Oil In the carpet please help

[*Kimi*]

Hi my partner went to a scrapyard yesterday and came back with black oil all over his shoes which is now all over my carpet.Any ideas how to get it out? I heard wd40 would do it is that right? Thanks

[rsd2525]

dont know about WD but i used carb cleaner once, scrubbed lightly then scrubbed again with flash in hot water

[*Kimi*]

Hiya thanks for the reply. Carb cleaner whats that? my hubby seems to think plain fairy liquid will do it but we dont use that make of washing liquid.

[jake-the-peg]

Fairy liquid is the same s any washing up liquid.

At a molecular level one end latches on to oil and grease and the other end latches onto water - that's how it works.

So any washing up liquid is a good start.

However you have 2 problems

1) make sure the washing up liquid doesn't affect the carpet colour - shouldn't do but you can't be too careful - try in a corner first.

2) the oil from the junkyard will not be clean but very dirty it's carying a ton of microscopic metal and other rubbish which it's carried into the carpet fibres. - the oil may get removed but this residue is likely to remain.

I guess the idea with wd40 is to attempt to loosen this muck and get it all up wd40 and all up with washing up liquid.

Sounds like a bit of a long shot to me but if you've nothing to lose try it and let us know if it works

[dannydingbat]

Eucalyptus Oil works very well, got some oil out of a raincoat once with it and it went completely. Never tried it on big blobs however.

[woofgang]

carb cleaner is carburretor cleaner for cars WARNING if you try this test first on an inconspicuous area. My DH did the same but it was only a smear of oil (biker), got it out with carpet power spray cleaner, bought in waitrose or tesco

[qapmoc]

Probably the only sure way is to try any/all of the above to loosen the dirt up and then borrow/hire a steam cleaner for carpets etc... and give it a good going over with that and it probably will come clean.
NEXT PROBLEM, that part of the carpet might be so clean now that you will have to steam clean all of it to make it look the same !!

((House training courses for partners are available on request))

[*Kimi*]

Thanks everyone will keep u posted