Projects degreasing and clean up the drive

Hi All,

I need to degrease my engine but don't want to recreate the Rexxon Valdese oil disaster in my driveway/creek. I do have a plastic kiddie pool that I can spray and soak the engine in. But I need something to soak up the oil so I can dispose of it. Any suggestions? I can also do this in the drive way but will need something like a berm or something to collect the oil/grease.

Thanks,

Mike

 

Take it over to a relatives house and do it there.

 

scrape off most of it. Then use solvent and a brush to get the rest off. It's hard work. Put some cardboard under the engine bay first. Kitty litter helps too. The trick is to not go crazy with too much liquid....so you don't have to clean up much liquid....

 

We used drain guards to keep oil out of the storm drains at work. They are Similar to the ones they use to soak up oil spills in water. I doubt if they would work a for driveway. As it’s been said, best to use as little water as possible and lay out a big tarp.

 

Little water as possible, and thick cardboard under the work area. The cardboard will soak up a lot of the oil, then after the cardboard dries, you can dispose of the cardboard. Big appliance boxes work well, cut them into sections to cover the area, double layers will absorb more water and oil.

 

I live in Denver, so have to do a lot of work in my garage over the winter. I use a 2 ring kiddie pool bought at Walmart, and blow it up, but not fully. It fits snugly between the wheels and under the tie rods/ front end. When I'm done, just pull it out slowly and dispose of whatever is in there. One size fits all! And, it's reusable.

 

I guess I'm not understanding? You plan to have a quart or more of oil come off the outside of your engine? What oil is on there?

Like many have said, scrape dry chunks off first, but after that you will probably use a degreaser like Gunk or Simple Green, right? Those products will dissolve and disperse the grease into the water in so small of particles that it will be like your bathtub after a hard night in the garage. You shouldn't have an oil slick on the pavement.

If you do have some oily spots, wet them down with Simple Green too and then hose them off with high pressure. All the soapy water can run down into the gutter. Trust me, the storm sewers see a lot worse than the soapy/dirty water you are going to wash into it.

 

oh...I was assuming there are no storm drains or gutters...there aren't where I live. And if there were, it's over a hundred yards of my property the yucky water would have to travel over to get there. No thanks.

 

You know, purely for the sake of entertainment, and to illustrate the amount of gunk and oil and what ever is on your engine, a few good shots of the engine from different angles, would really be interesting to see just how much excess residue there is, that you are trying to get off of the engine. How ever, there is the consideration of the " nah I don't want to show you all, how dirty and oily this engine is " factor, which is totally understandable!
But that being said, come on and humor us and show us the engine, gunk and all please !

 

Oil eater and kitty litter but quite often the 50 lb bag of oil dry at the parts house is cheaper than a 20 lb of kitty litter.
You can get the oil eater at most parts houses or Costco.

 

Sorry about that. The water would run straight towards a creek and I want to keep it out of that. Most of the grease/sludge/oil is on the left side of the block (Y block). I think cardboard may be the best option in the kiddie pool no less. So I get containment and soaking abilities. I am sure there have been worse coatings of oil, just trying to not make a mess.

mime

 

I throw all my nasty-greasy cleanup jobs on my two-axle sixteen-foot steel-bottomed junk hauling trailer, simply soak, scrape and scrub the parts as needed, then drive to the local self-serve car wash for a quick wash-off.

 

Get a trailer load of sand and build a raised wall with it around the area, mostly on the side closest to the creek. If any watery crud starts heading toward the creek it should soak it up. Shovel up it up when finished.

 

Hang the engine above a big wheelbarrow. Your in CA. The water in the barrow will evaporate and the gunk will stay. Scrape gunk out a week or two later .

 

You guys are making me feel guilty for just pressure blasting my flathead on the lawn…….
( I thought that everyone did that ).

 

Lacquer thinner, a toothbrush size wire brush and paper towel to wipe up/wipe off the loosened goo. Easy with the engine out of the car like yours is and since you would be doing small areas at a time, easy to control the mess. A scrapper for the hard crusty stuff.

 

An old layer or 2 of carpet soaks up most of the liquid and it can be rolled up and ditched. I have used the "sand dam" trick a few times as well, the water that gets through leaves the crud in the sand.

 

Pretty sure that all car washes have a oil/water separator which they have pumped out on a regular basis (regular for depending on the volume of cars the car wash receives, could be monthly, could be quarterly, could be semiannually). Pretty sure it's an EPA requirement. Having said that, scraping it down to get rid of the thick stuff, then taking it to the car wash is probably your most environmentally responsible choice.

