fill hole and black muck was present. That truck took 3 seafoam treatments before the muck was cleaned out(to the touch anyways)
So. My conclusion to whether or not seafoam works is that it works,because I have used it and seen for myself that it does.
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