Logo
FULL SITE MENU

Oil clean up

H

hgput17

Member
So, the oil pan dipstick fitting failed draining all the oil into my bilge. I was able to suck most of it up, but there is still a lot of residue left. Is there a product that will dissolve/clean what is remaining, liquid enough to pump out and discard appropriately?

Thank you.
 
if the contaminated area isn't wet (from water), regular sawdust will soak up most of it. then you have to get a lot of rags/paper towels and remove the remained by hand. brake cleaner may help to thin it. afterwards, a good bath should take off any residue.

if there's water mixed in, shop vac what you can and then get the rags/towels out....a major PITA for sure.
 
Bilge Bully has worked well for me. If there is free oil sitting on top of water, a sheet of newspaper on top works well to absorb, and is cheap and easy to dispose of properly, unlike oily emulsified water.
 
As you can read from my last post, I lost all the oil as a result of engine failure---huge mess a couple weeks ago. I disconnected the fuse for my auto bilge, bought some oil absorb pads ($1 each, about 20" square), and two gallons of Purple Power from O'Reilly's. I placed the oil absorb pads to skim the oil off the top on the minimal bilge water---they absorb the oil, not the water. There was a lot of oil accumulated in the forward compartments where I cannot reach, I could only see it with a flashlight. I took a hose and agitated the oil forward on top of the water and would place the oil absorb pads as it collected towards me in an area I had better access to. After all the oil was collected, I then diluted the purple power about 30% with water in a spray bottle and sprayed down the residue marks and wiped up with blue shop towels. I then rinsed everything with the hose and then sucked it out with a hand bilge pump into a five gallon bucket. Remember to hook the bilges back up!


I never would have thought of agitating the oil with water until I saw a program on Nat Geo Channel called "Salvage Code Red". They rescue stricken vessels and the first thing they have to due is pump oil out of the bilge/engine room.....
 
Back
Top