seafoam and plug fouling....717's

[Nathan Mayo]

Two parts to this one........1. Will the addition of Seafoam to the gas and into the carbs cause enough crud to break loose internally to foul my plugs every 30 minutes of runtime? Will this go away after maybe I run the Seafoamed 25 gals of gas thru?

2. I have access to an ultrasonic bath cleaner and a blaster that shoots 50 micron aluminous oxide abrasive, so I can get a fouled plug VERY clean. Nevertheless, they never seem to come back to the same Umph as a new one. Am I missing something here? Is there some secret hidden compartment in a plug that says "Once- fouled, I'm dead?"

thanks, nm

 

[Dr Honda]

The sea foam is what’s fouling your plugs, and not the crud. You will foul plugs until its run threw.

On the plugs… I’ve never had any luck cleaning 2 stroke plugs. On some of my smaller engines (chain saw, weed eater) I have taken plugs out and cleaned them enough to get them running again, but they didn’t’ run well until a new plug was put in. On larger 2 strokes… they just wanted a fresh plug. I had a 400cc dirt bike back in the day… and I had to put a new plug in it every day of use. It would run beautiful all day long… then the next morning, it would start, but it would run rough… then if I shut it off after a short ride… it would not restart until it got a new plug. On the other side of that… I had a JS440 that never needed new plugs. I would change them once a season just to be safe.

I’ve been working on 2 stroke engines since I was 13 (racing dirt bikes) and now I’m 37 and own my own shop… and I still can’t explain why some 2 strokes eat plugs, and some don’t. It probably has to do with the oil in the fuel, and high combustion heat. Between the two, it decays the plug surface.

Oh… last thing… using a blast media will cause the plug to foul faster. Blasting the plug will put small pits in the electrodes. Those pits become sites for oil, and carbon to collect. You are better off using carb cleaner on them, and a file (or emery cloth) to clean just the tip of the electrode.

Go buy a few #7 NGK’s… that will help with the fouling until you get the sea foam burned out.

 

[Nathan Mayo]

Thanks......you're a prince. I will buy stock in NGK and hope I can run the Seafoam thru before I lose my mind. I am getting REALLY good at spinning those plugs out...........Do you think the Seafoam is actually DOING anything good in there, or is it all hype?

nm

 

[Dr Honda]

Sea-Foam… I don’t know. I’ve used it a few times in car engines… and I could never tell if it did anything or not. I put it in an 86 toyota pickup, and it ran like poop until fresh fuel was put in it. Since then… I haven’t used it. (that was 10 years ago)

Personally… if the fuel is old… drain it, and if the carbs need rebuilt… pull them off and do it right. In a 2 stroke, it could cause more harm than good. (if it alters the friction inhibiting properties of the oil)

Just my 2 cents