So I owned a 2004 S1 for several years and completed every DIY there was for it. I figured owning a 2011 S2 would be great…newest model, less miles, all the upgrades Mazda came up with for the RX8 and I was familiar with all the maintenance and DIY’s. So for my first DIY project I wanted to do a good decarb on the car. I was replacing plugs and coils anyways so I picked up a can of sea foam and warned the neighbors. They still remember the smoke show from when I did my S1 so I was in the clear with them and ready to get started. I disconnected the cam sensor and went to pull the caps off the nipples and realized THERE ARE NO DAMMED NIPPLES !!! WTF fellas ??? Help me out here….where do I find those nipples or the S2 equivalent?

 

I seafoamed my S2 a couple weekends ago and opted for the Spray can style, had the wife sit in the car and hold it at 3K rpm and i blasted it in the throttle body, rinse and repeat 3x with 30-60 min "soak time" and drive cycles and seemed to clean up nicely.

 

I tried the sea foam spray and while I’m sure there were some benefits there, I’m still looking for a way to get some liquid in there.
Anyone have any thoughts to squirting some directly into the spark plug holes , turning it over with the ESS disconnected , do that a few times and let it set over night ?
As popular as the sea foam decarb procedure seems to be for the RX8, I find it hard to believe that no one’s come up with a way to do it on an S2…

 

I just did an S1 like that ...except I just turned it over with my foot flat to floor (no need to disconnect ess) and used ATF.

 

How much sea foam did you put in each plug hole ? Did it smoke like crazy for several minutes when you cranked it up ? I think I’m gonna try it tomorrow…

 

I used ATF .... not seafoam . Tried to get some in each chamber although doing it by myself not sure if i succeeded with that . Smoked a fair bit on startup but not ridiculous. I think I improved one rotor by about 10psi on all sides but nothing on other rotor. Engine is on last legs so this was just a last ditch effort to avoid a rebuild .... unsuccessful unfortunately . Engine still starts hot and cold no problem but will flood if not warmed up and the car is ...slow. One rotor high 60s the other high 70s .....

 

How long did you let the ATF sit in the chambers before starting the engine? I have recently done a compression test with sad results. Still hot starts and finished a 5 hour trip over a couple mountain passes with no trouble in 25° to 30 ° C weather. Hoping to postpone the inevitable. Another year would be nice.

I know this is a Seafoam thread so are there any ill effects related to Seafoam treatment? ATF seems more benign but, this isn’t an opinion based on experience yet.

 

Warmed up engine , put ATF in plug holes, wound over engine forwards with starter , backwards by hand . Refitted plugs and then restarted after 24 hrs. Started easily ... let it idle for about a minute then went for a drive ...... once fully warm .... wound it out to redline a few times.

 

Thanks Brettus. Will do this once new plugs arrive. Can do the swap over a day instead.

 

For sake of anyone searching this thread in the future… I figured out you certainly can seafoam the s2 just like the S1. While there are no “nipples” with caps on the S2 like on the S1, there two “nipples” in the same place that are joined together with vacuum hose and then T off to a single vacuum hose and run the the oil filler neck. I just pulled the vacuum hose off the oil filller neck and stuck it in the cup of seafoam. Then just follow the normal procedure. I had my entire block smoked out this morning… it was glorious 👍🏻

 

Thanks for the info in series 2 for seafoam procedure. If I go this route after the ATF I’ll do it at work. My family and neighbours already mentioned they know I’m coming from 4 blocks away. Smoking out the neighbourhood won’t endear me to any of them.

 

Hi, looking through this thread I’m seeing nobody is mentioning unplugging the ess sensor. It’s different from the series 1 model and I haven’t found any information on unplugging it it off. I think I know where it is as it’s right next to the eccentric shaft. I’m having trouble taking it off. I’m pulling with all my force still nothing. Even if I do pull it off the wiring looks so tight I’m afraid I’ll mess something up.