Amsoil Power foam... Effective, but scary!!!

[Kieran]

So, with a week's worth of car fiddling stretching ahead and an MOT on Wednesday, I've been a ginger-haired blur getting Ariadne ready for battle!:speechles

There's been a can of Amsoil's 'Power Foam' sat on my shelves for months now, and conscious that I've done a lot of starting the car, shuffling it on the driveway and then stopping again, I decided to give it a blast to blow out her tubes.... And it was quite an experience!

For those that haven't used it, it's like '10K Boost' and similar products. Get the car warm and then sit the engine at idle, unbolt the air filter box and spray the foam into the MAF as quick as you can without bogging down the engine. It's harder than it sounds as the VR-4 doesn't think much to being foamed and very quickly starts spluttering, coughing and kerfuffling! As I found out, this can be made roughly 47.32 times worse by a badly aimed jet of foam right across where the little resistor is in the MAF that meters the air zipping past it. This causes the MAF to spazz out and throw a fault code! :oops: /dunce

Anyway, once it's all squirted in, you shut the engine down and wait 5-10 minutes. Then restart.

Then prepare to be embarassed. The can says to drive around and blow the cr@p out. And OH BOY is this entertaining - first problem I had was there was still some residual foam in the MAF, playuing havoc with the air readings and turning Ariadne into the Kangaroo Legnum O'Doom!....first 30 seconds went like this.... 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,5SPLUTTER COUGH HACK CHUFF:speechles 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,5SPLUTTER COUGH HACK CHUFF:speechles 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,5SPLUTTER COUGH HACK CHUFF:speechles

Then it starts to sort itself out.... The MAF code goes away and you can gently feed in the turbos. This has the amusing side effect of creating a dirty great cloud of blue smoke behind you as all the crap from your engine is spat out! And then you'll have more misfires and spluttering as the car works out what day it is!

Eventually, you'll blow all the grot out and away you'll go.

Any difference?

Yes. Idle is steadier and acceleration is slightly more urgent; enough to be noticeable, not enough to make a huge difference. But for 10 mins work, I'd say it's worthwhile.

Just make sure you have brown trousers on for the 'blowout' part of the procedure! It's very difficult not to get that 'sinking' feeling when you restart and your beloved car runs like a sack of old spanners!:toilet:

[Wodjno]

So, with a week's worth of car fiddling stretching ahead and an MOT on Wednesday, I've been a ginger-haired blur getting Ariadne ready for battle!:speechles

There's been a can of Amsoil's 'Power Foam' sat on my shelves for months now, and conscious that I've done a lot of starting the car, shuffling it on the driveway and then stopping again, I decided to give it a blast to blow out her tubes.... And it was quite an experience!

For those that haven't used it, it's like '10K Boost' and similar products. Get the car warm and then sit the engine at idle, unbolt the air filter box and spray the foam into the MAF as quick as you can without bogging down the engine. It's harder than it sounds as the VR-4 doesn't think much to being foamed and very quickly starts spluttering, coughing and kerfuffling! As I found out, this can be made roughly 47.32 times worse by a badly aimed jet of foam right across where the little resistor is in the MAF that meters the air zipping past it. This causes the MAF to spazz out and throw a fault code! :oops: /dunce

Anyway, once it's all squirted in, you shut the engine down and wait 5-10 minutes. Then restart.

Then prepare to be embarassed. The can says to drive around and blow the cr@p out. And OH BOY is this entertaining - first problem I had was there was still some residual foam in the MAF, playuing havoc with the air readings and turning Ariadne into the Kangaroo Legnum O'Doom!....first 30 seconds went like this.... 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,5SPLUTTER COUGH HACK CHUFF:speechles 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,5SPLUTTER COUGH HACK CHUFF:speechles 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,5SPLUTTER COUGH HACK CHUFF:speechles

Then it starts to sort itself out.... The MAF code goes away and you can gently feed in the turbos. This has the amusing side effect of creating a dirty great cloud of blue smoke behind you as all the crap from your engine is spat out! And then you'll have more misfires and spluttering as the car works out what day it is!

Eventually, you'll blow all the grot out and away you'll go.

Any difference?

Yes. Idle is steadier and acceleration is slightly more urgent; enough to be noticeable, not enough to make a huge difference. But for 10 mins work, I'd say it's worthwhile.

Just make sure you have brown trousers on for the 'blowout' part of the procedure! It's very difficult not to get that 'sinking' feeling when you restart and your beloved car runs like a sack of old spanners!:toilet:

Hmmmmm... Shouldn't you spray it directly into the intake manifold ??:speechles

Or at least disconnect the Maf plug ?

[White Lightning]

Sounds like a fun experience Kieran !!

Not sure I'd have the guts to give that a try though ... if it ain't broke and all that ...

[Kieran]

Hmmmmm... Shouldn't you spray it directly into the intake manifold ??:speechles

Or at least disconnect the Maf plug ?

Well, we did it via MAF on Steve's Super VR-4 too... Seemed okay?! Certainly though in future I'd probably jet it in via the crankcase vent bung (the one just where the turbo inlet 'Y' pipe is behind the MAF) or in some other location.

