Oil light came on after adding seafoam.

**Shi-Fu JaY** · 07-07-2008 04:26 PM

I put seafoam in the crankcase yesterday night, drove around for about 10 miles, and the oil light came on in the center of the gauge cluster.
so I checked the level dip stick and it was at proper level.
turned the car back on, and the oil light was gone.

Has this happend to anyone?
anyone know what this means?

I changed my oil already BTW :)
been using mobil 1 oil, and mobil 1 large filter.

**lookaught** · 07-07-2008 08:18 PM

oil pressure or oil level?

**bananas** · 07-07-2008 08:51 PM

Sea foam dramatically increases the viscosity of your engine oil. I expect that had something to do with your oil pressure light coming on.

**Shi-Fu JaY** · 07-08-2008 12:23 AM

the light that showed yesterday was in the square center screen, and it showed the oil thing, and oil dripping down, that must be the low oil level right? but it wasnt low on oil.

the old oil (with seafoam) was watery. I read, its suppost to be like that.

**n7plus1** · 07-08-2008 08:32 AM

^correct

**bananas** · 07-08-2008 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by Shi-Fu JaY

it showed the oil thing, and oil dripping down, that must be the low oil level right?

Oil pressure

**04QuattroTurbo** · 07-08-2008 10:50 AM

If it increased the viscosity of the oil, should it not increase the oil pressure as well, since it is thicker? Why would it cause the low oil pressure light to turn on? If this is the case, then I think the OP should be weary of motor seals, from what I'm reading our cars are somewhat "sensitive" in crankcase seals department and a dramatic change in oil pressure can bust those.

I've never used Seafoam, but is it like most other motor flushes? You run in in your engine with some conventional oil to get all the gunk and stuff out and then your drain it completely and replace it with the oil intended for regular use in the vehicle?

**treemolecule** · 07-08-2008 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by 04QuattroTurbo

I've never used Seafoam, but is it like most other motor flushes? You run in in your engine with some conventional oil to get all the gunk and stuff out and then your drain it completely and replace it with the oil intended for regular use in the vehicle?

That's one of the uses for it, just like most crankcase flushes, but you can also suck it via vac line to the throttle plenum and then let it sit for 10 minutes, then it burns all the coked up oil and carbon deposits out of the exhaust, smells like ass wrapped in dirty sock too...

**bananas** · 07-08-2008 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by 04QuattroTurbo

If it increased the viscosity of the oil, should it not increase the oil pressure as well, since it is thicker?

My bad... I meant it decreases viscosity. Sorry for the confusion

**tike0rz** · 07-08-2008 12:17 PM

Did you drive for any longer than 10 miles? I heard its bad for the engine to drive for extended periods of time with seafoam in the engine. Did you change your oil immediately after?

**04QuattroTurbo** · 07-08-2008 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by tike0rz

Did you drive for any longer than 10 miles? I heard its bad for the engine to drive for extended periods of time with seafoam in the engine. Did you change your oil immediately after?

If it decreases viscosity, then it is bad to drive on period. My understanding of motor flushes and the like, is to run in with pressure on idle and a few blips of the accelerator and then drain completely and use the oil you wanted to use for the car.

**Shi-Fu JaY** · 07-08-2008 12:34 PM

seafoam really broke down the old mobil 1 oil. I drove around for 10 miles then the light came on. pulled over, turned off the car and checked the dipstick.
everything was fine, so I started the car up, and it was back to normal.

I changed my oil the next morning. The car drives even better now. but im just wondering why the light came on when I added the seafoam.

**04QuattroTurbo** · 07-08-2008 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Shi-Fu JaY

seafoam really broke down the old mobil 1 oil. I drove around for 10 miles then the light came on. pulled over, turned off the car and checked the dipstick.
everything was fine, so I started the car up, and it was back to normal.

I changed my oil the next morning. The car drives even better now. but im just wondering why the light came on when I added the seafoam.

Because the car sensed the drop in oil pressure when the Sea Foam broke down the oil making it less viscous. If it does thin out your oil, then the system would have sensed the drop in oil pressure, giving you the warning. Maybe?