To all the doubters about Seafoam in the oil, it fixed the tapping noise in my 360.

Here's what I did and the results, with a link to the thread about it at the bottom:

It was definitely a sticky lifter. We put half a pint of Seafoam in the oil (bottle called for 1 pint per 10 quarts) and started it up. At first the tapping got quieter, but was still noticeable. We let it idle until everything was up to temperature. Then I took it and drove it for about a mile, then came back, parked it, and turned it off. Started it back up around 30-45 minutes later, and the tapping was gone completely. Drove it back to my house (about a 15 minute trip) and along the way the tap would show up under load during the beginning of the trip, but by the time I reached my house it was gone under all conditions. Drove it to the dump and into town on saturday, and the same thing occurred. During the first 10 minutes or so of the drive the tap would be there under load, but not during idle, then it went away completely and didn't show up for the rest of the day. I plan to leave this oil in it for 600-800 miles, unless I check it and it looked really dirty, then I'm going to change it, and also put in a bottle of Rislone with the new oil.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...c-tune-up.html

 

i don't think you want to leave that stuff in your oil for 300-600miles. you should probably do an oil change way sooner than that. i think i read somewhere that you should only add it to your oil when you are close to doing an oil change so that it won't stay in your engine long and can take all the crap out. i think i have even read threads on other forums and people have left seafoam in for 300 miles and there engine ended up dieing.

 

I'm gonna keep a close eye on it. The oil I put it in was brand new, I had just changed it the weekend before and hadn't driven it any. I have to take it one day this week to get the tires replaced. If it does ok for that, I'll probably change it this weekend.

 

i would probably spent the $20 and do another oil change. i think i have done 3 oil changes on my 81 since October and i have only put 8km on the truck and i am pretty sure it needs 1 more. seafoam loosens up all the carbon in your engine which will thicken up your oil and cause your engine to die.

 

Probably not a bad idea. Besides going to get tires, it's not going to be driven any this week, so I'll see about the oil change this weekend.

 

It wasn't that I "doubted" that seafoam in the oil works... In fact, the opposite is true. It does what it says it does: knocks loose all of the sludge and carbon deposits in the crankcase.

Now think about that for a second.... where does oil circulate in an engine? Crankcase, oil pump, lifters, through the push rods, cam valley, etc. Who's to say that some of the sludge freed by the seafoam won't find its way into a critical component, settle down and impede oil flow to said component?

Now what happens when oil flow is impeded to say... a push rod/rocker arm contact point? Catastrophic failure.

I'm glad seafoming your oil seems to have fixed your particular problem, but as long as I'm present in the conversation, I will advise against it.

In some cases, it will cause more problems than it fixes; and I will not be a proponent of a procedure that has a chance of messing up someone else's engine.