Long story short: My mother in law's garage smells like diff lube, spilled on floor. Cleanup apparently did not do the trick completely. How do I get rid of it?
Removing Gear Oil/Smell from garage?
- Thread starter El_Schaf
- Start date
MolaKule
Staff member
Wash the floor with Simple Green or something similar with a good frangrance in it.
First identify where the spill took place and use kitty litter to remove any remaining fluid. Next, sweep up the litter and use a concrete degreaser/cleaner and scrub the area well. It may take more than one scrubbing/cleaning to get out the smell.
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Wash the floor with Simple Green or something similar with a good frangrance in it.
+1 I love the smell of simple green! If you have a bunch of junk in your garage then they may have picked up the smell as well so I would suggest maybe buying one of those smokers candels that eliminate air odor. But if your garage is pristene like mine lol you might just be fine with mopping with simple green.
Wash the floor with Simple Green or something similar with a good frangrance in it.
+1 I love the smell of simple green! If you have a bunch of junk in your garage then they may have picked up the smell as well so I would suggest maybe buying one of those smokers candels that eliminate air odor. But if your garage is pristene like mine lol you might just be fine with mopping with simple green.
I would leave it....I love the smell of redline gear oil
Alas, I have a similar situation in my apartment: I kept a tube used to fill my friend's diffs with gear oil in my box-o-car-stuff. Alas, it had some gear oil left in it, making my apartment smell like sulfur for a week or so.
Now it smells like fish, as I cooked salmon the other day.
I just can't win...
Now it smells like fish, as I cooked salmon the other day.
I just can't win...
Thats nasty pete
I have used a powdered laundry detergent and a push broom to clean garage floors for years. Tide works well but I prefer the smell of Gain. If you leave your air hoses on the ground you can clean them too. Rinsing the floor can be tricky in a house...
I changed the gear oil in a 1992 Johnson gear case, and did not spill a drop. Garage smelled really bad for 4-5 days. Gear oil must have been factory fill...
Give it the old "once over with a flamethrower" routine...
atf really stinks, much worse than engine oil
Originally Posted By: taurus_sable
atf really stinks, much worse than engine oil
ATF is nowhere near as bad as diff fluid though. It smells horrible NEW and even worse when it's time to change it.
I had the best luck cleaning up a spill with some of the Citrus Degreaser concentrate you can get at Home Depot. I didn't dilute it and sprayed it on with a pesticide pump sprayer. Let it soak in for about 10 minutes then hit it with some water and a brush. The only downside is that now you'll have a nice clean spot of concrete and it'll make the rest of the floor look like carp.
atf really stinks, much worse than engine oil
ATF is nowhere near as bad as diff fluid though. It smells horrible NEW and even worse when it's time to change it.
I had the best luck cleaning up a spill with some of the Citrus Degreaser concentrate you can get at Home Depot. I didn't dilute it and sprayed it on with a pesticide pump sprayer. Let it soak in for about 10 minutes then hit it with some water and a brush. The only downside is that now you'll have a nice clean spot of concrete and it'll make the rest of the floor look like carp.
Ancient thread, common problem. I used to formulate a freewheel oil with gear oils and such, plus all the differentials I have done for my own and customer and friends vehicles......well you can imagine. The stench from new fluid is not so bad, but old factory and old school Sta-lube and such........woof............I even have some oil drain pans that just stay outside of course way away from the shop. But I get it on rags (trash), sweat shirts and clothes (yikes) and larger towels that I don't want to throw away, the concrete pad and sometimes the gravel. I don't want or like the stink!!
One thing I have found is bleach will neutralize hydrogen sulfide and related stinky compounds. Even a light mist on the concrete pretty much gets rid of the stink from cleaned up spills. On the gravel and in the pans I sprinkle some baking soda, which also seems to kill the stench and not be harmful or dangerous. For towels and clothes and such, good old vinegar works OK after sprinkling and dusting off with baking soda, soak with vinegar, then Simple Green then double wash. Yeah it might leave a mark but at least the stench should be gone from your grubby sweat shirt.
One thing I have found is bleach will neutralize hydrogen sulfide and related stinky compounds. Even a light mist on the concrete pretty much gets rid of the stink from cleaned up spills. On the gravel and in the pans I sprinkle some baking soda, which also seems to kill the stench and not be harmful or dangerous. For towels and clothes and such, good old vinegar works OK after sprinkling and dusting off with baking soda, soak with vinegar, then Simple Green then double wash. Yeah it might leave a mark but at least the stench should be gone from your grubby sweat shirt.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
Coffee grounds will take up the smell that’s what I use at home with all the coffee grounds my dad never ends up using lol. My question is why have all these old threads been brought back to life recently?
Funny thing in this case I was googling for other ideas and this old thread popped up. Decided to necrothread it.
Great idea I assume you mean dry ground coffee because used wet ground coffee is pretty stinky itself.
Virus. Stuck at home. Boredom
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
Yes that’s correct dry grounds at work they buy us the cheap coffee for it but it works great. I was actually the one who suggested it to my boss after my dad showed me the trick. It dries it up as well normally we would just use oil dry but then the smell doesn’t go away.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
True lol. Nothing wrong with bumping old threads I actually enjoy reading the old ones wondering if it will bring back some inactive members when they get the email someone replied to the thread.
Sweep the floor really well, then dilute this with water as per the suggested ratio. Buy a scrub brush with a handle. Put it on the floor and scrub the floor like you were still in the Navy. Then soak it up with a few rolls of paper towels. Oil Eater is available on Amazon, shipped for free. Shown with the shipping tape on it. Good luck. 
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