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What to Use to Clean up Oil Spills and Leaks
“It’s just marking its territory” or “It’s sweating horsepower” are cute ways to acknowledge a fact of life many vintage car enthusiasts live with every day: Old cars leak. Over time, the seals and gaskets of cars often lose effectiveness. Before long, the small seepage from a nicked valve cover gasket can go from a drop to a puddle large enough that you could almost sell the spot next to your toolbox as lake frontage. Even if all you want to do is roll under and find out where the leak is, you’ve got to deal with the oil on the floor. There are many options, but some type of absorbent is the choice of professionals. Here’s how a handful compared when tested against each other by the YouTube channel Project Farm.
Comparing how well an absorbent can make oil dry can be annoying for a regular person since most absorbents come packaged in large amounts that even the leakiest car would take a good while to go through. It would take quite some time to use multiple styles for a real-world test. Instead, Project Farm takes 16 common absorbents and subjects them to a cadre of tests designed to give some real-world perspective that might cut through marketing claims.
The test was simple: Weigh out an amount of absorbent, then saturate it with oil or coolant and weigh again to see how much oil was absorbed. This was also compared to each absorbent’s price to get a ballpark of both effectiveness and value. In the end, there were clear front runners for both absorbent mats and granulated. For a put-down-and-sweep-up option, these tests favored Coco Cleaner Pro, which is made from coconut fibers. Meanwhile, Pig brand mats fared the best out of the mat tests.
These can be handy ways to clean up spills and though the products themselves are not hazardous, once they soak up common automotive fluids, they do need to be disposed of properly. Check your local guidelines for getting rid of oil-soaked absorbents, just as a person should for all oil-soaked rags or materials. Oil leaks might be inevitable for most cars, but oil stains and puddles on our floors and driveways do not have to be.
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I have found the sanding residue from sanding down Bondo to be a fairly effective oil absorbent. I also save the shavings from the circular saw
I, too, save and use the sawdust and shavings from my woodshop, wood construction projects and even the chain sawing of firewood. That then gets burned, which may not be the most environmental way of disposal, but the amount of oil as a ratio to the amount of sawdust is quite small.
When I was in the printing business, we used Pig Blankets under presses and other equipment that sometimes leaked oils – great products!
I’ve been using sawdust on oil spills for years and it works as good as any commercial product.
Has anyone tried wood ash? I ran out of oil dry and kitty litter, so I’ve been saving the ashes from my wood burning insert. Thankfully, I haven’t had any spills to try it out.
Never tried it, but it should work – sorta. I mean it’s probably absorbent enough. But gosh, I’m thinking the cleanup might be worse than the original oil spill!
Wish I’d read this a few days ago. I emptied out my woodshop dust collector bin last week. It seems that I should have saved that bag.
I usually have a bit of leftover cement that I use to soak up oil an oil spill and then be swept up. Sawdust as mentioned works. Also if wet down (damp) and spread will collect and hold a lot of the nasty fine dust on shop floors that just brooming misses. Relatively quick and easy. In situations where I know I’m more than likely to accidentally spill a bit I throw down a piece of scrap ply. Soaks up the remaining oil after a swipe and can be used again for the same purpose. I did an art project and was asked if I found the distressed wood or created it. _ “Sort of both in a way. That’s old oil and transmission fluid .”
I break down large corrugated boxes and slide the sheets under the cars in the garage to intercept the inevitable drips. When the cardboard gets oily enough I tear it into smaller pieces that become kindling for the wood stove. For spots that make it to the driveway or garage floor, a sprinkle of oil-dri on them that I grind into dust with my heel completely vanquishes them.
I just changed out the “winter-naptime” floor cardboard* under the Pontiac this past weekend – now completely ready for cruising season! 😛
* the new one says it’s from Westinghouse…I didn’t even know they MADE cardboard 😁
+1 on cardboard. In fact, I’ve nearly carpeted the garage where the moto bikes and the old english car live. They move around or fold up easily for a clean, smooth dust mopable floor.
Those blue shop cloths seem to work just fine for me. But I also don’t have Exon Valdez level spills.
Two words- Kitty Litter. Been using it for years in my garage and in my driveway. If it washes away it isn’t a pollution problem. After it dries and gets swept up the drive or garage floor are almost perfectly clean.
sorbents or Pig Blankets, one for water based and the other for petroleum based, the only way to clean up a mess without making another, and you can throw them in the trash, they adsorb the fluid and hold them in, cannot be wrung out. Used them for years, even sold them, most impressive display I ever saw was an oil soaked floor in a shop, after covering them and left alone for a weekend, the floor was almost completely clean, just needed a mopping. they may be expensive, but worth it. Stupid hurts and we all spill stuff….
Cardboard under the cars & truck catch any drips, and also insulate from floor moisture. The small drips clean up with carb cleaner & mechanic’s blue paper towels. If I’m about to open up something that’ll poor fluid out, a catch can, tin basting pan, and cardboard on the floor prevent a mess. I inherited my Dad’s OCD about fluids on the floor and/or driveway, I guess: I don’t even like dust or dirt on my garage floor…
For cleaning up small drops, I find that Dawn Powerwash does a pretty good job of breaking down the oil. Not so helpful for a major puddle.
My landscaper’s air compressor leaked a bunch of oil on my driveway. He came back and cleaned it up by spreading powdered lime and after while it disappeared on its own. I use and re-use the kitty litter type after the spill is absorbed it has plenty of life left. For degreasing d I saved and use the bottom part of water bottle cardboard with the plastic attached and fill with floor dry . I use them under the car to catch oil and degreaser and can either re-use or change absorbent. Pig mat I use in drip pans and old cookware my wife gives me.
The oil absorbent article was terrible. Could have saved a lot of time by just listing the most absorbent.
I live in “The Great White North”. The only one of all of these products I could find here in the west is the Coco Cleaner Pro. Couldn’t find any PIG cloths. Suggestion Kyle: See if you can find tests of products other than U.S. availability.