Motor oil in carpet

S

stiffdogg06

New member
Hey everyone,



So I have a car that had motor oil leak into the carpet and I am looking for the best way to remove this. I have access to a steam cleaner. Can't not replace the carpet. Just looking for ideas from folks who may have come across this issue.





Andy
 
1st thing is to soak up as much as possible. Great time to use those towels you've been wanting to retire. Not sure if you have a hot water extractor, but avoid using it until the end otherwise you're gonna suck up some nasty stuff and make a mess. After your preliminary removal via towels, pre-soak with a bunch of APC/degreaser and/or fabric safe solvent. Again blotting/wiping out with your towel. The key is to extract as much as possible and not spread it further than you need to. There really isn't a magic treatment for it that I know of other than pulling the carpet and powerwashing it (which works excellent btw).
 
+1 for power washing the carpet will look fantastic when done gets rid of all the years of dirt smashed into them. did wonders on my tan BMW interior
 
If you don't want to 'waste' your towels use Kitty Litter for the prelim extraction of the oil
 
as David stated, but alternate between APC and solvent until satisfied. Then extract after APC dwell.
 
Is it new oil or used oil?

If it's used oil, that stuff contains black carbon from the engine combustion process that stains carpet fibers pretty "permanently", much like tatoo ink.



I agree with idea of using an granulated porous stone-based absorber for soaking up the oil (Oil-dry is a tradename that race tracks use after crash incidents). It still makes mess,though, trying to remove it from interior carpets by manually scooping it out and then vacuuming the remaining small oil-soaked debris.



I've had good success using WD-40's "Spot Shot" on oily stains, but quite honestly, if the fibers are stained, it's very difficult to remove oil/grease/tar without steam. (No, do not use your wife's steam iron. NOT a good idea)
 
A friend of mine got all the grease and oil stains out of his Jags carpet by scrubbing with prepsol and MF towels. Made them like new again.
 
I've had great success using WD-40 as the solvent, then follow with a degreaser. The motor oil mixes with the oil in WD-40 and is easily lifted out with a degreaser.
 
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