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After seafoam, problems happen

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Jacky chio, Aug 17, 2022.

  1. Jacky chio

    Jacky chio Junior Member

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    Hello guys, I have a Prius 150k miles. Cleaned intake manifold holes, egr and cooler, new spark plugs. The car is running ok but feeling it could be better so I used 4oz of seafoam in crankcase and same day the car drives so much better and after that I did the oil change.

    So I share this news with my friend who also have a Prius similar situation but his cat was stolen, now using a straight pipe.

    he then used seafoam, immediately the car drives not as smooth and mpg dropped from 43 to 37. He then changed oil, oil and filter super dirty, after pouring clean oil, the driving is still not great.
    Engine light was on the whole time even before seafoam as cat was stolen.

    Now has total of 3 codes
    P0037
    P0138
    P0607

    do you guys have ideas what has gone wrong after the seafoam?
     
  2. Jacky chio

    Jacky chio Junior Member

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    P0037 and p0138 are cat related, but what about p0607?
     
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    P0607 is a general OBD2 diagnostic code, meaning it has the same meaning for the Toyota Prius as it would any other vehicle. Basically your engine computer can't do its job to optimise engine efficiency and it's going to keep getting worse.

    When you straight pipe your car after a cat theft you basically set yourself up to continue lose more and more money from that theft over time.

    Without the essential data from 02 sensors the car is unable to accurately adjust engine settings for the most efficient engine performance and just defaults out which leads to increasingly loss in MPG and overall power over time.

    Then ultimately, your engine will develop another problem and you'll be blissfully unaware of that problem because your check engine light has been on since you straight-piped it. So you'll have almost no way of knowing your engine is about to die until it does and the cost of repair will be much higher rather than an easy affordable fix had you not straight piped.

    And these days you can buy an aftermarket direct fit cat in $60 range, which is about the cost of materials dumb people spend on straight pipes.

    And worst of all, 7 million people a year on earth suffer an untimely death from air pollution ( source ) and the entire planet is also over-heating and catching on fire because we think none of that is our fault and think we have zero obligation to even protect our children, famly, friends and neighbors from deadly air pollution.

    So please, next time you hang out with your straight pipe friend and notice some elderly folks that live near him, make sure to remind him that if those people turn up dead, his straight pipe may of been what killed them. As in an elderly person with existing health issues can be pushed over the edge into an untimely demise with the amount of air pollution that's unlawfully not being cleaned through a catalytic converter.
     
    #3 PriusCamper, Aug 17, 2022
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2022
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  4. StarCaller

    StarCaller Senior Member

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    " issue with the engine control module (ECM)."
     
  5. Jacky chio

    Jacky chio Junior Member

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    Thanks for quick reply, he is trying to get his insurance to replace the cat but he only has 1 car so he has to use straight pipe for now.

    but why would cleaning the crankcase with seafoam Will suddenly decrease the engine performance and mpg? This is the part I am so frustrated with.
     
  6. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Most likely is it changed overall performance of the engine enough to make the default no 02 sensor data setting no longer as efficient. Alternatively it created foam that clogged up some of the engine ventilation passages. That's assuming that they only ran the seafoam briefly, rather than forgetting to change the oil soon after.
     
  7. Jacky chio

    Jacky chio Junior Member

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    Thank you for your input.

    that’s what I am assuming as well. There’s not much I can do before he gets the cat installed…
     
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  8. Jacky chio

    Jacky chio Junior Member

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    Just an update. We had been worrying quite badly, but after couple days regular driving maybe 30miles each day, the car got better, and after one more day the car drives even better than before seafoam. Still using straight pipe.

    I guess the computer finally relearned the new data… now everything is fine…

    thank you y’all for all the input
     
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  9. Jacky chio

    Jacky chio Junior Member

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    I am so confused now. The car runs great until yesterday the power loss happen again and mpg dropped back to 36. Nothing has been done since the recovery… any suggestion would be helpful.,, very confused
     
  10. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Find a prius owner who had their Prius cat stolen and ask if they felt power loss when accelerating from a full stop. The engine roars but just slowly catching up to speed.
     
