> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I was performing the 90K mile maintenance on my 1986 Toyota pickup, and
> decided to run some Sea Foam through it just to be sure everything was
> clean. I poured about 1/4 of the can slowly into the carburetor of the
> warmed up (and running) engine. It then coughed, backfired through the
> carburetor, blew out smoke and died. It restarted, but since then it
> won't idle at all, but will stay running very roughly if I give it lots
> of gas.
>
> I read somewhere else that Sea Foam can screw up the sparkplugs. So I
> took all of them out and cleaned and inspected them. No change. The
> engine will start but then die immediately unless I give it a lot of
> gas and keep my foot on the pedal. As soon as I let my foot off of the
> pedal, the engine sputters and dies.
>
> Did the Sea Foam cause this? I'm very disgusted, because the engine
> was running fine beforehand. Next time I'll leave well enough alone.
>
> Jason
>

Most likely the induction backfire blew off a vacuum line somewhere and you
now have a vacuum leak. It may have even blown back through the carb and
dislodged some crud or messed up a seal in the carb. It might have even
blown an intake gasket, but the point is that it really wasn't the SeaFoam
that did the damage, it was the backfire. There is a pretty good chance that
the problem is minor, although it may be hard to find the vacuum leak caused
by the backfire, but that is what I would be looking for if it was my truck.
--
Kevin Mouton
Automotive Technology Instructor
"If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy"
Red Green