EBC what am I doing wrong?

Customer has big oil stain on driveway. Went by and pretreated the night before, came back in the morning and pressure washed the area.

Then treated again, agitated. Waited 30 minutes and washed again. This is the result. Looks almost the same as before I treated it.

That might be hydraulic fluid, usually those stains are black or blacker than oil stains and I have found that even if you hit them 1 or 2 hours of the spot being left there, they are already permanent. I have tried just about every chemical out there with lots of heat right after they have happened and not much if anything comes out.

There are oil stains that look like hydraulic fluid but when it is hydraulic fluid (very dark black) stains, I have not found anything to help get them out. I have tried the popular degreasers, stuff with enzymes, microbes, orange oil (DeLimonene), Caustic, Potassium Hydroxide, Alcohol based degreasers, Butyl based degreasers, etc......

I have spent several hours on one stain before treating it, brushing it in, dwell, repeat for several more applications then very hot water and not much if anything comes out.

I finally gave up trying as I am just wasting my time with real hydraulic fluid leaks, not sure if it is just the hydraulic fluid they are using here or what but that stuff will not come out once it is sat there for more than an hour, been this way for at least 12 years that I have tried to clean them.

Motor oil is a different story, if I can catch it with a month or less I can usually get the stain completely out or almost completely as it has not had enough time to soak down deep into the concrete.

The lady said it was the rear main seal that was leaking and she had it fixed. I am with you Chris, this stain looks like it wasn't even touched.

Ralph Q said:

Customer has big oil stain on driveway. Went by and pretreated the night before, came back in the morning and pressure washed the area.

Then treated again, agitated. Waited 30 minutes and washed again. This is the result. Looks almost the same as before I treated it. View attachment 27804

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What was your ratio Ralph?

1:1 Then when it looked like it wasn't working, I put it on straight.

mmmm...stumped me on this one. You sure the customer knows that this is oil? Based on your application...you should have seen a significant difference. If the spill is what Chris mentioned (HF) we have very mixed results relating to hydraulic fluid.

Can't tell by the pic above but is this concrete or some type of asphalt surface.

Pic attached shows what a overnight dwell on concrete with EBC.

The lady said it was a rear main seal which she had fixed. So I am assuming it was oil.

It looks to me like the driveway is asphalt. If it is, basically she just put oil on top of oil that's in the asphalt. I would recommend to her a paving contractor and have them come in and re-top coat it if it is indeed asphalt.

Vince Wood said:

It looks to me like the driveway is asphalt. If it is, basically she just put oil on top of oil that's in the asphalt. I would recommend to her a paving contractor and have them come in and re-top coat it if it is indeed asphalt.

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Asphalt is a toughy surface to clean.

Differential fluid is thicker than motor oil, and is petroleum based. When heated it can break down into a carbon state. Looks like you might need to walk away without a check unless someone chimes in with a secret weapon.


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If it is synthetic, you may be in trouble. Otherwise get some Eatoils and give it to her to apply once a week or do it yourself it is close by or worth your trouble.
We have treated major hyd fluid spills befor on asphalt. The Eatoils slowly works, and is safe on asphalt. It may take a long time, like maybe two months of weekly misting.

We treated a 600 x 3 ft long spill. It took 5 gallons of the stuff. But it was gone after a couple months. The customer was really happy and it saved thousands in asphalt work. We did this through a waste management client and ended up landing the condo building the spill happened at since we were there so often.

Try and find out if it was synthetic, if it is the Eatoils wont work.

Good advice Jason......thanks for chiming in!

ONPLS said:

We treated a 600 x 3 ft long spill. It took 5 gallons of the stuff. But it was gone after a couple months. The customer was really happy and it saved thousands in asphalt work. We did this through a waste management client and ended up landing the condo building the spill happened at since we were there so often.

Try and find out if it was synthetic, if it is the Eatoils wont work.

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took the words right out of my mouth....

Ralph Q said:

The lady said it was a rear main seal which she had fixed. So I am assuming it was oil.

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I think most of the results you see with EBC are guys running hot water. I run cold water and tried some with less than stellar results. Maybe it's the Florida concrete and lack of hot water. I haven't tried a second time yet. Remember it's not magic in a bottle although the pics are quite impressive. Carlos has given me some suggestions , I just haven't got to the stage to use it a second time. A lot of guys are getting good results. I'm still doing my due diligence to see if it work with needs.

Vince Wood said:

It looks to me like the driveway is asphalt. If it is, basically she just put oil on top of oil that's in the asphalt. I would recommend to her a paving contractor and have them come in and re-top coat it if it is indeed asphalt.

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I'm in Florida, I haven't seen an asphalt driveway yet. LOL . If you look closely you can see the exposed aggregate.

I don't believe that the stain on that driveway is oil, has to be tranny fluid or something. Job is complete. Check is on the way . Next!

Here is the same stain not in HD after I tried to dry it with my blower.

Every product has it's limitations and I would be the first to put EBC in that category. My goal is to huddle with everyone and see what we can find or suggest to help out a fellow contractor i.a. Ralph.

If you have the time and patience.....then I would go directly with Eatoils and see if that does the trick.

Helping each other out is really what it is all about. I have spoken to many contractors directly and tried to help with EBC questions. For the most part, we have a really great track record. BUT ...there are just some circumstances on surfaces that may require or need something else. In this case, based on Ralph's application of EBC.....I am fresh out of EBC ideas on this one.

Ohh...Ralph...called you earlier and left a vm. Wanted to reach out to you about this. Just wanted to let you know......

We posted at the same time Ralph. LOL

Cool....I see where EBC was working on the outer edges of the stain.

Newlook said:

Every product has it's limitations and I would be the first to put EBC in that category. My goal is to huddle with everyone and see what we can find or suggest to help out a fellow contractor i.a. Ralph.

If you have the time and patience.....then I would go directly with Eatoils and see if that does the trick.

Helping each other out is really what it is all about. I have spoken to many contractors directly and tried to help with EBC questions. For the most part, we have a really great track record. BUT ...there are just some circumstances on surfaces that may require or need something else. In this case, based on Ralph's application of EBC.....I am fresh out of EBC ideas on this one.

Ohh...Ralph...called you earlier and left a vm. Wanted to reach out to you about this. Just wanted to let you know......

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I forgot to mention that Carlos was extremely helpful and spent a lot of time on the phone with me. He gave me some directions for next time... Just haven't brought it out again yet..