I am familiar with the use of isopropyl alcohol as a fuel drier and
freeze preventer. However, the label of a leading brand now claims
“fuel injector cleaner”. Does anyone know the validity of this claim?
It’s a solvent, so it might help a little. I’d go with Techron.
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If it’s 100% alcohol, it might help a bit–albeit less than a good product like Techron or Seafoam.
One major word of caution:
Rubbing alcohol is usually only 70% alcohol, with the remaining 30% consisting of water. There is even a ‘stronger’ rubbing alcohol, but that one is something on the order of 90% alcohol/10% water.
Rubbing alcohol is not something that should be used in your gas tank.
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Guess what Seafoam contains?
Tester
surely seafoam has a lot of other ingredients. tell me it does
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Are you telling us that Seafoam contains only alcohol?
IIRC, based on its odor, it must contain other ingredients besides alcohol.
From reading tester’s link, Seafoam contains 10-30% Alcohol, depending on the product.
… and the other ingredients are surely solvents, and not water, as in rubbing alcohol.
This is from the article,
Seafoam
- Pale Oil 40.00 - 60.00 %
- Naphtha 25.00 - 35.00 %
- IPA 10.00 - 20.00 %
Summary: Seafoam is mostly a lubricant known as Pale Oil which is used for upper cylinder lubrication. The white smoke from “seafoaming” through a brake booster is huge quantities of pale oil wrongly referred to as “carbon” on YouTube. The solvent is Naphtha which is an an old school solvent, marginally effective for carbon deposits. IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) was used as a fuel stabilizer and water absorber years ago. IPA boosts your octane levels, giving you more power and a better running engine while in use. Gone with the next tankful.
Seafoam Deep Creep
- Pale Oil 40 - 70 %
- Low Odor Base Solvent 30 - 60 % CAS# 64742-96-7 and 64742-47-8
- IPA 10 - 30 %
- Carbon dioxide 3 - 7 %
Summary: Deep Creep is not Seafoam in a can, its Seafoam’s equivalent of WD40 and PB Blaster. The Low Odor Base Solvent 30 - 60 % CAS# 64742-96-7 and 64742-47-8 = Kerosene.
Seafoam Spray
- Pale Oil 40.00 - 60.00 %
- Naphtha 25.00 - 35.00 %
- IPA 10.00 - 20.00 %
- Carbon dioxide 3.00 - 5.00 %
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IPA is a mild solvent, even at full strength. That’s why we use it at work, so we won’t destroy polymer materials while we clean them. More aggressive alcohol solvents are methanol and ethanol. Acetone is a very good solvent too. Note that IPA is not used in Seafoam for its solvency, as the link by @Tester says. Consider trying one of these after reading the article.