OM642 Engine - Using Sea Foam to clean inlet manifold/cylinders

[Deleted member 156365]

Hello everyone!

Will be purchasing the ML320 CDI (2008 - 2010) sometime next year and in the interest of taking good care of the car (pre-emptively) was thinking of doing a DIY clean of the intake manifold/ cylinders without having to take the engine apart. The car I will be purchasing will be around the 100k miles mark, so I do expect there to be a slight carbon/soot buildup.

From the videos I have watched online, Sea Foam spray seems to work wonders with a nice white smoke show to follow by simply bypassing the MAF and placing the spray straw into the throttle body.

Has anyone used Sea Foam spray for this purpose before on their diesels? They also have a formula to be poured into the fuel tank to clean the fuel pump/injectors..

Thank you in advance!
Milo

 

[W1ghty]

If it were me I would stick to injector cleaner and the old Italian tune up to get everything working again . I like an additive as much as the next guy but I wouldn’t use the sea foam .
From the pics I have seen of the black inlet manifold gunk I can’t see sea foam shifting that stuff

 

[geoffus]

I always regarded Sea Foam as another name for snake oil. When I removed the EGR valve and cooler from my 100,000 mile BMW 320 there is no way a simply cleaner would remove the carbon, it had to be physically scraped off.

 

[Deleted member 156365]

I always regarded Sea Foam as another name for snake oil. When I removed the EGR valve and cooler from my 100,000 mile BMW 320 there is no way a simply cleaner would remove the carbon, it had to be physically scraped off.View attachment 101159

ahah EGR valve and BMW is the worst possible combination, had a 318d (2015 reg) from new up until last year, by 65k miles it had received a new turbo along with 3 separate visits to the workshop because various issues surrounding the EGR valve..

 

[markjay]

Intake manifold/valve cleaners have made a comeback in recent years due the direct injection petrol engines (GDI).

There are a few products on the market, some are decades old. This include Seafoam, Ecotek Power Boost, Terraclean, CRC, Wynns, etc.

Personally I have never used an intake cleaner so can't recommend any one on particular...

 

[markjay]

I always regarded Sea Foam as another name for snake oil. When I removed the EGR valve and cooler from my 100,000 mile BMW 320 there is no way a simply cleaner would remove the carbon, it had to be physically scraped off.View attachment 101159

I would imagine that an intake engine cleaner will clean some carbon deposits off the intake manifold and valves - so it's better than nothing? In other words, it's as best as it gets short of removing the part and cleaning it?

 

[W1ghty]

I think I’m right in saying that the worst inlet manifold blocking is on cars that potter round towns , the ones out on the motorways suffer a lot less

 

[TheJudge]

I don't have a diesel, but I did put some seafoam in last month - I did indeed get a whole waft of smoke and the car has lost the sluggishness in the low gears, definitely more fruity on the peddle