Logo
FULL SITE MENU

Should I use RingFree or Seafoam for decarbing?

B

btravlin2

Regular Contributor
Threads say they do the same thing, but they are based on different chemicals. Seafoam I believe is naptha-based, while RingFree is Techron. Are there advantages/disadvantages using one or the other?

If I use Seafoam I'm going with 5:1. If I use RingFree, which is very concentrated, I'm going with 40:1, based on a suggestion from an older post from Hondadude.

Any reason to use one over the other?

Also, a mechanic friend of mine said to change the oil filter after the decarb, but not the oil. He doesn't believe an appreciable amount of decarb mix will get past the rings. This makes sense to me.
 
I'll defer to Hondadude on this one. I'm a long term Sea Foam user. But as HondaDude pointed out, there is a good bit of alcohol in that brew. For concentrated decarbing, the alcohol should not be an issue. But as an ongoing fuel treatment, probably not the best solution. I do dump a bottle of Yamalube Ring Free in the tank about twice a year because I do a lot of trolling.

Way back in the old days, mechanics use plain old water to decarb engines. It wasn't pretty, but on those old sloppy engines it worked fine.

As for the oil change, proceed as you think best. If I were in your position, I would change it. But I'm a bit obsessive about maintenance.
 
Ditto on what chaekman said. I would change the oil.

I like ring free....I seem to have had the most success with it.

On carbureted engines, I just shoot Evinrude engine tune into the carb balance hoses ....while I am balancing the carbs. That works well.

You will probably get 100 replies....alll different but all will probably get the job done.

Mike
 
Hey Chris,

Expand on that a bit. How/why does Sea Foam damage the injector filter? Given that it's basically machine oil, naphtha, and isopropal alcohol, it's not obvious to me. All those are petroleum distillation elements.
 
I forgot to say they are '04 225's. I'm going with the RF. I won't have a "before", only the "after", because my mechanic is out for a few days.
 
chawk_man said:
Hey Chris,

Expand on that a bit. How/why does Sea Foam damage the injector filter? Given that it's basically machine oil, naphtha, and isopropal alcohol, it's not obvious to me. All those are petroleum distillation elements.
Click to expand...


What ever is in seafoam, it dissolves the filter media in the injector and clogs it permanent. Was told this by the FIJ Man down in FL and didn't believe it myself until I experimented.
 
Chris, I still don't understand how that happens. Are you saying that the combo of pale oil, naphtha, and isopropyl alcohol somehow chemically breaks down and clogs injector filters? I just don't see how. We run the alcohol through the injectors all the time because of E-10 gasoline. Naphtha (AKA white gas) has been used for years to boost engine performance and keep valves clean. Actually, it's just another cleaning agent and can be used in many multi-fuel engines. Pale oil (AKA machine oil) is a light lubricant and burns much cleaner than motor oil.

I don't mean to degrade some of the newer high end cleaners, and Techron is especially appealing, but folks around this part of the country have been using Sea Foam forever with no obvious problems.
 
I'm 1/2 way thru a 3gal RF treatment right now. RF must work differently because I'm not seeing any smoke. I'm running 40:1 for 15-20mins, at 2800rpm and letting rest for 1/2hr. I've done it twice so far. I haven't seen any change yet.

Does RF not produce smoke?
 
Again, I'll defer to HondaDude, but 40:1 sounds awfully weak for a decarb job. I've not used RF for decarb, so I don't know for sure.
 
Wow!! The color of the oil in the video was shocking. He didn't say at what rpms he ran the boat. Also, he ran 6gals thru 1 motor. I only ran 3gals thru 2 motors, so l'll do a 2nd round.
 
Yep. That's a very good demo of why you need to change your oil after a decarb. I suspect that the same goes for filters.
 
Come to think of it, according to this video I have to run 12 gallons for 2 motors. And that may not be enough because I'm decarbing 225's. He decarbed a 50hp. Hmmmmm.......?!
 
Back
Top