# PB Blaster/Penetrating Oil WARNING !!



## Maine Sail (Jan 6, 2003)

Hi All,

I thought I sould let you all know that I discovered, the expensive way, that you should never use PB Blaster near ANY engine or transmission seals.

I needed to remove my shaft coupling so I sprayed the four bolts with PB Blaster, thinking nothing of it, and let is sit over night. Evidently some of it dripped onto my transmission output seal and when I went to the boat the next day the majority of my transmission fluid was in the pan and not the transmission.

My transmission is a 2003 ZF v-drive and had never, ever leaked a drop. After speaking with a few mechanics about this they know the problem well. PB Blaster can eat engine seals, transmission seals and plastic cups! Keep this stuff far away from any output shafts, engine seals or seals you don't wan't leaking.

PB Blaster is great stuff but also very dangerous to the tune of $800.00 on my transmission seals. Use it with caution and for it's intended purpose only!


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Yup... it is a very aggressive solvent... even says so on the label IIRC. I hope you didn't try to run the tranny before you discovered the dead seals.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Yea ive know of this issue for awile when i found it with the lower unit seals on an outboard of mine. Ive been useing Sea Foam Deep Creep now. Havent had any issues.


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## hillenme (Oct 11, 2012)

Very afraid I just made this EXACT same mistake while trying to remove 4 coupling bolts on my HBW 100 transmission. I'm quite confident I sprayed a decent amount of PB blaster on the back of the transmission; I was actually trying to be cognizant to hit nothing but the bolts out of fear it would it would eat the rubber hoses carrying coolant to the water heater, but must have rotated it a bit and sprayed all over my finger and transmission. I did try to wipe it up, but I'm not sure I focused hard enough on the transmission as it didn't occur to me just getting it on the outside of the thing could cause an issue. I was planning to try a simple engine alignment and am now afraid I may have made a huge mistake... How quickly would I find the ATF in the bilge under the transmission if I made this mistake and is there any other indications to look out for that indicate in penetrated the transmission and ruined the seal?


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## joethecobbler (Apr 10, 2007)

hillenme said:


> Very afraid I just made this EXACT same mistake while trying to remove 4 coupling bolts on my HBW 100 transmission. I'm quite confident I sprayed a decent amount of PB blaster on the back of the transmission; I was actually trying to be cognizant to hit nothing but the bolts out of fear it would it would eat the rubber hoses carrying coolant to the water heater, but must have rotated it a bit and sprayed all over my finger and transmission. I did try to wipe it up, but I'm not sure I focused hard enough on the transmission as it didn't occur to me just getting it on the outside of the thing could cause an issue. I was planning to try a simple engine alignment and am now afraid I may have made a huge mistake... How quickly would I find the ATF in the bilge under the transmission if I made this mistake and is there any other indications to look out for that indicate in penetrated the transmission and ruined the seal?


Wash it off with dish soap and water .
If you caused any damages you'll know soon.


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