Anyone have any favorite alternatives? , Seafoam engine cleaner seems very expensive in UK.
it aint cheap in the USA either ....10 bucks for a 16 ounce can !
BUT IT WORKS ! ya get what ya pay for.........
Redex is the only alternative i`ve found to work.
As you say, the Seafoam is expensive, only source i found was Ebay, watching a can but it went for silly money.
Only one I can find on Ebay is £24 +postage, that's around $45 all in !!!
There was a can on Ebay UK, went for £21 plus £4 post.
Most of the sellers in USA won`t post Seafoam to the UK unless you buy in bulk.
Maybe a group buy is in order, if enough interest?
problem with that is we'll get slapped hard for tax and duty.............and tax and duty on the shipping cost
Rob
Quote from: "R0B"problem with that is we'll get slapped hard for tax and duty.............and tax and duty on the shipping cost
Rob
Perhaps one of the nice members on here could send as a gift? :D
the problem is .............
it's a chemical
it's a liquid
it's potentially hazardous
all the things the post office doesn't like .
thats why it is so expensive to ship
Never thought of that :lol:
Quote from: "Mustang"the problem is .............
it's a chemical
it's a liquid
it's potentially hazardous
all the things the post office doesn't like .
thats why it is so expensive to ship
The Sea Foam site gives the following in the Material Safety Data Sheet:
Flash point : 12.8°C / 55°F
Under shipping name it lists Sea Foam as the following:
FLAMMABLE LIQUID, N.O.S. (Naphtha; Isopropanol ) Class 3
Here are the regs for the US Postal Service:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
343.1 Definition
The terms used in the standards that apply to Hazard Class 3 are defined as follows:
a. Flammable Liquid means a liquid that has a flashpoint of not more than 141° F (60.5° C), or any material in a liquid phase that has a flashpoint at or above 100° F (38° C).
343.21 Requirements for Flammable Liquids
The following conditions apply:
a.International Mail. Flammable liquid is prohibited.
b.Domestic Mail via Air Transportation. Flammable liquid is prohibited.
Here is FedEx's fee for delivering hazardous goods:
Accessible Dangerous Goods Shipments
A special handling fee of $75 per package will be assessed.
Class 1 Explosives $75
Class 2 Gases: $75
2.1 Flammable Gas $75
2.2 Non-flammable Gas With a "Cargo Aircraft Only" Label $75
3 Flammable Liquid $75 Class 4 Flammable Solid, Spontaneously Combustible, Dangerous When Wet $75
Class 5 Oxidizer and Organic Peroxide $75
Class 8 Corrosive Material $75
That US$75 is a handling fee. You still need to add in the shipping cost.
Am I thick here? What about fresh fuel, a fuel injecter type carb cleaner through the airbox and a good ride? :?:
cuz I can ................................ (http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee47/2uoykcuf/emoticons/blbl.gif)
My original query Bruken, was for an alternative, if Seafoam is not available easily over here. As rf9 says, Redex is probably the alternative. Im not sure I agree that squirting injector cleaner in the airbox is the best way to go, and if a highly regarded option is available, I wanted to look into it. I do not get to use my bike much, so fuel additive seems worth investigating.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24-PK-CASE-Se ... 3510wt_698 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24-PK-CASE-Sea-Foam-Motor-Treatment-Multi-use-Gas-Diesel-Engine-24-16OZ-CANS-/290675644449?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ad9e5821#ht_3510wt_698)
a group buy maybe, but there would obviously be UK post and import duty to pay
Quote from: "rf9rider"Quote from: "R0B"problem with that is we'll get slapped hard for tax and duty.............and tax and duty on the shipping cost
Rob
Perhaps one of the nice members on here could send as a gift? :D
Just for fun I did some checking into pricing. Sea Foam at the local Advance Auto is US$9.99 a can. Currently, it is on sale at US$7.99 a can.
I figured 16 cans at 20 lbs in a 16x16x10 box. About US$170 for product.
US Postal Service would ship at US$97. Alas, no class 3 thru USPS.
The same package thru UPS is US$257.54. The CSR at UPS told me no class 3.
The online FedEx site quotes this package at US$262.47. Then you need to add the US$75 handling fee. That gives you US$340. Total cost for 16 cans would be US$510 giving us about US$32 per can. That is about £20.07 a can.
Say we double the number of cans to 32. Shipping is US$368.06 plus US$75 for US$450. Product would be US$340. Total price would be about US$800 at about US$25 a can. That is about £15.68 a can.
I have no clue as to import duties and taxes.
US$800 is around £500. If you get enough folks together, this could be done. Packaging and shipping would be easy enough. The only difficulty is payment. You would have to risk depositing money into a PayPal account or something along those lines and trust the goods got delivered.
Think i`ll stick with a shot of redex once a month :lol:
Thanks for the input guys, I'll join rf9 and Redex her regularly.. Be interesting to see what else is out there, Limey wise..
Quote from: "MIMbox"My original query Bruken, was for an alternative, if Seafoam is not available easily over here. As rf9 says, Redex is probably the alternative. Im not sure I agree that squirting injector cleaner in the airbox is the best way to go, and if a highly regarded option is available, I wanted to look into it. I do not get to use my bike much, so fuel additive seems worth investigating.
In the US the fuel has a much higher ethanol content than ours and this leads to it going "stale" much quicker mainly due to the hygroscopic properties of ethanol drawing in atmospheric humidity. Effectively this leads to an octane or calorific drop in the fuel. And as Ethanol is aggressively hygroscopic this decay can be measured in weeks. In the UK we do not suffer the same issues anywhere near the same extent. Your fuel should remain fresh for at least a season. As such American market products may give you a jolly of false complacence and a dented wallet but precious little else. What you are more likely to suffer from is the capillary action of the fuel up the emulsion tube and needle evaporating to leave a metal sulphide salt that will affect performance. Hence the injecter cleaner which is safe to use through the airbox, while carb cleaner and brake cleaner not so much. In fact not at all.
Some people drain their floatbowls during a layups. I don't subscribe to this as the rubber and plastic orings and diaphragms should remain wet to prevent their early demise.
BTW, when I say airbox I don't mean through the airfilter. Come in via the crank case breather port, it should by rights be inside of the paper filter and spray while the engine turns over.
Thanks for that BruKen. Its nice to get a bit of background on something. I wonder if we will start to see similar issues to the US when the Ethanol content of UK fuel is increased, which I think is imminent. As you say the best thing is to get out and ride the bike..
I'd be more worried about the rubber components. If the ethanol or alcohol content increases these might need replacing altogether. In Zimbabwe we had to replace all black neoprene rubber for alcohol resistant "red" rubber replacements after the transition in the early eighties. The question is, if that becomes necessary, will they be available? Think early petrol , lead, valves etc and the PITA it is now to get additives to add to lead free petrol for vintage bikes.
The yanks as it is bemoan float orings going, it could be a lot worse.
The increase in ethanol content in UK petrol has been, err delayed. It seems that there are 4 million cars in the UK that would never be able to be converted to "ethanol spec" and the powers that be decided that putting off the introduction date might keep them a few votes at next election time..........some hope :lol: