aaghhh. motor oil spill in the back what now?

[meackerman]

We bought a case of chili and some other stuff for the homeless shelter the other day. Left it in the car overnight, when I went to pull it out the bottom was all greasy. We assumed one of the chili cans had leaked. We went to clean it out today, and as we were cleaning we kept finding it in more places. So it is over most of the drivers side 3 row seat back, all over the drivers side cover for the storage area as well as in the stiffening board for the cover of the storage area. Couldn't figure out what it was until we pulled a trunk bag we've had forever (3rd car now) opened it up and found that a quart of oil was the problem. After trying Dawn dishsoap, Simple Green, Resolve, Oxyclean and water, it's still there. I'm sure we got some of it out, but there's still some left. Looks like the seat cover kept it off the front of the seat. Right now there are paper towels in there weighted down to try and soak some of the stuff out. Got too dark to do more tonight.

So does anyone have a good cleaning agent that will pull the motor oil out? Further suggestions we've had so far:
Woolite,
CRC brake clean (test a very small area, and ventilate the car)
waterless hand cleaner.

Arggg.

Anyone know how much back seat is and the carpeting if we can't clean this out? And the board for the little storage area (pretty sure we'll have to replace this).


Mark

 

[jandree22]

Wow, that really sucks. Considering it's fabric, I'd use really mild stuff to the detergent itself doesn't cause a fading/discoloring stain. I'd keep working with the Dawn, but you said this hasn't been doing the trick.... maybe use a really strong concentration of Dawn/hot water and let it soak before scrubbing?

 

[Wuster]

Have you tried to use a portable carpet cleaner like this Bissell?

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.htm...6/602-9677743-7303815?ie=UTF8&asin=B000069K6U

This maybe one of those times to get the interior detailed and let some else figure it out.

 

[meackerman]

Have you tried to use a portable carpet cleaner like this Bissell?

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.htm...6/602-9677743-7303815?ie=UTF8&asin=B000069K6U

This maybe one of those times to get the interior detailed and let some else figure it out.

yeah we have a little green machine. I think we're going to try the water hand cleaner this morning. See how that does.

 

[Zoom5Zoom]

Ask your dealer they may have a contact for your answer on the "how too"

Leave it to the experts to clean it up....

 

[meackerman]

well I spent a couple of hours today trying to clean it up. Everytime I thought I found something that worked, I'd come back and the oil would have worked its way to the surface again.

I think the carpet is a loss, I'm going to check a auto upholstery place tomorrow and see how much to replace the rear carpet.

 

[dommo_g]

try diluting a commercial grade degreaser, and then taking out of the car and hitting it with the car wash high pressure soap. if it messes it up, meh....you were gonna get a new one anyway.

 

[mazdadude]

Argh!!!! SOOO sorry, I feel your pain. I went through the same thing in the trunk of the Miata. I parked my 92 Miata after a quick trip home from Costco, and noticed fluid leaking from the rear of the car. (A new 5 qt container of Mobil 1 got its lid popped off during some hard driving in the twisties in the trunk. There was only 1 qt left in the bottle.(doh) ) It was a "felty" type of carpet/fabric that just wicked the oil throughout. A complete and terrible mess, I never want to repeat again.

I tried simple green, super orange, dish soap, but nothing would get it more than 90% out. I never tried any of the powerful solvents like brake kleen or electronic degreaser. I ended up getting a complete trunk carpet for $30 used from the junkyard.

One thing you might want to try is a carpet, drapery, upholstery cleaning company. Last time I got my carpets cleaned in our old house rental, I was looking in the guys carpet cleaning van, and they had many gallon bottles of chemicals. I saw specific cleaners for every situation and type of stain I could think of. Might be worth a try?

Keep Zooming!

 

[meackerman]

contacted an auto detailing place, and they said they could get it out. I'll run it by there today, if not I'll just get it replaced. Hopefully it hasn't gotten into the foam on the rear seat.