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  11. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Well, maybe someone will have to diagnose the problem.

    First thing I would do is use a scantool and look at engine data in the ECM. What are short and long term fuel trims when driving? How well does the air-fuel sensor work? Any other codes in other ecu's? What condition is the HV battery?

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  12. Jacky chio

    Jacky chio Junior Member

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    Ok will try to read those data.

    the battery was in ok condition, last time I check was about 65% by dr Prius app.
     
  13. johnHRP

    johnHRP Active Member

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    Only the first O2 sensor before the catalytic converter really affects fuel consumption. First O2 sensor creates the close loop with MAF and fuel injector to adjust the fuel+air ratio. You can remove the 2nd catalytic converter that is usually stolen with a straight pipe as long as the catalytic converter that is integrated into the exhaust manifold is still there without creating a trouble code for the catalytic converter. The engine code you have is caused by Seafoam which causes a very rich mixture. Bad catalytic converter is P0420 that tell the main catalytic converter on the exhaust manifold is no longer efficient.
     
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  14. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    One of the worst mistakes in trouble diagnosis is making a correlation without causation and running with it to the extent you dismiss the normal and real issues. Also known as the questionable cause logical fallacy in which two events occurring together are assumed to have established a cause and effect relationship.

    Seafoam had nothing to do with it. You should be able to see that based on your admittedly small sample size. Seafoam accomplishes nothing on an engine that runs the proper oil with adequate oil changes. Leaving it in the oil or using too much can be harmful to the longterm wear of rings and bearings. Don't be fooled by the claims for aftermarket additives, they have had no legitimate purpose for decades since carburetors went away and all gasoline started using detergent additives to clean fuel injectors. You never hear about failing injectors that need to be cleaned in port injection engines.

    Carbon buildup due to oil consumption and bad egr and pcv design won't be touched by Seafoam in the crankcase and is totally ineffective in the fuel.

    Gen3 oil consumption, liquids in the intake manifold, clogged egrs and slow seeping head gasket leaks are issues to address. But not with aftermarket additives.
     
    #14 rjparker, Sep 6, 2022
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2022
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  15. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    All the mechanics that I've talked to over the years have told me fuel+air ratio is dependent on both the upstream and downstream sensor. Sounds like you're saying that downstream sensor is only verifying if cat worked or not and is not related to fuel+air ratio? Do you have some links of where I can learn more about this to verify it, because I've not heard that before?
     
  16. johnHRP

    johnHRP Active Member

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    I may be wrong but from what I understand, the 2nd O2 sensor is only to verify the catalytic converter works well. https://www.aa1car.com/library/o2sensor.htm I believe it is how it works from the wiring diagram in Prius too. Once it is in a close loop, only the 1st O2 sensor is the rich/lean sensor to give feedback to MAF+injectors. When the engine just starts in an open loop, the 2nd O2 sensor may contribute to lean/rich mixtures for getting the catalytic converter to reach operating temperature fast enough.
    Starting in 2008, the ECU periodically commands MAF and injector to make the rich and lean mixtures and check if the downstream O2 sensor after the catalytic converter detects it, not just the upstream O2 sensor. This way, we cannot cheat the downstream O2 sensor anymore with the spacer when the catalytic converter is removed.
    However, Prius and most cars only monitor the exhaust manifold catalytic converter. The secondary catalytic converter that is often stolen is usually not monitored.
    I have never been a fan of any fuel additive especially engine flush products that cause way more harm than good on a good running engine. If the engine starts burning oil, reduce the oil change interval to 5000 miles/6 months, often it helps slowly dissolve the carbon deposit on the piston rings. Use an endoscopy camera to verify the cylinder wall is not badly scored (no more criss-cross pattern).
     
    #16 johnHRP, Sep 6, 2022
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2022