The house a few doors down from me is a rental. The new tenant has a pretty clean 240D that he was parking on the street until the homeowners association requested that he park it in the driveway.

There is a fairly large area on the asphalt pavement that is black from dripping engine oil and possibly diesel fuel. What can be put on this that will absorb or remove as much of the oil as possible without doing further damage to the asphalt?

Brian in Austin

I presume that you wish to treat this area to enhance the look and remove the black stain on the asphalt..........??

If so, then I'd suggest that you'd be wasting your time attempting to absorb the oil that has stained the roadway. Although you can attempt to utilize all kinds of oil absorbing litter, this will simply draw the oil from the surface. The change in color will be minimal unless the roadway is very black asphalt.

Time will slowly improve the situation as the oil will continually rise upward to the surface after rainfall and the deep black color will be lessened somewhat.

I had the same situation on a blacktop driveway at a rental. After a couple of years, the leaching of oil from the surface has largely stopped. Fortunately, since the blacktop is similar in color to the engine oil (not diesel), the stain is minimized in appearance.

The soot in diesel oil presents a perfect vehicle for staining the road surface and it's nearly impossible to effectively remove.

Would it be possible to reseal the area?

It won't remove the stain, but a seal coat over a large area give the appearance of new(er) asphalt.

__________________
1974 240D "Boldie" 170K.- New timing chain/freshly rebuilt IP/replaced valve seals/injectors/upgraded stereo/new Bilsteins with Yokohamas/fresh paint and rocker panels plus lots of welds.

You might call some Folks that resurface Driveways and ask them about that. I say call on the Phone because it is easy to have a lot of sales resistance that way.

What Brian said about the leeching is true. The Oil has absorbed into the Asphalt. You can coat over it but it still can come up from under.

Sealing the Asphalt might slow down Oil from sinking into the Drivewy.

This will not solve the present issue but they sell Galvanized Sheet Metal Drip pans that you can put under your Car. That will prevent the issue from getting worse.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

wondering if some kind of surfactant would de-activate/remove any remaining liquid engine oil that hasnt yet been absorbed by the asphalt. Maybe liquid dish washing soap, water and a stiff push broom or scrub brush??

The car iwas parked in the street (we have rear entry garages),...I left a note explaining that they could not park in the street for extended periods per HOA, provided a copy of the HOA by-laws, and further suggesting that their car was damaging the community street asphalt and suggested they move it to the driveway and use a drip pan,....or absorbing mat,....even told them where they could get one.

The owner sent his girlfriend over to rant at me (they are college students) and tell me they would do what they wanted until the HOA told them to move it. So,......a phone call to the HOA and they got a letter in the mail and moved the car. Now have the ugly spot in the street

Brian in Austin

I'm dealing with a similar issue on my driveway since I have two W123 diesels and they have both "marked their spots" on my driveway. I have used the pressure washer once so far and it removed the thick deposits but there is still some oil stain. I am going to try to treat it with Dawn dish soap and then scrub and pressure wash again.

Cat litter has worked for me in the past. You can grind it into the surface with your feet and let it sit for a day or two, then sweep up and safely dispose. As others have said, fresh oil will continue to migrate up out of the road surface and you will have to repeat the process for some time.

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Could you let us know how that works out? Is this on Asphalt or the brick drive in the picture.....good looking 123 BTW.

I am not sure what HOA is but perhaps the HOA could Sue or take other leagal action against the Oil Drippers for repairs to the Street.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I know that there are several products at my local hardware store that claim to lift stains out of concrete. Not the same as ashfault I know but they might be worth a try.

__________________
2004 F150 4.6L -My Daily
2007 Volvo XC70 -Wife's Daily
1998 Ford F150 -Rear ended
1989 J-spec 420SEL -passed onto its new keeper
1982 BMW 733i -fixed and traded for the 420SEL
2003 Volvo V70 5 Speed -scrapped
1997 E290 Turbo Diesel Wagon -traded for above
1992 BMW 525i -traded in
1990 Silver 300TE -hated the M103
1985 Grey 380SE Diesel Conversion, 2.47 rear end, ABS -Sold, really should have kept this one
1979 Silver 300D "The Silver Slug" -Sold

Its on a plain concrete driveway. The decorative driveway in the picture is my Grandparent's house in Miami.

Get the heavy duty driveway cleaning liquid at the auto parts store, mixed in a lot with a little steaming hot water and drop it on the stain. It will remove some of it.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

HOA = Home Owners Association

Gatorblue, on a CONCRETE driveway, I pour a circle of oil dry / cat litter around the offending oil spot, spray or squirt (Ketchup bottle at the dollar store) laquer thinner on the oil stain, then cover the oil/laquer thinner mix with more oil dry/cat litter. Let it sit for a few days,....sweep it up. If its an old / heavy deposit, you may need to do this more than once. When done, sweep up the oil dry and keep it in a fold top bin. It can be used MANY times this way,....until it begins to look dirty or oily. I keep a one gallon pitcher from the dollar store 3/4 full of the cat litter and my Ketchup squeeze bottle of Laquer thinner in the pitcher on top of the oil dry,.............ready to go whenever there is a drip or spill.

This method is very effective and I am still using the same oil dry I started with 2-3 years ago,...........and I promise you I have lots of leaks and spills

I would be reluctant to try this method on Asphalt though, thinking that the laquer thinner would possibly disolve binders in the asphalt and maybe make the situation worse.

Oil dry mats are also great. When used outside however, you need to anchor each corner with a brick or similar. I had an old 4x4 that leaked badly.........I got about a year out of each oil dry / drip mat. They cost about $10 at O'Reilly's auto parts.