Oil absorbing mats for filter changes?

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Michael_P
You wouldn't happen to know anyone who works at a hospital do you? Those blue mats (sometimes called chux) make great oil absorbers.

I've got plenty of those. My brother in law's wife sent us a bunch that she had left over for diaper changes although all those are gone. We had a bunch that we bought too. My wife was paranoid and insisted that we used a brand new one every time we changed our kid's diaper in a public place.

Eventually we got a lot from what used to be my now deceased grandmother's stash. I won't go into why she had them. Those are what I'd call "salmon" colored - not quite pink but not quite orange. The only issue I would have is that I wouldn't use them in the Camry, where the filter is right next to hot exhaust parts. It might work for my wife's Civic.

Of course I don't need any of this stuff for my WRX. The biggest pain with that car is taking off the under spoiler, but once it's off everything is unobstructed and drains straight down. Of course a vertically mounted oil filter presents its own challenges.

 

[GreeCguy]

Something else that works really well are disposable table cloths. They're like a huge paper towel, (the shop variety) and are very absorbent. Our Church used to use them when we had dinners or special events and I would always save the used ones, (except for ones which had spills) and would use them when I worked on my vehicles. They came in super handy when I had to drop the oil pan on the "Luv" machine and work on the rod bearings. I had a ready supply of these until about a year ago when the ladies of our Church decided to use cloth table clothes because they thought it looked more fancy. There went my free supply of huge paper towels.

As far as disposal is concerned, at least for me, I save the oil soaked cardboard to help start a fire when I'm burning yard trash at my parents old farm, (branches, limbs, stumps, etc). A few pieces of oil soaked cardboard can really get a trash fire going fast and easy.