I'm doing an engine swap in my driveway right now. I've been careful to keep the mess to a minimum but between the oil spill, grass clippings and oil dry it looks like a heard of bison puked in my driveway. What do you guys use to clean automotive mess off concrete?
I've used laundry detergent with some luck but I am looking for your experiences.
oil dry?
...worked for me when I dumped half a crank case of oil in my garage earlier this year... 
I got the oil up, but I want to CLEAN the driveway. My wife is gonna pull my sack up and staple it to my forehead if I don't get it clean.
1: CAT LITTER
2: SAWDUST
3: CASTROL OR PURPLE POWER DEGREASER
For WET oil leaks throw down oil absorbant/kitty litter and soak it up than toss it in a firesafe bucket.
Place sawdust down next and really grind it into the concrete with your boot.
Broom it all up and place in another firesafe container.
Spray down stained area with degreaser and let sit for 5 minutes, respray and scrub with small head "acid brush" and hose down.
Wash with mild floor cleaner.
Good thing its on concrete. Otherwise you would be learning to like staples in your forehead. I've got some oil staining on asphalt that just won't clean up.
Maybe hide the stapler?
Draw the stain out to cover the complete driveway so she doesn't notice the spill?
John Brown wrote: Draw the stain out to cover the complete driveway so she doesn't notice the spill?
For The Win!!!!!!
Try Simple Green. I have had good success getting stains out of all kinds of things with it. Soak it down mixed with hot water and then hit it with a pressure washer. Good luck.
Hope the wife doesn't get the stapler out, cause that's just nasty..
The answer is: Jackhammer
The secret is to soak it up when you first spill it. Even if the kitty litter/sawdust/newspaper doesn't soak it all up, it will make the stain a little smaller.
Since it took me so long to discover the secret (and I've ignored it from time to time), here goes..
Simple Green + pressure wash. About four times.
OTOH, once when I had to get out of an apartment in a hurry, I just put the 100mm grinding disc on the grinder and "polished" the concrete a lil' bit...
Why did you let her out of the kitchen??
Brave words my friend....lol
footinmouth wrote: Why did you let her out of the kitchen??
woah dude. If my wife reads that post she'll buy a roof nailer and come for your sack!
I haven't actually tried it, but muriatic acid is supposed to be great for cleaning concrete surfaces. Normally, I just use Greased Lightning and scrub hard.
3000PSI does wonders 
Brake cleaner works okay too... Not that it's the best for the environment or anything... :P
well, there's that "microbe" stuff that Griot's (and others) sells... No experience on how well it works, though...
I just did the same this past weekend. I used "goo gone" as that was in the house, along with a power washer. Worked really well.
Fire.
Use degreaser and a wire brush. You put the degreaser and water on, then scrub with the brush like an idiot to take it off. I took around 200sqft of mastic off the downstairs bedroom using adhesive remover and a wire brush. The oil will come out with degreaser/adhesive remover and a wire brush. The low VOC paste adhesive remover that is water soluble is good but slightly toxic. Do not touch it, between the methyl alcohol and methylene chloride it will burn your skin, go right through latex or vinyl gloves(must use neoprene gloves), and make you sick.
If you want to go natural try borax, it is really great stuff, cheap and isn't toxic. \ Good luck.
poopshovel wrote: Fire.
I have done that... not on purpose... but I have done it. Worked wonders
I soak it with purple power and hit it with a steam cleaner my friend has... and I'm not talking about the hot water thingys, I mean steam. This sucker is a 5000 psi pressure washer with a 13hp diesel on a trailer with diesel turbine powered heater. Because its at such a high pressure you can set temps as high as 280 degrees. When that stuff comes out of the other end, its 5000 psi steam.
... and I still have stains that won't come out. I have ripped out a few chunks of concrete with it, and don't even think about using it on blacktop. It will rip a pothole faster than you can get you hand off the trigger.
A 5 ton pile of sand left for 2 weeks took an amazing amount of stuff off of a section of my driveway recently.
DrBoost wrote:footinmouth wrote: Why did you let her out of the kitchen??woah dude. If my wife reads that post she'll buy a roof nailer and come for your sack!
Yeah, but from the sound of it, someone probably already beat her to it.
I think John Brown has it. Kitty litter is amazing stuff. There's a reason people put it in litter boxes.
Another tip (albeit very strange): rip up an old pair of jeans. Denim is extremely good at absorbing stains if you haven't already noticed. Scrub the driveway with your denim cloth. Watch the oil go away.
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