2016 Tacoma won't start after seafoam

+1, especially on older cars. I had a Saturn Ion my kids used that sat for awhile. Drove fine for me for a week-or-so. Decided to add Sea Foam to gas tank to clean things out. Well, it loosened gunk in the gas tank so well that it clogged the fuel filter. Started running terrible soon after filling up tank with fresh gas and adding Sea Foam. Took me a while to figure out what happened, after chasing plugs, coil module, etc.

 

Still trying to figure out why people use additives. 40 years of driving all kinds of cars...many cars to 6 figures in miles. Never had an issue without them. Plenty of 200-300k trucks on here that probably have never used them either. Maybe I'm missing something?

 

Because they want to
Their reasoning may not line up with yours but ti's what they choose to do so..

 

Used Slick 50 on a high mileage engine, thought it may help it live longer since the body of the car was very good condition. Before the next oil change there was oil seeping from every gasket, never again.

 

He has some good takes/advice. The problem is he also arrives at incorrect conclusions based upon assumptions he has from being "old school".

 

it really comes down a lot to individual driving cycles, as well as the quality of fuel one is getting. my uncle used to run his work truck past 'E' where it'd start sputtering, and then only fill up at the shadiest, most questionable, cheapest places he could find. he put 300,000 miles on the truck, and i believe the final tally was 10 fuel pumps, and 2 different gas tanks, mostly related to his driving style, and using crappy old pumps that spit out a ton of crud.

 

I don't know who Kilmer is, but I used Seafoam on a variety of snow blower and lawn mower 4 stroke engines with good results. I've also used Mechanic in a Bottle for really stubborn no start issues. Both work on either 2 or 4 stroke engines. Ethanol gas is murder on small engines, so additives are necessary. I don't know if they are necessary on engines in cars and trucks, though.

 

You don’t want to know about about Kilmer. The way he talks, just like he blow crap out of proportion. Politics and enviromentalists crap, that made the EPA, or somebody required at least 10%, or more of ethanol in gasoline. Ethanol absorbs water, and disolves resins in fiberglass fuel tanks. Fishing boats with fiberglass fuel tanks, had issues with resins #$&!ing up engines while out at sea. Now they have non-ethanol gasoline in my location’s gas stations, for marine, and other use.

 

I'm just wondering why people think a product developed in the 1940s is safe for use in modern engines with modern emissions control equipment. Back then doctors endorsed Camel cigarettes and babies were wrapped in cellophane.

 

It was about stretching oil supplies and allegedly making gas less expensive. It was a pay off to corn farmers as the government paid them to raise corn to turn into ethanol. The government still does for that matter. Senators from major corn growing states stop bills to repeal the ethanol requirement.

I'll leave it at that as I seem to recall political discussions are not allowed, so don't want to draw the ire of moderators.

 

Yep, government subsidies to the farming industry. One of those things that is no longer necessary, no one can say for sure why it started, and is impossible to get rid of now due to how our legislative system works.

I feel like describing that shouldn't be off limits, so long as we avoid name-calling and general ass-hattery.

 

Yes, engines that sit for long periods of time with ethanol have issues and these engines should be only run on non-ethanol and a stabilizer used especially, on storage times of year. The cost of few five gallon cans of non-ethanol is well worth the extra price.

 

YMMV, but so far, i haven't gotten into trouble discussing politically-loaded topics as long as i stick to the specifics--legal/documented specifics, and how those specifics have altered the conditions being described. in this case the government subsidies for ethanol production and how ethanol effects vehicles. from that experience, it seems the rules are in place to try to avoid personal opinion debate on specific political characters. unfortunately, what's 'politics' and 'history' is a very broad gray area, as the laws enacted by any specific political personality in many cases tend to have significant, and long term ramifications, which leads into a historical precedent.

 

Reminds of an old joke. Little Johnny is playing in the hay barn when his sister and boyfriend come in. After some kissing, the boyfriend pulls down his pants and exposes himself. Little Johnny goes running out of the hay barn to find his dad. “Daddy, daddy, I saw sis and her boyfriend in the barn. They were kissing and then her boyfriend pulled down his pants and is getting ready to pee all over the hay!”

Little Johnny’s dad replies “son, you may have gotten your facts straight, but your conclusion is all wrong!”

 

One moral to this story is to buy "top tier" gasolines. It makes a difference. Top tier gasolines have additives (e.g., corrosion inhibitors, biocides) and detergents which are really important in high pressure direct-injected engines because of common carbon build-up issues.

What is Top Tier Gas and Is It Worth It? (autolist.com)

 

Good to know. This article has 2 stations listed in my location, I use to fill gasoline in my personal 2023 Tacoma.
About additives, correct me if I am wrong. I thought biocides are used mostly in diesal fuel, not gasoline?

 

correct, it was just an example of one kind of additive

 

Thank you for sharing your results and for being honest about them, I think many would’ve got the truck started and not looked back but knowing what happened may help others in the future!

 

^DING DING DING DING^

We have a winner!

 

Oh man for sure, but most major places are top tier. SO, your left with the question of which companies additives are the best? How much ethanol is all right? How come QT bathrooms are so clean, but still smell like a pool of piss?!