How to Seafoam your CX-7

[Raider]

Using this tube:

I disconnected it and I can confirm that this tube had a strong suction and sucked up all 3/4 of the can that I had put into a clear container. Thought the idle was rough during the time the tube was disconnected, I wasn't able to kill the engine when I dumped the tube into the last bit of fluid. So I just turned off the car, reconnected the hose and waited 15 minutes.
I started her up and whew... a ton of smoke came rolling out of the tail pipes and filled my neighborhood with smoke. Folks next door where not too impressed.

But after 20 minutes the smoke cleared and I took her out on the highway and drove her pretty hard for about 5 minutes, just to clear out any remaining crap.

So far so good, no CEL's (did I mention that I had a P0401 prior to any of this.) Overall I'm pretty happy with myself and glad I did it myself, learning all the components of my first turbo engine was a bit fascinating.

Mike's CX-7:
Finally did the Seafoam thing and so far so good. Right after I got a random misfire CEL, then a week or so later cylinder 4 was misfiring. Don't know if related, but I swapped the plugs and everything is fine now.

Was really easy to do this... biggest pain was that you have to get the Seafoam into the brake booster line very slowly. Feels like forever.

Although you can reach with the plastic shroud on, you should remove it. Then just get the clamp out of the way and pull - hard - to get the brake booster line apart.



It will idle rough, especially while you are getting the Seafoam in there. You have to balance how much you allow the brake booster line suck up so you don't stall it out right away. I used a full can, about a little more than 3/4 slowly then dumped the rest to stall and flood the engine. Dumping the whole can into something clear first helps. I used an empty and clean Propel bottle (like a water bottle).

Once you get it all in there let it sit (off) for 20 minutes or so, then turn it back on and hook up the brake booster line. It stalled out once more for me, but after that I idled for 20 minutes and got this smoke:



But after 20 minutes the smoke didn't stop... so I revved it and got tons of smoke! I had to run it ~2,500-3,000 RPMs for another 20 minutes before it finally stopped.

Now that the smoke has cleared along with the CELs, I've had no more CELs and it even seems to run a little better overall. Time will tell if I'll get the EGR CEL back anytime soon.

***Just note: In the 5 years since this was made, seafoaming is not really recommended. With our Direct-Injection, the valves will not get cleaned. IT is also known to kill O2 sensors. If you want to clean the valves, you need to take the intake manifold off and do it (look for how-to's). Also, Chevron Techron Complete Fuel System cleaner cleans the fuel system better (and helps unstick the EGR) so do this at your own risk***

[BillsFan]

Done! Nice and smokey

[Jake_MS3]

Any chance you could post the picture showing which hose you disconnected. For some reason its not showing up. I'd use the brake booster line, but I can't reach it lol.

[Raider]

Crap, pics went poof. Will fix tomorrow. Here is the one you want!

[rodrigo]

i love that we felt the need to make a how to seafoam your cx7 when its no diff than how to seafoam your ms3


good work lol

[Raider]

Actually, the location we connect is different.

[rfinkle2]

Originally Posted by lenny127 i love that we felt the need to make a how to seafoam your cx7 when its no diff than how to seafoam your ms3 good work lol

I find myself not going into the Cx-7 parts of the site (I drive an ms3), and I guess it could be

possible that some cx-7 guys stay in their dedicated section.

[bova]

looks the same to me

[Raider]

You guys might forget, we left a dedicated cx-7 forum to be here. We moved all the how-to's here. There might be dupe threads, but they have cx-7 owners in mind. Fucking Christ.

[JBert]

Everyone has an opinion on here

[BillsFan]

Originally Posted by lenny127 i love that we felt the need to make a how to seafoam your cx7 when its no diff than how to seafoam your ms3 good work lol

Thanks for caring and checking in on us...

[rfinkle2]

Originally Posted by Raider You guys might forget, we left a dedicated cx-7 forum to be here. We moved all the how-to's here. There might be dupe threads, but they have cx-7 owners in mind. Fucking Christ.

@Raider , I don't want you to get the wrong impression of my post. Even though one of the lines is in a different spot, I think your thread is useful, and thanks for taking the time to do the write-up and take pics etc.

[Raider]

Fink, I was poking back at Lenny.

[rfinkle2]

Originally Posted by Raider Fink, I was poking back at Lenny.

I thought so, and I might have been also.

[dajuice27]

Raider,

As always you've been helpful. I just followed your instructions ( I also threw a P0401 code last week) and man was there a lot of smoke! My car took the first 3/4 through the brake booster line, the remaining Seafoam will go through the gas lines to clear out the fuel system.

Thanks again!

[Raider]

Seafoam is only good for a few weeks. You gotta clean the EGR. If you remove the 4 tops screws of the valve (catch that metal gasket!) you can push on the EGR valve plunger ad see if it sticks. If so, take it off and clean it. If smooth, take the pipe off, it is clogged.

FWIW. 4 drives, CEL goes out.

[Prodoco]

is it OK to use Vacuum line with blue clip that right next to the TB? please see attached.

[Raider]

Not sure where that is in orientation of the tb, but everyone else is using the brake booster. I'd use that.

[JBert]

Going to do this tomorrow along with an oil change and new spark plugs. Will update on the results.

[turbotrey]

Tried to do this today but I can't get the brake booster cable off at the firewall. I undid the clamp and the tube is stuck on there. Any trick to getting it off?

[Raider]

Might be pretty stuck on at this point. And after so may years, to truly clean the valves, it's known you need to take the intake manifold off and manually do it.

[turbotrey]

CEL is on throwing EGR code. Thought I'd try this before going into it any further.

[Raider]

There is a how to for cleaning the egr. I wrote it.