Would seafoam help clean this (pic inside)?

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Damn. You're making me want to pull the valve covers on my 1980 Buick now.

Well, I'm pretty sure I have a new set of valve cover gaskets in the trunk.

haha yea i had to go replace a cracked valve so everythign ahd to come off and all new gaskets go back in valve covers still leak, i think they got bent(only held on by 2 small screws...

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by RPM

This is a picture I took while checking the valve clearances on my Ford the other day:



I am no expert, but think it a little dirty. It also started lacking power recently.
In your opinion would Seafoam help or would it clean too much and increase oil consumption beyond reasonable levels?

It's a 1989 model with 183.000 Km (roughly 114.000 miles) on the clock.

Thanks for your input!

I agree it is a little dirty, but I have a 1988 Escort with just under 475,000 miles on it and looks just as bad or worse. (original non rebuilt engine and transaxle). I don't like the looks of it either, but it was like that several years ago when I took the valve cover off to replace the gasket. At that time the car had probably around 300,000 miles on it. I am more afraid of the damage that might be done trying to use chemicals to break it loose than I am just leaving it alone. It doesn't seem to be hurting anything so I am going to leave it. I had the oil pan off about the same time to replace the gasket and the crank and bottom end looked very clean with only a small amount of build up in the pan which I cleaned out. With 475,000 miles and only using about a quart of oil every 1500 miles or so, I say why take a chance on messing up a good thing. I am averaging 44.83mpg on that car and the old EPA rating was a combined 37 mpg and new combined rating is 32mpg. This is the first and only car I ever had that I have gotten 50mpg on the highway with.