Marvel Mystery Oil as a carbon inhibitor?

[FUJIMO]

Marvel mystery oil has always been on the shelf a tad with an oil change and on old school motors ford 292 & 352 60's vintage would use when hydraulic lifters would stick.

...gosh,an old ford guy. i'll be darn. y-block and oldest gen big block. lest not forget what those two grew from as well. also, how's bout the 221 small block, then the 260, then the...

[keefallan]

Sounds like you are an old school Ford guy too.......Mr Fujimo!!!! How else would you know all that?

[Euroski]

Havent looked at seafoam MSDS in years but is it mostly alcohol/methanol/?

[Chaz]

Here's the basic recipe for SeaFoam, and considerably cheaper. All the componant ingredients are available with a visit to just a couple stores in town. Maybe Wally's and a Sherwin Williams or even Lowes. You'll be able to find the ingredients easily enough though

Found on the internet under 'Homebrew SeaFoam recipe', I'd site the author, but he/she seems to be FAR removed by now as this has probably made the forum rounds an alot of motorhead sites.


It's very cheap and easy to make at home

25% Cleaner>Naphtha
60% Stabilizer>Kerosene
15% Oxygenate> Isopropyl Alcohol (common Rubbing Alcohol)


Other Commercial Brands such as Chevron Techron Concentrate are 100% Cleaner.
Majority is Naphtha,,,along with Stoddard Solvent,Benzene,Xylene,etc.

You can Substitute Seafoam's 15% IPA for Toluene and get better results,,,most paint stores have it.



ALL the Products are merely a variety of Blends of generic,,bulk commodity petrochemicals.

They are simply bought by the barrel,,,,mixed together in various ratios,,,,Bottled>Labeled>Sold

SeaFoam for example,,
It's sells for about $8 USD for 16oz.

$64 USD per gallon


"Naphtha",,,2 Bottles @ $1 ea = 1/2 gallon
"Kerosene" 3 Bottles@ $1 ea =3/4 gal
"IPA" 2 bottles for 1$ = 1/4 gal

$6 for 1.5 gals
For "GENERIC ,Homemade Seafoam"

versus the
$64 USD per gallon
for actual,,name brand Sea Foam

It's not so much the point that it's only 1/10 the Cost,,,
it's that homemade blend allows for ,,,not just Enhancement but even Exaggeration of the Beneficial Properties of the Additive Mix.

For example :
Skip the Rubbing Alcohol,replace it with Acetone,,,Same Price.
Makes engine Start much better in Cold Weather,,,SOMETIMES improves fuel mileage,,,is Less Corrosive,,,and acts like a Cleaner Itself.
And,,it gets added in at much,much lower doses.

Or,,,add a $5 pint of Toluene in lieu of a quart of Kerosene

Or ,,1$ Quart of Auto Trans Fluid,to make Mega Stabilizer.

Or,to add to Crankcase---it sometimes Smokes a bit.
But I just FEEL better Cleaning internals with a premium LUBRICANT as the engine runs,,,rather than all Solvents.


Or if You would rather buy a Commercial Product and can Not find Seafoam
Chevron Techron is much,much More Powerful Cleaner by volume.
It will work at minimum,,,,better and faster and on a wider range of Fuel Deposits .
But ya should really only use it in fuel,,not in Crankcase.
It's too aggressive a cleaner and not made for such use.


Beyond Those particular products,,
Anything labeled "FUEL INJECTION" cleaner is typically going to be Higher Concentration of appropriate CLEANERS,,, than products labeled as "Carb Cleaner" or "Gas/Fuel Treatment"

The Later 2 products Have been enriched during last Decade or so,,
So the Differences in all the Variety are Not as Great as they were 15~20 years ago

If Sea Foam is Not available,,
Chose Anything labeled as FUEL INJECTION cleaner and it will do about as good a job as Sea Foam in your Tank, injectors, varnish, carbon etc in Intake tract, Valves and combustion chamber.

All more/less same stuff.
CLEANERS,,,have More Cleaner and Less Stabilizer than SeaFoam.
You are currently going through Fresh Petrol,,,so Ya do not Need the hi-dosage Stabilizers at this point.
Especially when trying to CLEAN the fuel system.
You need the higher dose Cleaner.

[moparbarn]

Damn good & ACCURATE info, Chaz

[Chaz]

Damn good & ACCURATE info, Chaz

Mr. Barnfind ,

It pains me to say this … but I gleeped that off of the Dodge Ram forum ..

[moparbarn]

About the wintergreen oil, go to the pharmacy & pick up a small bottle. Next time you have a seized, rusted stuck anything - a very few drops & an overnite soak will amaze you. Works better than anything you buy in a spray can. The man that used to make house calls to work on our boat in the late '50s showed me this trick.

[moparbarn]

Mr. Barnfind ,

It pains me to say this … but I gleeped that off of the Dodge Ram forum ..

See, even a blind squirrel finds.an acorn once in a while

[Chaz]

I only need my glasses to see what I'm lookin at ..

[FUJIMO]

Sounds like you are an old school Ford guy too.......Mr Fujimo!!!! How else would you know all that?

...very familiar...it started by growing up in a ford family...

[InjectorService]

Good info on the SeaFoam Chaz. I'm curious how he got the ratios as usually that's not on the MSDS.

[keefallan]

Chaz, have you ever mixed your own ratios to clean up the rings and combustion areas in an outboard...............before and after kinda stuff?

I will be writing down those ratios for myself in the future..........great stuff.

[keefallan]

...very familiar...it started by growing up in a ford family...

I know my way around Windsors............and I never knew of the motors you spoke about.....Just shows how much ya dont know sometimes(me)

[delawarerick]

Fuji you forgot the 312 interceptor my favorite car was a 1960 ford starliner tried to save money and put a fenton shifter in it and every time I shifted real hard had to go under the car and jiggle the linkage.

[Motv18]

Works pretty good in the gas and oil of my opti. I did switch to Techron though.

if you feel lucky you can run a tank of alcohol gas for little to no extra cost just don’t leave it in more then a week. Not for premix though just oil injected (preferably separate not premix in the vst)

Skip acetone if you have any plastic in the fuel system it eats most kinds.