Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » best way to remove oil from concrete? 1 2

• 

  April 23, 2010 7:44 a.m. klipless Reader

  Anybody know of some magic fairy dust that will remove oil from concrete? Oil-Dri and kitty litter have made a sizable dent in it, but I'd like to get as much of it off as possible. I'm not above a scrub brush and dish soap either.

• 

  April 23, 2010 7:53 a.m. Raze HalfDork

  Kerosene...

  or eximo

• 

  April 23, 2010 7:53 a.m. mad_machine SuperDork

  I always found that kittylitter and LOTS of grinding into the concrete will remove 99% of all stains. you just have to keep at it

  Non-Sequitor Alert!

• 

  April 23, 2010 7:57 a.m. 7pilot New Reader

  Hot water, dish wash fluid and a scrub. Heat makes the oil rise out of the substrate. Then a good hard rain, then simple green/scrub. That works for me. Also had mixed success with Purple Power?? sp. with a scrub and then a good long soaking.

  m

• 

  April 23, 2010 8:05 a.m. DeadSkunk Reader

  I grind the kitty litter into the stain with a brick. Works pretty good. Then a little gasoline (no smoking!) and more kitty litter.More grinding and it looks pretty good.

  '99 Miata,'03 CooperS,'91 GTI 16V, '96 Astro

• 

  April 23, 2010 8:15 a.m. bludroptop SuperDork

  Jackhammer?

  Brake-clean if you get to it fast enough, otherwise I'm with the kitty litter grinders.

• 

  April 23, 2010 8:17 a.m. Woody SuperDork

  I use brake cleaner.

  Ka-Chow!

• 

  April 23, 2010 8:33 a.m. ManBearSTIG New Reader

  WD-40.

• 

  April 23, 2010 8:51 a.m. Luke SuperDork

  I tend to just park over the top of my oil stains.

  But the prevailing opinion seems to be kitty litter, so I reckon I'll give that a shot next time.

  Drink beer. Drive a metal car. Don’t be a ponce. - James May

• 

  April 23, 2010 9:03 a.m. foxtrapper SuperDork

  Don't forget the kitty litter dance! Doesn't work well if you don't dance on it.

  Not all kitty litters are the same. You're looking for bentonite clay, that's usually the clumping type of litter. Others tend not to work nearly as well.

• 

  April 23, 2010 9:19 a.m. Vigo Reader

  Why has nobody mentioned the pressure washer?

• 

  April 23, 2010 9:24 a.m. 44Dwarf HalfDork

  Steam cleaner or presure washer is the best way followed by a brush with concreate (muritic) acid and rinse well the landloard will never see it.

  44

• 

  April 23, 2010 9:27 a.m. klipless Reader

  44Dwarf wrote: Steam cleaner or presure washer is the best way followed by a brush with concreate (muritic) acid and rinse well the landloard will never see it. 44

  Oh, the landlord has seen it...she's my fiance.

• 

  April 23, 2010 11:38 a.m. Lugnut HalfDork

  Oven cleaner works for me. Just regular grease-killing oven cleaner from the grocery store.

  Bill Stickers is innocent!

• 

  April 23, 2010 11:41 a.m. Keith SuperDork

  One thing about kitty litter - just leave it in place for a while. It'll suck up a lot more if you just spread it around and leave it.

  Clumping kitty litter is bentonite? Interesting. My local mountain bike area has a lot of bentonite. You do NOT want to get on to that stuff when it's wet...

  Square left in 50 caution ocean!

• 

  April 23, 2010 11:45 a.m. CarKid1989 HalfDork

  We had a buddy puke all the fluid out of his transmission on our drive way. For this and any other oil mess just put some "quickcrete" / concrete powder over it. Work it in with your shoe. Maybe reapply once. Our driveway is now spotless!

  http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=p&car_id=268655655&dealer_id=64603429&car_year=1994&engine=&fuel=&lastStartYear=1981&sort_type=priceDESC&systime=&default_sort=priceDESC&drive=&style_flag=1&bo

• 

  April 23, 2010 11:54 a.m. 4eyes Reader

  Amway's concrete cleaner is the best non-pressure washer/steam cleaner option I've found.

• 

  April 23, 2010 6:34 p.m. porksboy Dork

  I always thought that kitty litter was Fullers earth.

  I worry about reincarnation. What if I’m not hung as well next time around? The Buddha said Not to grasp- life is transitory. Damn it some things a man gets used to grasping.

• 

  April 23, 2010 6:39 p.m. porksboy Dork

  Erp! According to Wiki Its Fuller's earth in the States and Bentonite across the pond.

  I worry about reincarnation. What if I’m not hung as well next time around? The Buddha said Not to grasp- life is transitory. Damn it some things a man gets used to grasping.

• 

  April 23, 2010 8:30 p.m. minimac SuperDork

  Nothing works like good old battery acid. Just don't get caught by the enviro-nazis.

  "If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything" Marilyn Monroe

• 

  April 23, 2010 9:01 p.m. John Brown SuperDork

  I prefer C4...

  Internationally known as The Brown Stig

• 

  April 24, 2010 1:28 p.m. kevinSC1 New Reader

  powdered laundry soap. get it on there as soon as you can, and grind it in. When you wash it off, the suds hide the oil sheen...

• 

  April 24, 2010 3:14 p.m. cwh SuperDork

  I always preferred pool acid, AKA muriatic acid or hydrochloric acid. Dangerous fumes, really nasty stuff, but it really works. Hose it of really well. Works well with rusty corroded metal as well.

• 

  April 25, 2011 10:31 a.m. T.J. SuperDork

  Raze wrote: Kerosene... or eximo

  I just bough some Eximo last week. My son came over to the house to change his oil and at the end of the operation there was about a gallon of used oil all over my driveway (he backed over the oil container that he left behind his car to go drop off).

  We tried kitty litter. Then we used some HF degreaser. Then the next day I put some simple green on it. I wore out my bristle brush grinding all of this stuff into the concrete. The stain was a lot better, no longer black, but still very much visible. After 4 or 5 days the Eximo arrived and I sprinkied some on the stain and ground it in. There is no sign of the stain any longer. It hasn't rained since then, I want to see what happens when it rains. The eximo claims to be full of oil eating microbes. I bought the 3 lb bottle and that will last longer than the 1 year shelf life.

  My driveway is sloped and runoff goes into a storm drain, then down the street into a creek. I didn't want to use muriatic acid or gasoline for that reason.

  "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." George Orwell

• 

  April 25, 2011 11:08 a.m. fast_eddie_72 Dork

  44Dwarf wrote: Steam cleaner or presure washer is the best way followed by a brush with concreate (muritic) acid and rinse well the landloard will never see it.

  Muritic acid is a good idea. I used that stuff when I did some flagstone repair. It's no joke. Use gooood gloves and watch out for fumes. Even in an open area it's nasty stuff. But it sure does a heck of a job.

1 2  

You'll need to log in to post.