Ok, now that I have your attention, I need a little advice. I had the oil changed on my car and the idiots failed to secure the filter bowl with a good German torque (guttentite). So, now I have a decent sized oil spill in my driveway.

The driveway is concrete not blacktop.

So, what are the techniques you guys use to clean up oil spills?

My apologies for the misleading subject title of the thread, although we are talking about wresting with oil...

and it was hot when it leaked.....

does that count?

I use kitty litter to soak up fresh oil spills. It works great.

Cat litter and then pressure wash the stain. It'll come out.

wipe up excess oil - to remove the spot I usually use a little gas then a day latter dawn(edit) dish wash soap and water - stain gone

....now that I have gotten over my bitterness of the misleading title.

You can get the excess oil up with the kitty litter as suggested. I have had very good success with Baer concrete cleaner. I think you can get it at Home Depot.

Take this from someone that makes plenty of oil messes on concrete.

Kitty litter to soak up excess, then use a whole bottle of DAWN dish washing liquid (don't substitute, I haven't found another brand that works half as well), scrub it in good with a push broom, then power wash off the next day.

Gas then kitty litter. Use a broom and work it into the spot. Let dry and sweep it up.

NON-scented cat litter. It's just Bentonite clay, which is great as an absorbent. Clean up any standing oil, put the litter down, let it soak up as much as possible, replace it with clean litter, CRUSH it into the stain, to make the litter into a powder and more absorbent (greater surface area) and repeat until you are not picking up any more oil.
Then, I use Original Dawn dishwashing soap. It really cuts the oil. Pressure wash and get on with life.

Ed

I changed the oil myself for the first time in my 'new' f350 a couple of weekends ago. In engineers put the drain plug on the side of the pan. Despite my trying chase the oil stream with my drain pan, the inside of the garage looked like Kuwait after the Iraqis left when I finished.

I took some liquid tide (~2 oz) and about a gallon on hot water. Poured that on the spill and used a push broom to scrub it. Then rinsed it with the garden hose. It's now the cleanest part of the garage floor.

Cat litter or oil dry to soak up the excess, followed by a scub down with Simple Green. Any remaining residue I just let Mother Nature take care of.

Exactly the technique I use
( and I spill a lot of oil LOL )

castrol superclean is concretes equivilant to the teeth whiteners you see celebs use.

And here I thought this was gonna be another thread about those two guys up in the mountains.....

I use a similar procedure except that I work the soap in with a push broom, making sure to scrub back and forth with the broom to work in the soap and work out the oil. Finish with a power washer and voila', clean 'crete.

Thanks fella's! It sounds like pretty much the same process from everyone. This is the perfect excuse for a pressure washer!

I leave it in. It's a driveway.

HOA's are the debbile....

You could accomplish the mission and redeem yourself in our eyes if you got a couple of hawt babes to roll around in the oil spill and maybe soak some of it up. Video required to expunge your misleading entre' into this mundane problem.

Do any milsurp stores still sell those old WWII flame throwers?

Flame throwers really have more uses than duct tape. Duct tape could fix my leak but you really need the cleansing power of a flame thrower to clean up those tough to remove stains.....

Dishes, Laundry, Oil on the driveway, a flame thrower will clean them all!

Lots of good tips already, but I want to put in another plug for Simple Green. As a last step I spray some Simple Green on the area. It has enzymes that digest any remaining oil, over time.

Contractor's trucks and delivery vehicles always seem to be dripping.

When a visitor leaves an oil drip or a puddle on my driveway I blot up what I can with a paper towel, then just hit it with a spray of Simple Green and forget about it. The next time it rains or I happen to hose off the driveway, the stain is gone, or well on its way. A repeat treatment will speed the process, but no scrubbing is necessary. Easy and it works for me.

2 words........

Weed Burner.





Thank me later.

A man needs an EXCUSE for a pressure washer? I thought they went along with air compressors, angle grinders, bench presses, mechanics vises, cordless drills, wire feed welders, and all other things handyman.

It's just money!

Ed

Soak up excess with kitty litter...Remove litter, apply a soaking ammount of mineral spirits, use a broom or scrub brush to agitate and cover back up with fresh kitty litter. Let sit for about twenty mins. sweep up litter and dispose.

tide and some hot water.

Dawn dishwashing liquid.

Have an Atty. buddy send the Nashville dealer a letter suggesting 35K for a new driveway or the dealership could clean the driveway for you. Their choice.

Caution, Atty fee is about equal to a good pressure washer purchase price.

There is a person living at your house who could call the dealership owner and .... well, - explain things. At the conclusion of THAT conversation the whole dealership may humbly arrive to rectify their readily admitted mess!

Kitty litter, Dawn, broom, pressure washer, labor, combined should work fine.