How to remove spilled engine oil on aspalt road

Status
Not open for further replies.

Sei

Joined
Jun 4, 2005
Messages
19
Location
Osaka, Japan
Engine oil leaked from loosened filter left dirt mark on the road in front of my garage. About 4 quart was leaked. It looks aweful. Can anyone tell me best way to clean out this contamination from the pavement aspalt?

Using kerosene as solvent and wash with laundry detergent and water? Any hint will be appreciated.
 
laundry detergent has work ok for me on concrete. the asphalt is going to be tough because the oil easily soaks right in. you could try kerosene but it might make it worse by softenening the asphalt.
 
Kerosene would probably leave a mark too as well as soften it.
They sell asphault cleaner in the section that sells driveway sealers, I've used it but it seems like it would only really work well if you are going to seal it right after, it seemed to make the stain spread, it's soapy stuff.

Simple green sounds promising.
 
Thank you all for your help! I tried detergent and water only and brushing but the mark still remained. I will keep away from kerosene. I will try what you suggested. Thanks a lot!

Sei
 
There's a product I found once on clearance at the local Wal-Mart called "Revive A Drive". It is the only thing that has worked for me to completely get rid of oil on the drive or in the garage...sadly I only bought one bottle and I have never been able to find it again (this was about one year ago).
 
try useing engine cleaner (sray) work it in with a rag,,,,put oil dry on it wait a day or so ,working it around a few times sweep up,and put just oil dry on for a day,,it works
 
On fort hood we get this stuff called MOJO. You spray it on and activate it with a LITTLE bit of water then walk away. In a few days the spot will be almost gone. You might have to treat it a few times but it will get rid of about anything. We have over 200 vehicles in the battalion and you can guess how many oil spots we get on the concrete. The track vehicles are the worst. This stuff neutralizes the oil so you don't have to worry about cleaning anything up. That stuff works wonders. I will get the MSDS when I get back to work and give you guys the info on it.
 
4 qts is a LOT (1 gallon!). Some places in the USA they would have called the Hazardous Materials clean up team out.

I'm not sure what you have in Japan, but for dry cleaning we have some products like "Spill Magic" or "Spill Doctor" which are light powdery oil adsorbents, some even have oil eating microbes. You sprinkle it on, and sweep it around a bit or in your case sort of grind it into the pavement, and then sweep it up and repeat. Two or three applications and a little time and the spill will be gone.

My most recent mess is on the concrete in my machine shed....I er...overfilled the TroyBuilt tiller gear case and it leaked all winter. I had a thick scungy coating of synthetic gear oil...I used Spill Magic, scraped it with a piece of wood and swept it up, no problem.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Pablo:
4 qts is a LOT (1 gallon!). Some places in the USA they would have called the Hazardous Materials clean up team out.

In Texas, unless it is 25 gallons or more, or it is extreemly hazardous to humans (eg.: acid) you are not required to report it. There are varying amounts depending on what you spill though. But motor oil is not a big problem.
 
I am not sure what the quantities are here in WA state, but if the curb drains says "dumps to stream" then watch out and if the stream is salmon bearing then really watch out!
 
quote:

Originally posted by Pablo:
I am not sure what the quantities are here in WA state, but if the curb drains says "dumps to stream" then watch out and if the stream is salmon bearing then really watch out!

INDEED!

Reminds me of a paving project in Olympia near Capitol Lake a few years ago. The tack coat was laid down in preparation for asphalt paving and it began raining like crazy... BAD NEWS!!!!

IIRC one quart of oil can foul one acre-foot of water, approximately 325,850 gallons. Not good.

I seem to remember five gallons as being a "magic bad number" here in WA; it is likely much lower in or near the areas you mention, Pablo.
 
I would sop it up with paper towels and then dispose of them properly.

I usually do final clean up of oil/grease spills with garden variety aerosol brake parts cleaner available at any auto parts store. Get the non chlorinated kind. I believe the chlorinated stuff does bad things to your nervous system over time. It probably works better though.

Brake cleaner cleans oil amazingly well....squeeky clean!
 
Many thanks, gentlemen!
I tried coca-cola, Simple green, detergent, several other oil cleaning detergents without good result on asphalt. But the spill mark on concrete was gone! Actually the oil was soilled over both concrete and asphalt. Didn't try dry cleaning agent or brake cleaning stuff. Anyway, I moved from that house a few weeks ago. So, now I'm trying to clean the memory of the 'wrong doing' I did last summer. What cleaner would you recommend for this kind of cleaning job? I'm holding bottles of Asahi beer!
wink.gif
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top