Tips For Removing Oil Stains From Concrete & Driveways

Motor oil and grease can leak from cars onto the ground below them causing noticeable and ugly stains.

Below I've collected tips for removing oil stains from concrete and driveways, so you can clean up after these messes and get on with your life.

There are really several parts to this process though.

First, you've got to clean up the fresh oil or grease drips, removing as much of the liquid that has spilled from the surface of the concrete or driveway.

Once the fresh oil is removed then the real fun begins -- getting the stains it has caused removed, which is the second part of the process.

The tips below go through both of these steps in the process for you.

In addition, I have another suggestion for what to do after you remove the stains, to clean your concrete driveway, and seal it to prevent future staining. After all, after all that hard work, who wants to have to do it all over again?

Of course, there is often lots of different ways to clean oil from concrete, so I'd love to hear even more tips from you if you've used a home remedy, discovered a great removal method, or found a good concrete oil stain remover that worked for you.

You can share your tips here for removing concrete stains, or read other tips already submitted for cleaning this porous surface of other types of stains and dirt that have already been submitted.

Go ahead and scroll down to see the tips already submitted below.

Top photo by Ctd 2005

Motor Oil Stain Removal From Garage Floor With Kitty Litter

Soaking up fresh motor oil drips and spills from your garage floor, driveway or walk is easy to do with kitty litter.

Actually, the cheapest type of kitty litter is best for this purpose, and you just sprinkle it all over the oil which has dripped or spilled and let it sit in for a while.

You may also find it helpful to either rub the kitty litter in, with either a rough brush or stepping on it with your feet.

This helps break up all the big clumps of kitty litter and gets them in close contact with the spilled oil that you want soaked up and off your garage floor.

Once the litter has sat on the fresh spill for a while, for several hours to overnight, you can sweep it up with a broom and throw it away.

This will get rid of the viscous liquid part of the stain, but now you'll have to deal with the stains that are left behind in the concrete floor.

Simple Tip To Prevent These Stains From Occurring

Another helpful hint is to prevent oil from actually getting onto your garage floor by using a big piece of cardboard on the ground (see the picture above for an example).

Place the cardboard under the car that is dripping oil and save yourself a lot of headaches of cleaning your floor (or having it permanently stained by the motor oil).


Top photo by Paul Kehrer

Remove Oil Stains From Concrete Driveway - Video Instructions

The video below gives tips for how to remove oil stains from concrete.

This is unfortunately a common occurrence if a car has parked on the driveway that leaks motor oil.

Once you notice this has occurred the quicker you act, the better, because concrete is a porous surface and the oil will get down in all the pores and cracks.

The more it seeps into the surface of the concrete the harder it will be to remove.

The ingredients you will need to remove the oil and grease stains from your concrete include:

• Newspapers, paper towels or rags to soak up excess motor oil and grease


• Liquid dishwashing liquid


• Scrub brush


• Hot water


• Cat litter


• Broom and dust pan

Once you soak up as much excess motor oil and grease from your concrete with the newspapers, rags or paper towels (or use the kitty litter method I suggest above) you'll want to scrub with a scrub brush, hot water and dishwashing liquid.

The dishwashing liquid and hot water will both help break up the oil, and the scrub brush gets the stain removal solution deep down into the concrete.

***Update: Please note this is similar to the homemade formula I suggest for cleaning garage floors of oil and grease stains in another article on this site, except that I suggest using powdered dishwasher detergent. The powdered detergent is stronger than the milder dish soap, so may be a bit more effective in removing the stain. ***End Update

After rinsing your concrete driveway, next sprinkle cat litter over the oil stained area, and the cat litter will help absorb any additional oil and grease.

The next day you sweep up the cat litter, and if needed, again use hot water, dishwashing liquid and the scrub brush to get up the rest of the oil stain from your driveway.

See this video for complete details:



Motor oil and grease get on all kinds of things, of course, not just your driveway. You can see more tips for grease and oil stain removal here, that have been submitted by readers for all types of surfaces, or you can share your own tips as well.

Photo by downing.amanda

Lestoil Is The Best For Concrete Driveway Stains

by Dave

Dave says:

If you have stains on your concrete driveway from a vehicle oil leak, Lestoil (by Clorox) is the best remover I've ever used.

Just pour some on the stain (full strength) until the stain is covered. Spread it around with a brush for large stains.

Let it sit for 12-18 hours. Then get a bucket of warm water and a brush and start scrubbing away, rinsing brush in water occasionally.

After you've really rubbed it in and created a good lather, rinse the spot with a water hose.

If the stain is not gone, repeat again with another coat of Lestoil, another 12-18 hours, etc.

The more recent the stain (weeks or months rather than years) the more completely the stain will be removed.

Taylor says:

Thanks so much for your tip Dave. Lestoil is amazing stuff! I've got a whole lots of Lestoil uses and reviews here shared by other readers.

How To Clean Oil From Concrete And Pressure Wash Your Driveway Or Brick

Below is a video from Lowes which gives additional tips for how to clean oil from concrete, and also goes on to provide more general tips about cleaning your driveway (or bricks) with a pressure washer.

The instructions for cleaning the oil stains off the driveway are similar to those listed above, except instead of sharing a home remedy Lowe's suggests using commercially available products.

To remove the stains the video suggests using a heavy duty cleaner and degreaser, along with a stiff utility brush. First, you spray the cleaner on as directed, let it sit for the directed amount of time, and then scrub it with the stiff brush.

Next, after cleaning the stains themselves the video shares how to clean the driveway in general, using a pressure washer. It gives good advice for how close the tip of the pressure washer should be to the surface you're cleaning. (Too close, and you'll harm the surface from the high pressure).

For pressure washers with PSI of 2200-3000, hold the want 8-18 inches from the surface.

For pressure washers over PSI of 3000 hold the wand 12-30 inches form the surface.

To pressure wash the driveway the video suggests adding the detergent to the pressure washer (must be a detergent designed for pressure washers), spray it on, let it sit for 5-10 minutes for concrete and 20 minutes for brick.

During this waiting period don't let the detergent dry onto the surface, and then rinse with the pressure washer.

Please note that brick is more fragile than concrete so for the entire pressure washing process you must be using less pressure than for concrete, or you'll harm the surface!

Here are the products suggested within the video to use for general cleaning, and for removing oil stains from concrete:

You can, of course, clean lots of items around your home with a pressure washer. If you're interested in more information check out my page of collected tips on how to pressure wash.

Finally, the video discusses how to seal your driveway after you've thoroughly cleaned it, so that you protect it from future stains, and gives detailed instructions on how to do it, and the supplies you'll need for such a project.

Here's the video for full details.



I hope these videos and tips have helped you in removing oil stains from concrete and driveways.

If you've got your own tips and ideas to share I'd love to hear them, and add them to this page. You can share your tips here for removing all types of concrete stains, or read other tips already submitted.

Further, many of these same tips can be used for cleaning a garage floor, since many of them are made of concrete. You can see more tips for how to clean garage floors here, or share your own.

Finally, you can get more information on how to clean brick here, or provide more tips of your own.

Photo by SupremeCrete

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