Have a nice, gooey oil slick on the garage floor, courtesy of leaking 2003 Saturn (183,000) miles that we just donated to our local public radio station in Houston today. Said good bye to the car. Would like to say good bye to the oil slick. What is the best way to get it up and clean the area so that there is little or no trace of it? If we get the goo up, is there any advantage to power washing the area afterward?
Get a bag of cheap kitty litter (non clumping kind) or Oil-Dri (brand name), whichever is cheaper for you (it’s the same thing, really) and spread it generously over the oil slick. Grind it into the spot with your feet as though you were squashing a bug like a young child would. Sweep up, repeat as needed. Wash floor with cleanser and a deck scrub brush or plastic bristled push broom if desired. I get oil all over my garage floor all the time working on stuff and just grind Oil-Dri into the spots with my shoes and have no oil stains on my floors at all, and have never power washed or deck scrubbed my garage floor, either. You can’t even tell where spills have occurred.
I use a spray can of engine degreaser. Spray over spot, wait a few minutes. Then flood with water and sweep out.
The McParts stores use a liquid de-greaser in their parking lots and sell it, also, but they usually keep it in the back stock room. It is somewhat effective. Certainly quicker than oil dry. But it may take several attempts with various products to get totally clean.
Prell shampoo, if you can find it, works well on oil stains, or depending on how finished the garage floors are, muratic acid.
I use kitty liter to get the overly wet spill up, then use powdered laundry soap to clean up the residual. Scrub both in with a stiff bristle shop broom. Rinse off the soap with a hose.
BustedKnuckles beat me to it. Kitty litter and powdered Tide will remove the mess. I’ve only had to use acid once.