thehellend
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- Mar 6, 2017
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I had my redneck mechanic friend come help me with a bunch of stuff over the weekend, one of which was to put Seafoam in the carburetor and fuel to clear out blockages. He did it with the engine running, and used small amounts at a time so we didn't overload the system. It made quite the cloud of smoke! We also changed spark plugs, and replaced the gasket on the trans pan to try and fix the leak.
The issue now is a couple of things. The idle is worse now than it was (it was stalling at first before the engine was warmed up) - now it stalls whenever I take my foot off for more than 10 seconds in traffic or at lights, even when warm. After driving for 20 mins or so, I stopped, got out, and heard a crackling, like the sound of fire (!! yea), and when I carefully looked under, I saw white smoke coming out of the general area where we originally saw the leak, and that's where the crackling noise was too. Also, while it's stopped doing this now, after running the engine for a while to do the seafoam yesterday, the engine refused to shut off properly - it half-heartedly tried to keep firing even when the key was turned to off. This rattled about for 10 seconds before finally quitting. I'm not sure if the van got too hot and it was just igniting old fuel deposits or something, it's no longer doing it but it scared the bejesus out of me.
Does this all sound like typical reactions to using seafoam on a 31 year old van (that probably hasn't had that done before)? Is the white smoke and crackling normal? Should I be fearing for my life or is this ok to drive? I'm still working on patching up whatever is leaking. Next step is to use that Lucas stuff in the trans to see if it smooths it out.
Advice? Words of warning? Here's a terrible video of the crackling (I was too scared to get any closer):
The issue now is a couple of things. The idle is worse now than it was (it was stalling at first before the engine was warmed up) - now it stalls whenever I take my foot off for more than 10 seconds in traffic or at lights, even when warm. After driving for 20 mins or so, I stopped, got out, and heard a crackling, like the sound of fire (!! yea), and when I carefully looked under, I saw white smoke coming out of the general area where we originally saw the leak, and that's where the crackling noise was too. Also, while it's stopped doing this now, after running the engine for a while to do the seafoam yesterday, the engine refused to shut off properly - it half-heartedly tried to keep firing even when the key was turned to off. This rattled about for 10 seconds before finally quitting. I'm not sure if the van got too hot and it was just igniting old fuel deposits or something, it's no longer doing it but it scared the bejesus out of me.
Does this all sound like typical reactions to using seafoam on a 31 year old van (that probably hasn't had that done before)? Is the white smoke and crackling normal? Should I be fearing for my life or is this ok to drive? I'm still working on patching up whatever is leaking. Next step is to use that Lucas stuff in the trans to see if it smooths it out.
Advice? Words of warning? Here's a terrible video of the crackling (I was too scared to get any closer):