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Gettin bad gas mileage...seafoam hose question

6K views 29 replies 13 participants last post by  Clayslayer 
#1 ·
So I've used other fuel additives in my car and what not, but I was gonna try this seafoam stuff on the bike since the dude before me said he used it pretty regularly.
I did a search already but couldn't get a good pic of the vacuum line people are using. Idk if there is one that you're supposed to use over the others, or even how many there are. So before I go buy the stuff, I wanna get my procedure straight.
So there's 3 hoses on the left side, which go down near the kickstand. I just started the bike to see if I could answer my own question, but none of them seemed to be drawing in any air. If those arent it, what hose am I after?
 
#4 ·
wow... clearly answers his question.

OP. The lines running down the left side are drain lines. None of them draw air. I have personally never used sea foam, but I thought you were supposed to add it to your gas or oil depending on your intentions? I don't think there are any air lines which can be easily accessed.
 
#3 ·
there is a 4 way "t" adapter that attaches to all4 throttle bodies, thats what i used, hard to miss just look for the 4 vaccume lines coming off the tb's
 
#6 ·
not just any one of them, the one that does NOT go to a throttle boddy

it goes to a sensor (and yes it will throw a mil light while doing this)
 
#8 ·
......Am I missing something here??

What are your goals with this mysterious vacuum line? You put Seafoam in your gas tank and/or crank case with your oil and run it. If you put it in with your oil, only run it for about 100 miles, if that.
 
#9 ·
I know you can run it through the vacuum line too, says it straight on the can as well as many threads here about it. I'm just a noob at the technical details of the bike still, so I don't know what advantages runnin it the way I'm trying to will have. I just changed my oil and I dont want to change it again just to run seafoam thru it. And I've run fuel additives in the bike a couple times before and didn't seem to help. So I figure why not learn about the vacuum system and clean the bike. Win win.
 
#11 ·
Sea foam cleans what ever it is added to. It will clean injectors if in the gas and carbon deposits from the tb's if sucked through the intake. I'm sorry i'm no help as to the hose you need but can vouch for the abilities of it-smoothing out idles is a big one...let us know if you ever figure out the correct hose as I'd like to do this on mine one day

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Motorcycle.com App
 
#14 ·
Not gonna lie, if a motorcycle gets ridden regularly, with regular maintenance and gets taken up through the RPM's once in a while, you'll be surprised at what the insides of the motors look like. If you let the bike sit, that's when everything gets gummed up. A good tune, maintenance, and a nice ride every once in a while keeps em fresh.

Autos aren't mean to just sit around and collect dust and moisture.
 
#17 ·
I'm just hopin this will fix my bad gas mileage issue. I'm only gettin like 90 miles before I hit the last bar on the indicator. If this doesn't help like I'm expecting it to I'll probably check valve clearance next. I'm pretty sure I have a good idea as to where the hose is now.
 
#18 ·
Holy hell, about 100 miles a tank? Last time you did spark plugs? Did the bike sit for a long time? What's the inside of your gas tank look like? Get your valve clearances checked.

More questions... Got any mods? If so, got some form of fuel management (Power commander, bazzaz)
 
#19 ·
Ya I was getting around 120 miles before I hit the last bar when I first got the bike. To my knowledge, the plugs and stuff were checked last season before he sold it to me. I was going to attempt the valve clearance check myself, but I was nervous about getting behind the radiator and getting the valve covers off.

As far as mods, BMC air filter (not sure if its race or street), and a yosh rs-5 slip on. Not sure if there's a full system, headers are kind of copper colored. No fuel management system because I didn't plan on keeping the bike for more than 2 years and didn't want to spend the money on one yet. But like I said, mileage was better when I bought it.
 
#20 ·
cleaned the air filter recently?
 
#21 ·
Just a couple weeks ago. Used the K&N kit
 
#24 ·
Seafoam just isn't necessary. The deposits it supposedly cleans don't exist 99% of the time and if they do it's not strong enough to get them off. You need a bench grinder and a drill to get carbon deposits off of valves period. I've built more engines for carbon build up than I can count (usually due to gross neglect). Any liquid caustic enough to liquify hardened carbon would also liquify every seal in your engine. If anything like this worked Toyota just might have implemented it to avoid 10's of millions in sludge recalls. This stuff isn't building up in an RR engine with the orientation of the injector to the valve and how fast they are tacked up. You can however hydrolock your motor and bend a rod learning how much Seafoam not to use.
 
#25 ·
Thanks for the input. I just got done putting in a minor amount through the vacuum system. Just enough for it to start billowing white smoke at idle. Anyone else have the bike just die after removing the hose from the map sensor? I had to hold the throttle open to keep it from dying to be able to vacuum any seafoam. Just waiting a little bit before i go for my spirited ride.

Simple answer for the next person who wants to do this. The hose comes off the map sensor, right side of the fuel tank.
 
#26 ·
Thought I'd share a couple hints.... I just did seafoamed my bike and thought about buying some hose to run the seafoam thru... but after lifting the tank and tracing out the hose I found i could use the hose already there...I added a few pics for reference?( for an '05 anyway)...The vacuum pressure is kinda low and will take a few minutes to suck a good amount up compared to if you've seafoamed a car this way... you may also run the RPMs up to around 3K to get the seafoam into the motor quicker...

Here is the 5 way split for all the vacuum lines under the tank..


if you trace out the big hose from there to the left side of the bike you can use it.
 
#27 ·
I dump the stuff in my tank. I know that the vacuum line trick works well but it's a lot of effort. In cars I just dump the stuff right down the throttle body/carburetor.

I wait until the little bar is flashing when the tank is near empty. I then dump in a whole can of the stuff and ride around for a few miles. Bike runs like crap! After 15-20 miles or so I fill the tank and it's business as usual.
 
#29 ·
1/3 of one can is supposed to be good for up 26 gallons... For the 4 gallon tank i usually use no more than 1/3 of a can... i will put some seafoam in when I have about half a tank..and ride around for a few miles then fill up...
 
#30 ·
I can't say it really improves either to be honest. I've never let the bike get "bad" enough to tell a difference. I use the stuff to prevent problems rather than fix those that may occur. I've been using the stuff since the mid 90s on anything and everything I own.

BTW my mpg is consistently around 40mpg or so. Bike has always been smooth. The thing is pathetically reliable.

True, you can indeed add as per the directions on the can but since putting the stuff directly into the intake is a bit of a pain in the ass I dump a whole can right in the tank every time. I always do that. Whole can. Does it help, is it overkill? Probably. It won't hurt anything though. I'm not too worried about the whopping $9/yr I spend on the stuff per vehicle.
 
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