Micah Amman

Has anyone used Sea Foam on their 4.0 TFSI? If so where did you access the intake?

the_duke

I haven't tried it but there are lot's of places to slip the little tube into.

Micah Amman

Maybe I'm missing something. I don't see a good spot to spray the throttle body and not risk the turbo.

the_duke

The instructions say to put the hose in at the throttle body. Not sure what you're worried about with the turbos. Even if some seafoam did work backwards to the turbo it's not going to hurt it.

LexusLSguy

I would not use the product at all. It's been know to fowl plugs and cause other issues. If you want to run some through the fuel sure but personally I would not dump that stuff into the intake manifold. If anything, clean the throttle body manually. Intake manifold is what it is really.

MP4.2+6.0

I don't know where exactly to get it in, but as another reply mentioned, use the spray tube and stick it in at some rubber boot join point under a clamp. Don't tighten too much though or it crimps hose.

Standing back though, why? Are there specific symptoms you are after, or is this just preventative? I would only do it for former, not latter. And, I have done it in past for the former on the Mini S direct injected (FSI) turbo motor. It was the standard cure for cold start valve knock that came from valve deposits. Worked for me, on two occasions, starting at about 30K. And to another reply, on an FSI motor, it isn't just intake. The only way to reach either with a solvent, and especially valves, on an FSI motor without disassembly is putting it into the airstream. If it goes through fuel, that just reaches injectors and then interior of combustion chamber directly.

the_duke

I've been considering it. No issues at all with my car but I am at 58k miles and I can't see what it will hurt.

This video shows where you should place the tube. I'm thinking half the can in one throttle body and then switch to the other.

https://seafoamsales.com/sea-foam-of...ea-foam-spray/

MP4.2+6.0

I watched the video and procedure sounded fine. If preventative and you want to go for it, sure just one can spread over both sides. When I did Mini S, it was most of can and only a 1.6L motor, but I was specifically after some valve noise on start/warm up.

Actually, the most important point was largely implicit in video, and what I found from the Mini. That is, it is a two person job, simple as it seems, You can't do it with motor at idle by yourself. BTDT. And with any electronic throttle car, you can't just pull on linkage while underhood like with older ones. What happened to me is it puddled in the intake and then engine started sputtering, and that was even with the (family) helper. You need that second person with any electronic throttle car to be giving it some gas to 1500 or 2000 RPM. They also need to be familiar enough with a a motor that starts to choke up a bit when applying something into intake to push through it gas wise, without either stalling it or reving the heck out of it. All simple stuff. Not mentioned in video, but when done before handing car off to anyone else, take it around the block for the first drive. Again, in case some is puddled in intake and you need to drive through it that first time or so you accelerate--without what could surprise a driver not knowing you just ran it through.

RED HORSE

I'm all for preventive maintenance, but I am also all for "If it ain't broke don't fix it." I'm very suspicious of anything claiming great results if "you just buy my product."

the_duke

Well I did it yesterday. I used two full bottles of windshield washer fluid to press the gas pedal and hold it at about 1900rpm. The rubber hoses between the turbo and the throttle body are nearly impossible to remove so I just unhooked the hose coming out of the air filter housing and sprayed it in there. It's pretty easy to split it between the two sides. An S8 would obviously be more difficult at it has two air boxes. It did stumble a bit when I drove it afterwords and it set some codes for misfires on all cylinders. But after that it ran great. In fact my butt dyno felt like it ran better. I know that's not an accurate measurement technique but it really does feel like it runs better. If it helps keep the carbon off my valves and the gunk buildup out of my intake then it's worth the $8 and 20 minutes it took to do it.