I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it
but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water
would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the
storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an
enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

I have had good luck with ordinary laundry detergent. Dampen the area with a
little water and then sprinkle with the detergent. Use a stiff brush and
scrub. I would not worry too much about the residue going into the storm
drain, when the detergent breaks the bonds of the oil, it is well on is way
to breaking down, this happens naturally anyway, but the soap hurries the
process along.

Think about this, as every car ages, it drips oil and these drops land on
the pavement. when it rains, all of this oil, and the oil that is released
from the asphalt (oil mixed with crushed rock) is absorbed by the
environment where the oil came from in the first place. Naturally existing
microbes break down the oil into smaller and smaller bits.

Cleaning a drive way is not the same thing as draining your crankcase in the
storm drain.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.
"salad" wrote in message
thlink.net...
I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it
but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water
would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the
storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an
enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

salad wrote:

I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it
but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water
would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the
storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an
enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.


Looks like there are several. "Chomp" claims to be available in places
like Sears, common hardware stores. Use "the google"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...cleanup+enzyme

On Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:28:17 GMT, salad wrote:

I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it
but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water
would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the
storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an
enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

I also use laundry detergent in boiling hot water to pour over the
patch and scrub vigourously with a broom and/or wire brush.
..

salad wrote:

I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it
but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water
would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the
storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an
enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

Looks like there are several. "Chomp" claims to be available in places
like Sears, common hardware stores. Use "the google"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...cleanup+enzyme

On Mar 18, 2:28 pm, salad wrote:
I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it
but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water
would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the
storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an
enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

I've had pretty good luck with a creme handcleaner, like Goop. Spread
it over the oil spot, let it sit for a few hours, brush, then hose off
with a hard stream from a nozzle.

On Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:28:17 GMT, salad wrote:

I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it
but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water
would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the
storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an
enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

imho:

I've had some positive results with dry laundry soap. I poured it on,
and mixed a little water, formed a paste, scrubbed with a brush. I
didn't rush to rinse it, but after I did It cleaned up well. Not
perfect, but I was satisfied.

later,

tom @ www.MedJobSite.com

salad wrote:
I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at
it but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that
water would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going
inside the storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there
something, like an enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can
eat away the oil residue?

Oil in the storm drains acts like a lubricant. Just like grass clippings
provide roughage.

Both are needed for digestive health.

On Mar 18, 5:28 pm, salad wrote:
I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it
but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water
would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the
storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an
enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

I have always taken a different approach on my concrete driveway.
Rather than try to wash it away, why not soak it up? I spread a small
amount of regular clay kitty litter on the stain, take a brick and
grind it hard into the stain. Leave it. After a few days, the stain
should be almost complete gone.

Make sure you do this when the driveway is dry and rain is NOT
expected for a few days. You can always repeat this if needed.

--Jeff

"JB" wrote in message
oups.com...

I have always taken a different approach on my concrete driveway.
Rather than try to wash it away, why not soak it up? I spread a small
amount of regular clay kitty litter on the stain, take a brick and
grind it hard into the stain. Leave it. After a few days, the stain
should be almost complete gone.

Make sure you do this when the driveway is dry and rain is NOT
expected for a few days. You can always repeat this if needed.


My ex-wife tried kitty litter but she didn't grind it as you suggested. The
neighborhood cats left her a surprise on her driveway.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

JB wrote:

On Mar 18, 5:28 pm, salad wrote:

I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it
but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water
would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the
storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an
enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.


I have always taken a different approach on my concrete driveway.
Rather than try to wash it away, why not soak it up? I spread a small
amount of regular clay kitty litter on the stain, take a brick and
grind it hard into the stain. Leave it. After a few days, the stain
should be almost complete gone.

Make sure you do this when the driveway is dry and rain is NOT
expected for a few days. You can always repeat this if needed.

--Jeff


I got advice to use cat litter from our city haz. waste dept. after a
neighbor spilled a quart of oil on sidewalk. I put down the cat letter
and left it for several days. There is no sign now that the oil was
ever spilled. I probably ground it in a bit to make sure it got into
the little pores in the concrete as much as possible.

Just plain old dirt and dust picks up oil, which oil apparently likes
more than it likes floors. Sweep dirt away, if you're dealing with
residue and not some huge quantity.

Dirt and dust also pick up gasoline smell from fingers, with a few
dust-and-wash repeats.
--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

On Mar 21, 12:59 am, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:
"JB" wrote in message

oups.com...



I have always taken a different approach on my concrete driveway.
Rather than try to wash it away, why not soak it up? I spread a small
amount of regular clay kitty litter on the stain, take a brick and
grind it hard into the stain. Leave it. After a few days, the stain
should be almost complete gone.

Make sure you do this when the driveway is dry and rain is NOT
expected for a few days. You can always repeat this if needed.

My ex-wife tried kitty litter but she didn't grind it as you suggested. The
neighborhood cats left her a surprise on her driveway.


I grind the litter HARD into the concrete with a brick. You are
driving the clay dust into the itty-bitty pores of the concrete.
Easier for the oil to soak up than by leaving larger clay pebbles ON
TOP of the concrete.

--Jeff

On Mar 21, 11:02 am, Ron Hardin wrote:

--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.
(Only if you browse - start typing and you remove all doubt!)

On Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:28:17 GMT, salad wrote:

I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was
hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

Just get your wife to suck the oil up off the ground.
Isn't that the reason we marry them? At least they have something
useful to do besides bitch and nag.

"JB" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Mar 21, 12:59 am, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:
"JB" wrote in message

oups.com...



I have always taken a different approach on my concrete driveway.
Rather than try to wash it away, why not soak it up? I spread a small
amount of regular clay kitty litter on the stain, take a brick and
grind it hard into the stain. Leave it. After a few days, the stain
should be almost complete gone.

Make sure you do this when the driveway is dry and rain is NOT
expected for a few days. You can always repeat this if needed.

My ex-wife tried kitty litter but she didn't grind it as you suggested.
The
neighborhood cats left her a surprise on her driveway.


I grind the litter HARD into the concrete with a brick. You are
driving the clay dust into the itty-bitty pores of the concrete.
Easier for the oil to soak up than by leaving larger clay pebbles ON
TOP of the concrete.

--Jeff


Yes I understood this from your first post, I was just posting a funny
story. I think your idea is a good one.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.