 

The car washes around here won’t even let you wash an overly muddy truck. If you roll in with an engine you’d better be damn fast and ready for a hasty retreat.

 

The gunk on that engine doesn't look so bad. I brought home an FE once that looked like a giant chocolate turtle candy.

 

Yeah, the car wash owners definitely do not like excessively dirty vehicles. But as far as the easiest method to capture the environmental spillage, it is the easiest as their system will do the environmental work for you. Definitely scrape it down as best you can before taking it there if that's the route you chose. I work at a military facility and our wash rack have a oil/water separator which gets pumped out on a regularly scheduled basis. We cannot take non-military anything to the wash rack though.

 

“In a self-service car wash, the customers wash the vehicles. A wand dispenses water and cleanser at varying amounts and pressures. In addition, a low-pressure brush may be available to assist in the wash cycle.”


https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=1404



Hello,

In the S.F. Bay Area, as well as most places in So Cal, there are rules for washing anything in your backyard, driveway or a big field. It is all based on where the pollutants are going to go during the cleaning or afterwards.

All states have similar rules and they all have disposal sites available for that purpose. But, to a lot of California residents don’t have access or the ability to catch and release the residue. So, they go to the businesses that offer spray wash facilities for the public. The cost varies at all locations. The residue goes into a separate tank and when necessary, it gets sucked out to go to a certified disposal site.

The costs are relative to where and how far the disposal site is and what they charge to dispose of the pollutants. Stall car washes are in almost every neighborhood. We had one within two blocks of our old Westside of Long Beach home. The last time I drove by in 2019, it was still there and in full use by the locals.

Jnaki

The above document is from San Jose, CA. It must be the same as for Oakland, just up the freeways. When I was going to college in San Jose, I remember taking my 65 El Camino to a neighborhood spray booth car wash for something like $.25 for x number of minutes. The one near our Long Beach house in the 1958-60s was about the same.

I am sure the costs are higher, today. But, at least you don’t have to worry about disposal. For the businesses, they have a contract to have someone come out and take the left over stuff to a disposal site far away from homes and neighborhoods. YRMV

Nice historical reference: Exxon Valdez oil spill

https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/exxon-valdez-oil-spill

 

One bad thing about being HAZWOPER certified (3 times, always plus the extra 8 hr "Supervisor" session) is that you are supposed to know better- no playing dumb if you get caught. I used to have a big box full of spill kit stuff in the truck, and in Kaleeeforneea, if OSHA comes around, you better have it- and safety glasses, ear plugs, gloves, good first aid kit, safety manual with docs for any material you might ever have on the site. I have installed a lot of oil/grease interceptors for restaurants etc, any place that generates anything. The car wash operators definitely don't like you bringing in anything that's greasy, as it's not cheap servicing the interceptors- so bringing in that new prized greaseball barn find on a trailer, when the attendant is on site, is not a good idea Parts in the back of your pickup might accidentally get some overspray while washing the pickup

 

I'd get a big blue tarp and put it down first. Then set up a sawhorse on each end and use ropes to pull the tarp up to create a dam around it. Then you can clean and make all the mess you want with it contained. Once done, pull up the 4 corners and take it somewhere to dump in a container, or wherever.

 

The kiddie pool is a good idea

I’ve used card board and old carpets to soak up the mess.

Then some big contractor bags to put it in and what ever messy goop is left into a bucket and drop off at your local waste depot

 

California, eh? Load it in the truck, spray it with foaming engine cleaner and let it soak while you drive to Carson City NV and use a car wash.

 

Purely as a suggestion and nothing more, if you have any connection to any large truck repair facility, they usually have a steam cleaner and a rack / concrete slab, with a catch basin / reservoir that will catch all of the water and gunk, put the engine on a small trailer or what ever you can beg borrow or temporarily liberate, and and give that a try, I know that is a long shot, but its a viable one.

Its of the type of connection that it would possibly be done after hours with a "smooth " permission from the management, or who ever can say yes with out a lot of hassle ! Don't be afraid to offer some cash to the connection as well !

That being said, there is always a hassle, no doubt!
"Your Mileage may vary "

 

I’ve never heard or read that you can’t take something greasy and clean it at a self serve care wash? I’ve also never been to one that has a person working, usually just a bill changer to get your quarters.
Might just be where I live.

I like the big blue tarp idea, use that cherry picker to hang it over the tarp, roll the engine out of they way and wait for the water to evaporate. The larger the area you have to spread the water out, faster it will be gone.
I do admire the OP for being environmentally conscious.

 

WTF is HAZWOPER????????

 

You probably never heard of Google either, eh? Not hard to find lol