Oil

[Suzanne Conkin]

My father busted the oil pan in his 2001 chevy s10 the day my sister passed away .. It was fixed and all kinds of oil underneath the truck. My question is how can I get that off and will it damage anything under there.. May sound silly but I was just wondering..

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

First off..
Sorry for your loss.
As for the oil residue:
1. You could purchase any inexpensive all purpose cleaner and spray the under carriage then rinse.
2. Take the vehicle to a car wash that offers under carriage washing ( they are out there )
3. You could just leave it, over time the excess will wash away when driving in wet weather, whats left will act as rust proofing.

[Chris]

You could try a 50/50 mix of SImple Green degreaser and water on the hard to get spots. Regular oil will deteriorate rubber bushings. If he used synthetic oil it shouldn’t damage plastic and rubber parts “as much”. You’re still gonna want to clean it up though. Just regular dish detergent that is phosphate-free will work well too to clean the oil and not damage the metal, plastic, or rubber. I agree with the car wash idea. Don’t use too high of a pressure on a commercial pressure washer because you can risk damaging sensors and the factory undercoat. I usually just let the pressure washer spray at its lowest setting without using the trigger. Might have to go under there with some rags or cut up T shirts, then dispose of the oily rags appropriately (ie. at a recycle center or bio hazard waste collection center) . You don’t wanna just leave oily rags laying around. I also like to go back and re-lubricate the vehicle’s bushings and plastic parts with a silicone spray after the cleaning. Hope this helped.

[Author]

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