# hydraulic oil spill on asphalt driveway



## natural1 (Aug 30, 2007)

Need some help if possible. Re-doing a homeowners landscaping. They just had a brand new asphalt driveway installed. They hemmed and hawed about whether to wait until after the landscaping was done to install the driveway but thought it was best to do it first, which made sense in some ways.

Anyway, I had some very bad luck. I was dumping some mulch and my hydraulic hose sprung a leak and spilled oil on the driveway. I quickly got some absorbent material(the cat litter type stuff) to put on the area. This happened thursday so we have been removing and applying new absorbent every day. There are 2 areas with pretty big stains, about 3' x3".

It doesn't appear it will completely remove the stain. Any suggestions for some type of cleaner or other suggestions?

Thanks


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## tedanderson (May 19, 2010)

If the asphalt is new enough, you might be able to run a propane blow torch over it. That will burn off the hydraulic fluid and re-liquify the tar in the asphalt so that when it cools the surface will be homogenized.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

That's tough luck for sure,..maybe try this stuff


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## pappagor (Jan 29, 2008)

call the blacktop co.:no:


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## peteo (Jan 8, 2011)

Sealer. Dont use a torch, you'll burn the ac out of the asphalt and ruin the topcoat not to mention there will be an obvious rough spot where you did try to rework it. Leaving a rough spot will lead to the material coming apart quicler than the rest of the driveway. Put some sealer on the driveway and call it a day


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## builditguy (Nov 10, 2013)

There is one positive. Asphalt is held together with oil. (sort of) Since you spilled oil on the driveway which is already made of oil, you don't have to worry about it causing any damage.

On the other hand, I would seriously think about not using a torch. I don't know that much about cooking asphalt, but I think things could go bad, quickly.

Most likely a sealer will be your best option. It's not uncommon for new asphalt to be sealed anyway. I know it doesn't happen all the time, but that is just because people want to save money.


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## Kowboy (May 7, 2009)

Dawn dishwashing detergent. Seriously.


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## instock (Nov 17, 2012)

I recently had the oil pan rust through on my truck. It left a big spot on a customer's concrete driveway. I was able to draw the oil out with acetone and soak it up by grinding the clay absorbent stuff in with the heel of my foot and scrubbing with a stiff deck brush. Took a while, but it was a 100% success. Looked like it never even happened. 

Of course, concrete is different than asphalt. Maybe acetone would destroy the asphalt. But that was my experience. 

I also repaired the oil pan, since it was like a thousand bucks for a new one installed. First, I duct taped my shop vac to the oil fill tube. That kept the oil from oozing out while I did the repair. I removed all the loose rust, cleaned the whole area with acetone, smeared a layer of quick setting jb weld, put a piece of woven fiberglass, then another layer of quick setting jb weld. It's been holding for a few weeks.


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## Brad Gunn (Aug 18, 2015)

Whatever you do, don't use the purple stuff from the auto parts store. It completely dissolves oil. And oil based material, like asphalt.:no:


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## natural1 (Aug 30, 2007)

Thanks for all the replies.
So after applying and reapplying the absorbent stuff for several days the stain is still quite visible.
I tried power washing the area and it helped.

Thanks for the dawn dishwashing suggestions. Someone else recommended that so I will give it a try.

Blacktop guy is coming out at the end of the week to look at some other issues the homeowner has so hopefully he will have some suggestions.

Thanks again,


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## Michaeljp86 (Apr 10, 2007)

put some dawn on it and then see if you could hook a pressure washer up to the water heater.

If its comes down to it I would seal it.


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## oktex56 (Dec 30, 2011)

You did the right thing with the absorption. Degreaser and asphalt don't mix. Excessive oil can be blocked by a product used by asphalt sealer guys. I am sure it is fine, except for appearance because it is new. Lots of Paving companies recommend sealing new asphalt. I don't. Probably best to just pay someone to seal it.


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## JDavis21835 (Feb 27, 2009)

builditguy said:


> There is one positive. Asphalt is held together with oil. (sort of) Since you spilled oil on the driveway which is already made of oil, you don't have to worry about it causing any damage.
> 
> On the other hand, I would seriously think about not using a torch. I don't know that much about cooking asphalt, but I think things could go bad, quickly.
> 
> Most likely a sealer will be your best option. It's not uncommon for new asphalt to be sealed anyway. I know it doesn't happen all the time, but that is just because people want to save money.


Any oil that is lighter than the asphalt cement, which is oil, will do damage to that AC. The old school way to keep asphalt from sticking to equipment and trucks was to spray diesel fuel on it. That does damage to the asphalt before it has even been put down, and to a major extent has been done away with as an industry standard


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## Asphalt guy (Apr 13, 2017)

DO NOT USE A TORCH!!! This has happened different times on my 23 years in the Business, my best advice is to try to remove and absorb as much as you can and pretty much as everyone has stated on here use a grease cutting detergent such as Dawn then scrub it and power wash it, repeat as necessary, though normally leaves a slight stain but as the asphalt fades in just a few months it will not be noticed! If it is removed sufficiently and quick enough you will not damage the product.


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## RangoWA (Jun 25, 2014)

Good tip, but that was a year ago.


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## natural1 (Aug 30, 2007)

One year anniversary! So the blacktop company said the damaged area needed to be removed and re-laid. The gave a quote for over 6k to do the work. 2 small areas needed repair each about 6' x 6' more or less.
The homeowner was nice enough to talk them down to 5k or so. 

Pretty sure they gave the "i got you over a barrel quote" or "
we don't want to bother with this quote"

I gave the quote to my insurance and they paid. Pretty sure the homeowner still has the stains on the driveway. 

Thank you insurance!


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

how big of a driveway?


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## natural1 (Aug 30, 2007)

Very big. I don't know the sq. ft but it is about 300 ft. in length plus a circle in front of the house and large are in front of the garage. I would guess 6000 sq. ft.


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## SuperiorHIP (Aug 15, 2010)

Man, that sucks. 
I had a gallon of fast dry white oil based primer fall out of the trailer and bust open spilling about 1/2 of the full gallon on a black asphalt driveway. I freaked out for about 10 seconds and then using a mud knife scooped up what I could, then used paint thinner to wipe up as much as I could. Luckily I noticed the homeowner had a giant bottle of Dawn in their garage so then I got a scrub brush and mixed up some Dawn and water in a bucket and kept scrubbing and hosing and to my complete amazement the whole mess was gone. I was sure when the sun hit it and the area dried out there would be a spot but by the end of the day you couldn't even tell where it happened.
Probably helped the driveway was old but it still looked in very good shape.


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