Barnacle Buster adventure

[johngus]

Ok here we go,my starboard engine was running hotter then normal now that the water temps and air temps are warming up here on long island.new exhaust both engines this year,new water pumps this year.talking to some friends and they have had great luck with barnacle buster.figured what the hell.mixed up 4 gallons Saturday,pumped it through the intake strainer,let sit over night,start boat Sunday morning,black gunk running out of exhaust just like the video on the website.wow huge difference in water flow,exhaust even quieter now as its pumping crazy water.let boat warm up,all looked good.took quick ride across bay,temp lower then it ever has been.wow this stuff is great,come back to my slip,shift starboard to reverse and wow it shifts so smooth,didn't even feel it shift but went in gear and docked.figured should take a look around and measure engine temp with infrared gun.well now water running out of transmission vent plug on top of transmission,shut engine right down,tranny is full of water.....ran right home got pump,pumped tranny out filled with new ATF.took cooler off,boy its sparkling but now leaking like mad....I guess all that crap was all that was sealing it.replaced cooler tonight.refilled tranny and ran engine at dock,have flushed 3 times tonight.still slightly pink so figure will flush again a few more nights this week,then I'll go run it and flush it again.whats everyones thought of damage to the tranny.its a velvet drive,straight inboard.read online these things are pretty strong so hoping I didn't kill it?its shifting back to normal now with new oil it.
so moral of story is Barnacle Buster may be too good to be true.......at leats it runs cool now...LOL.:huh:

 

[JimmyDubai]

Wow..... good to know !! I had no idea that the effect would be so evident!!

 

[ttmott]

Curious where you heard to leave it in overnight? Everything I have read and the way I have done it is to circulate the chemical for several hours then flush it out of the system.
It will attack copper based metals over time.
Seems you could have lost the trans. cooler which may have been compromised to start with.
When I cleaned my trans coolers and circulated Barnacle Buster through them in a bucket I noticed a copper sheen on the stainless steel bolts and fittings.
That is when I found out it will erode copper; Barnacle Buster's printed information also states that.

 

[johngus]

on their website it says when sucking in through the intake hose to let sit 12-18 hours.theres a video showing them doing it to a crusader.it says only when you soak in a bucket to only do for a few hours or with their circulating system a few hours.pretty sure the cooler was probably only being sealed by the salt and gunk,cleaning it put it over the edge.not blaming the barnacle buster just an old cooler that went bad.was more impressed with the stuff as the cooler was like new clean,just leaking.now with new cooler and flushing fluid multiple times,all seems to be OK.

 

[scoflaw]

thinking of doing the same, but wont to make sure Heat exchanger is completely submerged Over a $100 per engine. Not sure what else it could ruin with an overnight soak ?