Oil stains are the most common driveway stain, and the difference between an easy fix and a permanent one is time. Fresh oil sits on the surface and soaks up in minutes. Old oil soaks into the concrete and needs a degreaser, a poultice, or a pressure washer. Either way, the work is cheap and the tools are already in the garage.
Act the same day. Fresh oil has not soaked in yet: cover it with cat litter, baking soda, or sawdust, press it down with your foot, and leave it overnight. The absorbent pulls the oil out of the concrete. Sweep it up the next morning and throw it away — do not hose it into the street, where it runs into the storm drain.
Absorb it. Cover the stain with cat litter or baking soda and leave it overnight. For a small fresh stain, baking soda is enough; for a big one, cat litter absorbs more. Sweep it up and throw it in the trash.
Scrub with dish soap. Pour hot water and dish soap on the stain and scrub it with a stiff brush. Dish soap cuts grease — it is the same soap that cuts grease on a plate. Scrub in circles, rinse, and look: a fresh stain often disappears here.
Use a degreaser. If the stain survives the soap, apply a concrete degreaser, let it dwell for 10–15 minutes, scrub it again, and rinse. Do not let the degreaser dry on the concrete — it leaves its own stain.
Poultice an old stain. For a stain that has been there for months, make a poultice: spread a paste of baking soda and water over the stain, cover it with plastic, and leave it for 24 hours. The paste pulls the oil out slowly. Repeat once if the stain is still dark.
Pressure wash. A pressure washer with a fan tip lifts what scrubbing cannot — keep the tip moving and do not hold it in one spot, or it gouges the concrete. The driveway crack repair guide covers what to do if the washer exposes a crack.
Seal it. Once the driveway is clean and dry, seal it. A sealer keeps the next oil spill on the surface, where it wipes off instead of soaking in. The driveway sealing guide covers when to seal and how. A sunken paver has the same problem from below — the sunken paver repair guide covers lifting and leveling it.
Never use gasoline or solvents to clean oil: they damage the concrete, they are a fire risk, and they run into the groundwater. Never use bleach — it does not remove oil, it just whitens the concrete around the stain. And never use muriatic acid without knowing what you are doing: it etches the concrete and eats the surface.
Clean a spill the day it happens — that is the whole secret. Deep clean the driveway once a year, and seal it every two to three years. A sealed driveway sheds oil; an unsealed one drinks it.
Fresh ones, almost always. Old ones fade but rarely disappear completely — a poultice and a pressure washer get them faint enough to ignore, and sealing keeps the next one from soaking in.
Cat litter for a big fresh spill, baking soda for a small one. Both pull the oil out of the concrete overnight. Sawdust works too, if you have it.
Yes, with a fan tip and a degreaser first. Keep the tip moving — holding it in one spot gouges the concrete. Pressure washing alone rarely removes an old stain without a degreaser.
Fix the leak, park on cardboard until it is fixed, and seal the driveway. A sealed driveway keeps oil on the surface, where it wipes off instead of soaking in.