Getting motor oil out of soiled clothes

Triple_Se7en

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I'm talking porous clothing material. It's my sweatshirt and zip-down hoodie. I've tried Spray and Wash soaks, Naptka bar soap scrubs and even engine degreaser. I soaked the clothing for an entire day in two gallons of water using an entire large blue cap of Tide detergent.
I've scrubbed all these different concoctions with a soft brush and even cussed at the oil-stained clothes loudly. They are still soiled after two treatments and two washings.

It all started when I brought NAPA Synthetic upstairs from the basement and one of the quart jugs was leaking. I couldn't get over how thin those five plastic jugs were. I barely squeezed one and it cracked.
 
The stain has already set. I have found that pretreatment with Permatex Blue Label Hand Cleaner works pretty well. You rub that goop into the stain and let it sit overnight, before washing.
 
I got some gumout multisystem tune up on my heavy duty insulated jacket a month ago tried washing it twice with a lot of detergent presoaked on it and it still didn't come out, so then I unloaded a ton carb cleaner into it and sopped as much of it out as I could and washed it and the stain is gone. So I guess you could try loading it in carb cleaner or brake cleaner and sopping it out, the old school chlorinated brake cleaner is pretty much the same as dry cleaning fluid.
 
Dawn liquid might have helped as a first step but after all the different methods you tried and the two wash cycles, the stains are probably "set" and there's no helping them now.
 
Originally Posted by gman2304
Dawn liquid might have helped as a first step but after all the different methods you tried and the two wash cycles, the stains are probably "set" and there's no helping them now.


Oil the entire hoodie and sweatshirt to even out the spots. Then wash and clean in a bucket.
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Tide was on here last year advertising their new Tide Heavy Duty
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Originally Posted by Bud
Set those aside for working on the car.


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As Bud said
You now have some oil change cloths.
But next time use some go-jo hand cleaner before you wash
 
dawn I believe. That reminds me I have a hoodie and a shirt that's been sitting outside since I had my fuel filter change mishap about a month ago.
 
Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
I'm talking porous clothing material. It's my sweatshirt and zip-down hoodie. I've tried Spray and Wash soaks, Naptka bar soap scrubs and even engine degreaser. I soaked the clothing for an entire day in two gallons of water using an entire large blue cap of Tide detergent.
I've scrubbed all these different concoctions with a soft brush and even cussed at the oil-stained clothes loudly. They are still soiled after two treatments and two washings.

It all started when I brought NAPA Synthetic upstairs from the basement and one of the quart jugs was leaking. I couldn't get over how thin those five plastic jugs were. I barely squeezed one and it cracked.


Has the clothing gone in the dryer after the stains? If so its set.
 
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My experience is that if you can quickly hit an oil spill with Dawn and vigorous scrubbing there is a decent chance of getting it clean. If oil stays more than a few minutes on cotton cloth, however, the oil seems to "dye" the cotton. At that point saturating the spot in pure laundry detergent and letting it sit for a few hours then washing is a front loader washer will get about the best removal that can be achieved.

Let's all be thankful that ArcoGraphite was a passing fad. Every drop of that stuff left a permanent black spot on anything porous.
 
I've never found anything that works after it's been washed and dried. If you do, let me know.
 
Originally Posted by Lou_Boyle
... Let's all be thankful that ArcoGraphite was a passing fad. Every drop of that stuff left a permanent black spot on anything porous.
That's right! My engine liked the stuff just fine, but my green&white jacket didn't.
 
Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.
 
Pre-treat the area with full strength degreaser like Lestoil, or liquid laundry detergent if that's all you've got. Let it sit at least an hour, rinse out with very hot water, wring the water out, and pretreat it again.

It is not too late to keep trying as long as the fabric has not been sitting dry, especially not put through the dryer.

If all else fails, get some Rit fabric dye and dye the whole thing to conceal the stain... or douse the whole thing in dirty motor oil instead.
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Originally Posted by Dave9
... or douse the whole thing in dirty motor oil instead.
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"Engine oil" is the new black? 🤔
 
pure undiluted dichloromethane is your only hope to get dry oil out of clothes. realistically the best approach is to leave the stain in the clothes and be happy that you have new overalls. ALWAYS wear your overalls when working on a vehicle to prevent getting oil stains in your nice clothes.
 
Originally Posted by gman2304
Dawn liquid might have helped as a first step but after all the different methods you tried and the two wash cycles, the stains are probably "set" and there's no helping them now.


It may take a couple iterations l with Dawn applied full-strength directly to the stains, but it'll work. Use no cheaper blue generics/knockoffs—there's a reason that the wildlife rescue folks only use Dawn to clean off oil-gooed waterfowl.
 
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