[Kieran]

if it ain't broke and all that ...

....then preventative maintenance is the next best step! :scholar:

Okay, I've got my coat on...../pan

[Wodjno]

Well, we did it via MAF on Steve's Super VR-4 too... Seemed okay?! Certainly though in future I'd probably jet it in via the crankcase vent bung (the one just where the turbo inlet 'Y' pipe is behind the MAF) or in some other location.

If you had disconected the MAF Plug, i'm pretty sure it wouldn't have choked :inquisiti

[Kieran]

If you had disconected the MAF Plug, i'm pretty sure it wouldn't have choked :inquisiti

Who knows - certainly when it threw a fault code and went into 'limp mode' it certainly didn't seem as bothered by the foam (as soon as it did, idle went to about 1200rpm), but if I kept the trigger down too long, it still tried to conk out.

[Kenneth]

Another option would be to spray it through one of the non-metered areas of the MAF.

Doesn't really matter as it seems to have corrected itself :)

might look into it actually... sounds like an interesting thing to try. Apparently water is good for cleaning out the cylinders too. maybe a bit of good ol Kerosene would do the trick too :)

[Wodjno]

Who knows - certainly when it threw a fault code and went into 'limp mode' it certainly didn't seem as bothered by the foam (as soon as it did, idle went to about 1200rpm), but if I kept the trigger down too long, it still tried to conk out.

Well if the MAF plug had been disconnected, it wouldn't have spluttered when the foam went through it, as it wouldn't have detected the foam entering it.
Still not sure the foam would have on entering the cylinder though, if the MAF had been disconnected..

If IIRC when i used the likes of 10k boost on the 620ti ! It said to spray directly into the throttle body :thinking: But Deffo not in the MAF :speechles

Not read the instructions on this Foan Stuff though ! Prolly cos i ain't got none :D

[bernmc]

I just used the long plastic pipe extension thingy and poked it beyond the MAF grid.

I've done all the 70000 family cars with this stuff, and boy does it make some smoke! The VR4 is the worst when you take it out for a 'clear the head' drive as you can't put the clutch in when it bogs down. Worried me +++ the first time too ;)

[BraindG]

first problem I had was there was still some residual foam in the MAF, playuing havoc with the air readings and turning Ariadne into the Kangaroo Legnum O'Doom!....first 30 seconds went like this.... 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,5SPLUTTER COUGH HACK CHUFF:speechles 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,5SPLUTTER COUGH HACK CHUFF:speechles 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,5SPLUTTER COUGH HACK CHUFF:speechles

:iloveyou:

That made me laugh quite loudly :)

[Paul Beazer]

I just used the long plastic pipe extension thingy and poked it beyond the MAF grid.

I've done all the 70000 family cars with this stuff, and boy does it make some smoke! The VR4 is the worst when you take it out for a 'clear the head' drive as you can't put the clutch in when it bogs down. Worried me +++ the first time too ;)

Should have bought one with a clutch then shouldnt you, not some lazy boy gearbox!/pan

[bernmc]

Should have bought one with a clutch then shouldnt you, not some lazy boy gearbox!

:| I tried dammit, I tried! :|
6 months watching the jap auctions waiting for a decent one... gave up in the end :(

Typical that a couple of weeks after I'd bought mine, a gorgeous black MT5 came up :bigcry:

[miller]

Interesting stuff this by the sounds of it! May be a can amongst my next purchase of Amsoil. Though i think i will wait until a learned member of CVR4 is withing strangling distance when i applicate it!

Can you say that? Applicate it?

hmmmm

[Throbbe]

Another thread from the dead as I tried it this weekend. I was supposed to be doing a 'B' service but felt too ill to be arsing about under a car, then felt guilty and decided the car deserved a treat (not guilty enough to actually clean it though).

Anyhoo, long story short, i went with Bern's suggestion and used the little straw to get the foam past the MAF grid. All was tickety boo, with no bogging down at all. One minor mishap. Make sure you don't blow the straw off the nozzle and into the depths of your intake pipework. Aaargh, qui9ck, turn it off!!! One James Herriot impression later, i refitted the straw and emptied the rest of the can.

Started up expecting black clouds and bolts of flame from the exhaust I was somewhat disappointed to find everything was fine and a nice smooth tickover. Set out for a drive to get it warmed up with no drama. After a few minutes I was beginning to think:

a) That Kieran bloke obviously doesn't know what he's talking about (unlikely)
b) My car is actually in tip top condition already and didn't need it (also unlikely, but you never know)
c) I've done this wrong (VERY likely)

Then I decided to wind it up a bit so took the slip onto the A14, dawdling into the stream of traffic. Then I planted it to overtake. 3000rpm seems to be the magic number, because that was when I glanced in my mirror to see the impressive cloud of blue smoke as promised, with a police car emerging from it. I'm not sure why it's always a police car, but fortunately this time a sheepish grin at the next set of lights obviously persuaded them that I wasn't a menace to society.

The car does feel a bit better in some indefinable way, although it could just be placebo effect. As the man says, for a few quids it's worth a try.