Oil Spill Tactics

[swisstoni]

I've had a car in an Airchamber all winter and its leaked oil and pooled it to one side (I had a drip tray there but its was too shallow it seems).
I'd like to absorb it up as much as possible before I have to drive over it to get the car out.

So, any tips on good products or home remedies to soak up oil spils?

(Edited to make sense)

Edited by swisstoni on Wednesday 17th March 15:27

[Mr MXT]

Cat litter (the clumping stuff)

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Owning a hair salon we routinely get asked what do we do with all the hair? Answer, land fill!

However, years ago when I was new to the industry I actually researched to see if there was anything useful to do with it (most is way too short to be used in wigs etc) and found that someone had devised a way of soaking up oil spills from it. It was made into felt (like German submariners socks) and was used to soak up industrial spills because it was naturally biodegradable.

So it could simply be buried for nature to take it's course.

This was obviously not a popular option and no idea what happened to the guy (Canadian I recall) who came up with the idea.

By the way I'm not suggesting you go down the local (closed) salon but an interesting anecdote none the less)

[9xxNick]

There are dedicated oil spill treatment kits available - all cars competing in rallies now have to carry them. Search for same and it'll throw up plenty of examples.

[sortedcossie]

As above: https://www.screwfix.com/p/lubetech-30ltr-oil-spil...

You can also get spillage pads, they soak up a decent amount of oil.

[Turbobanana]

Sprinkle on some water and make your own skid pan.

[Mellow Yellow]

Sawdust is excellent, just leave it there for a week or two then sweep it up, on a painted floor you won't even notice there's been a leak. Cement dust also works, quickest way too, but messy.

[swisstoni]

Thanks for the suggestions.
As well as being cheap, the sawdust suggestion seemed sufficiently low tech for my needs. I've got time to leave it soak.

I have just bought a bag of sawdust. Something I never thought I'd find myself typing.

[ARHarh]

https://www.newpig.co.uk/ used them for years

[tapkaJohnD]

In addition to the above ideas, sand. I have a tub of builder's sand that I scatter on an oil leak. Like sawdust (and possibly easier to get, unless you
know a sawmill) the oil get adsorbed between the grains, ceases to be a liquid and you can use a brush to sweep it up. Might be cheaper than cat litter too!

[//j17]

Cat litter - the cheaper the better (the more expensive stuff tends to be less dusty but you actually want that for oil).

[Yertis]

My car has left oily patches on the floor of the storage facility I use . Is there some method of drawing the oild back out again? (It's bare concrete.)

[//j17]

Yertis said:

My car has left oily patches on the floor of the storage facility I use . Is there some method of drawing the oild back out again? (It's bare concrete.)

I used "Terminator-HSD" (available from Amazon) but prior to paining my garage floor so was a bit lazy on following the instructions/looking at the results. What I [u]can[/u] say though is that the garage floor paint seems to have stuck quite happily to the floor under the diff, gearbox and engine.

[lowdrag]

I used Gunk on the floor. Worked a treat.

[dartissimus]

Oil stains on concrete or tarmac- full fat Coca Cola works a treat

[Yertis]

Thanks chaps – good advice.

[untakenname]

Years back my parents had a new drive put in and whilst they were away on holiday my car leaked oil, tried everything to remove the stain including brake cleaner and a jet washer but it was still showing, was getting to the point where I was going to flip the stones when it was suggested to use biological washing powder.

Scrub it into the oil stain with a little bit of water so it's in paste form then leave it overnight, when it's washed off the oil is taken with it, needs to be biological and left to work for a few hours as it's the enzymes that do the job.