Morning all. Whenever I service the cars on the driveway I always end up with a load of oil everywhere, despite using oil pan. Has anyone got any tips for either getting it off or found a method of stopping it happening other than spreading newspaper everywhere?
Oil spill mats
Do it on your neighbours drive or in Tesco car park.
Park over a street gully and drain the sump down there instead?
Pack of dust sheets from Poundland.
I've found sprinkling Daz washing powder over it and working it around with a brush every now and then then hosing it off after a day or so to be reasonably effective at removing it.
Cleaning it off - I drip washing up liquid onto it, leave it a while then pour on boiling water from the kettle.
You need Gunk degreaser, it dissolves oil then washes away.
poundland dust sheets sounds a good shout plus gunk degreaser. didnt know that oil spill pads existed. thanks all.
We had a leaky van make a mess of a concrete driveway on a rental property. A mix of washing up liquid, elbow grease, hot water and a power washer did the trick.
Neat washing up liquid dripped to cover the full oil patch. Then leave it alone. Stain will be gone in a few days. Any residue can be hosed down if needed.
Washing powder on it does the job, bio is better
Im going to try all these things! thanks guys!
Really the solution would be to be less of a messy bugger when I service the cars - but I seem to be incapable of that.
Buy the cheapest Coke you can in big bottles and scrub it off with this. Even then it's going to be hard to remove
5l tub of degreaser from Screw Fix for about £6. Useful for oil drips, and more importantly, diluted for chains and cassettes. It's strong neat, so will remove oil stains.
Before this I used to put sand on top of the spill and leave it to soak up the oil.
Before this I used to put sand on top of the spill and leave it to soak up the oil.
If you can find any - 'Fullers Earth' is much better than sand for soaking up oil. Ideally you use the finest you can lay your hands on (a theatrical chandlers if you happen to have one - fullers earth is what Indiana Jones would blow off an ancient map or artefact - there are suppliers such as 'Flints' online but you can also get it from pottery/clay/ceramics suppliers) but there are cat litters made from fullers earth too - the beige-grey version that clumps when it gets wet. That comes in a more granular texture but mash it up a bit to make it as fine as you can.
Its good at drawing oil out of materials rather than just soaking up whats on the surface. Its original use was for removing the lanolin from wool. Compared to using solvents and detergents it won't spread it around (and soak it into) the drive so much. Spread it about on the oil patch leave it for a while then you should be able to sweep it up with a dust pan and brush.
"Great cooking ingredient for sauces, soups, and stews. Also strips waxed floors and removes driveway grease stains."
put your sump drain can in a bund of some sort - knackered lasagne tray or even better one of those mortar mixing boards. I also chuck down a newspaper beforehand. It'll still get everywhere no doubt.
Daz powder sprinkled on top is a good shout. Little bit of warm water to get the enzymes going then leave it for an hour.
You need Gunk degreaser, it dissolves oil then washes away.
I've found Gunk to be one of the better ones...
Be very careful using degreaser if you have a tarmac drive. Bio washing powder and several treatments is the safest way to go. To stop the problem I lay a big, flattened cardboard box under the car before starting work.