Oil in carpet(lots)

[quattrorunner]

Dumped about 2 quarts of oil in my car behind the passenger seat. I saw a really big amount of clean yellow fluid on the ground under my car at work and couldn't figure out what it was from till I looked behind the seat. It's soaked the rear matt and gone up the carpet that goes under the rear seat pads. How do I clean it? I doubt it can be done.

[Joe Bob]

They are probably toast, but you could try soaking them in Dawn dish soap and water.....rinse repeat, rinse repeat.

Scrape and/or drain off the excess first. Dispose of the dreck in a safe manner....not down the drain.

[Ronnie's.930]

First, how in the hell did you manage to do that? Did your car's whiplash acceleration twist the caps off

I have used "Tuff Stuff" cleaner for decades and it seems to work well on stains and such on carpet/cloth (after you have removed the oil with rags/paper towels/shop vac) . . .

[Chuck.H]

I left my targa in the parking lot at work about 15 years ago (top down as always), left for lunch with some people there... one of the sudden Florida downpours came and put 1.5" of water in my car (DME was under water). I towed the car home, dried out the DME and it was fine - still is!

But the carpet, like in your case I suspect, was never the same so out it came.

Who can recommend the best replacement carpet? Is that as bad as the oil/tire threads???

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 336k miles

[donagain1]

Responding to Chuck.H's comment, the World Upholstery product is of great quality and the pieces were cut well and fit easily. Quattro, Joe Bob is right on, ditch the old carpet. It'll never be the same. +1 on the cleanup as well. Do it safely. You're no doubt going to be using a lot of solvent's to clear the residue off the surfaces back there (lest the cement won't adhere well), so be careful.

[quattrorunner]

Dang

[JoeyD911]

How did the oil get underneath the car if it spilled in the inside? Am I missing something? Seems like replacing the carpets might be a side project of fixing the floor pans.

[quattrorunner]

Well, there must be some drainage ports. Car is solid and I was wondering how as well but I'm not concerned, I'm sure there is a way to drain whatever water gets in there.

[quattrorunner]

I do have a screw hole from a previous owner instal of an amp under the seat.

[ivangene]

newspaper will suck up a olt of liquid, change often and set weights on it...once the majority of the oil is cleaned up try Dawn as suggested

I was teaching my kid to change oil on cars and he managed to dump a large qty of oil on his jeans - I tried to clean them for about a week using everything I could think of....they NEVER came clean, ended up tossing them out

[jeffs9146]

You can get this stuff at the Dollar Store!! I use it on all my oily rags!! You put it on concentrated, work the carpet and rinse. Then you soak them for a while in hot water and Awesome. Rinse and put the carpet in your washing machine on gentle with 50% awesome and detergent.

[quattrorunner]

Thanks guys

[ben parrish]

Plus one on the Awesome...GREAT stuff.

[Jerome74911S]

It wasn't oil, but I recently forgot a large dark chocolate bar (in its wrapper!) that was on the carpet between the seats. I closed the car and went to lunch and while doing that the sun came out. Melted the whole thing to liquid that soaked totally through the carpet and went onto the floor below. I pulled out the carpet section and when it cooled off it set up and turned back into a stiff chocolate bar - with a carpet for a center filling. It was a large dark chocolate puddle in my pale tan carpet.

I didn't want to deal with this, so I ignored all my friend's cleaning ideas and took the carpet to a shop called Roto-Static (a franchise outfit in Canada; I don't know if it is elsewhere), and for $15 they cleaned the carpet overnight. The carpet looks EXACTLY the same as it was before the chocolate affair. I don't know how they did it. While the big stain is gone, there remains a faint aroma of chocolate if you stick your nose close enough.

Sometimes I forget my DIY religion and I'm happy about it.