Removal of oil stain on concrete

[Lie-in King]

Hi everyone! Hope I'm posting this in the right place...

My friend (sitting next to me) has a large engine-oil stain on his porous concrete drive.

Having Googled, I as a non-driver & he as someone with no relevant knowledge have come up with a squillion possible solutions.

Can anyone point us in the best direction?

The majority of the spill has been sucked up with sawdust & he's left with the resultant stain.

Ta, guys!

L-i K

[rowanwitch]

cat litter the fullers earth type will get the last loose oil up...then try a more volatile oil like WD40 or lighter fuel to dissolve the engine oil and finally a good scrub with washing up liquid and a very stiff brush

[TWR]

You will be very lucky to remove it L-i-k, once the oil has penetrated the concrete its there for good, the way to totaly remove it is by digging it out & replacing the concrete,

[carrust]

Try this stuff. ww.gunk.com/GunkIndex.aspx

[Lie-in King]

Hi rowan - thank you SO much! M'man has tried WD-40 & will now try the lighter fuel route.

He's a bit of a scrubber anyway, so should enjoy trying it out :-)

One point - how long to leave the fluid on the stain before attacking it?

[rowanwitch]

it only hangs around for a minute or two so its a case of trying to scrub it in... if it doesn't work I doubt anything will unless you have a bulk source of eucalyptus oil which seems best at destabilising heavier oils

[Lie-in King]

Thanks again rowan...

@ carrust - thank you very much - looking at the site, we're guessing we need "Swab Powdered Concrete Cleaner" - is that right?

If you've experience with it, can you offer any further advice?

Many thanks to all of you

[TWR]

Lie, if you know any owner driver that drive Cement Mixers, they use Acid to clean their trucks, but this stuff is very very strong, it that will not move it nothing will, how big an area?

[carrust]

I've had no experience of that particular product, but years ago i got hold of some de-greaser that emulsified in water & it worked a treat on my driveway.

[TWR]

I was on Cement tankers a few years ago & used to deliver to their sites, we often had a bucket full to clean the outlet pipes of the tanks with the acid, it would take your hand off it was that strong.

[Answerprancer]

Strong detergent and a steam-cleaner will probably do the job.

[Lie-in King]

Once again - thank you all for your superb answers!

My friend has settled on trying "Hg Oil & Grease Absorber" - it appears to have good reviews - eh, we shall see :-)

Cheers, L-i K (& friend)