I have read reports that it does in the Ford Diesel Forums, and reports that it doesn't (mostly the naysayers that never used it).

Has anyone used it on their 12 valve cummins crankcase?? Does it really clean?? I am worried that it will take the lubrication away from some parts that need it. I would use it at the pre oil change (1 hour before changing the oil).

I have 126,000 miles, so I would guess I do have some sludge eventhough I change my oil at 6,000 mile or 6 months. But then again I bought it used at 100,000 miles.

 

Welcome to DTR. There was quite a bit of talk recently about Seafoam- so do a search on it. The general consensus was use it in your gas engine equipment, but probably not a diesel.
Does it clean your crankcase? Who knows. But, the question I would have would be- do you want all that loosened up stuff circulating around, getting into your turbo and injection pump? Not me.
You will always get both sides of the argument on a forum, but there is a lot of sound, collective wisdom here. Do a search, read the posts, and then decide.

 

I'm a firm believer in Seafoam, for gassers only.
Only "snake oil" I've found that really works especially on small engines.
I see no need for it on diesel engines.
I mainly use it because modern gasoline quality is too inconsistent.

In fact I read where Caterpillar just built a huge new engine rebuilding facility where the rebuilds come with a guaranteed dyno proven hp rating.
But no guarantee for gassers due to variable gasoline quality.

 

I used to run the "snake oils" in my gasser motors. Then I spent days of reading on "bob is the oil guy" website and I suggest you do too. Now, I only run a good, detergent oil.

If you want to clean out the crankcase, run a good diesel, detergent oil, change it at 3000 miles. But before the change, get the engine good and hot (at least 1.5 hours of running time, working it hard) and let the oil drain for 24 hours. Even my 6.7 oil stays clean for the first 2000 miles (albeit the deletes have been done) and I'm pretty certain the interior of that engine is clean.

 

I think you would be suprised how clean everything looks if you use good oil. I had to change my oil pan and I was amazed how clean everything was with 180k on the motor.

 

700,000 with rotela 15-40 and the inside of my engine is clean as can be all the old black stuff is gone with a fresh oil change

 

i get good info from bob the oil guys site. the best was about the lucas additive making the oil foam up, which obviously is bad. you dont want air in the places that oil is supposed to be.

 

I agree with this completely.....just change your oil regularly and use a quality oil, you'll be fine.

 

Probably not a bit of sludge inside .

I just dropped the pan on our '84 Peterbilt, million miles on a 3406B, had the pan down at 500,000 to do bearings, just dropped it to them again. Absolutely clean inside, no sludge to be found anywhere, the previous owner kept good care of it and ran a good oil in it.

 

Auto RX works well.. but that's expensive as you'll need several bottles.

There are mixed results- carboned up rings to sludge. Seems to work very well on sludged motors.

Money back guarantee though...

 

years ago, we used to add a quart of type A ATF to the crank case of a sludged up engine and run it for for 500 or a thousand miles..... it really cleaned the engine out.
sometimes we would have to do it a couple of times

 

There's lots of claims out there re: "snake oils" and such.

In my personal experience, a friend had an early 70's dodge motorhome with a 440 in it. It ran like a scared rabbit and got about 5 gallons to the mile! It had a Marvels Mystery Oli injector on it that was basically a 2 qt metal can that you filled with Marvels and it dripped into the carb thru the aircleaner. We pulled this motor for a power wagon he was building and figured we should take a look under the valve covers for the heck of it and we were astonished at how clean the valvetrain was. I know this is outside of the intake runners but we figured it could get past the guides and rings a little. This assumes the previous owner/owners kept the tank full of Marvels all those years.

I run Seafoam in the Tahoe gasser every couple months and don't really know if it helps or hurts, more for piece of mind. I don't/wouldn't use it in the Diesel.