Oil & Fuel Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes

   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes #1  

Bob_Skurka

Super Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2003
Messages
7,503
Ok guys, I am not the brightest of the bunch, so I spilled some diesel on my blue jeans and hung them on the line. I did not realize that some diesel soaked into my boxers (not briefs) and I tossed them into the laundry basked.

So Sunday evening about 10 minutes after most of the stores in our area closed for the day, my loving wife, saint that she is, tosses ALL of my daughters Catholic school uniforms into the wash. And oh yeah, she also tossed some of my undies and socks into the washing machine. Well the diesel soaked boxers ended up in the wash with all school uniforms.

So about a New York second after the bell rang on the washing machine a shriek that would have scared a dinasour into extinction come from the laundry room.

Now most of the stores are closed, it is pushing 9pm on Sunday night, my 8 year old daughter has tears streaming down her face, she is clutching her stuffed animal and in total hysterics. The lovey wife is screaming at the top of her lungs, and there is no way that my "selective hearing" is going to work in this case.

Off to the only store in town that is open and I fill up a basket full of every possible chemical solution that might remove the smell.

<font color="green"> To make a painful situation come to a quick conclusion, the answer turns out to be SIMPLE GREEN. </font>

Now to some of the other attempts . . . OXI CLEAN does not work. ORANGE cleaners do not work, LESTOIL does not work, PINE SOL does not work, TIDE does not work. About two in the morning we get to the SIMPLE GREEN and find that it did work.

AND IF YOU WANT TO TAKE GEAR GREASE OUT OF YOUR BLUE JEANS . . . you should use LESTOIL, but Lestoil has it own stink. You need the SIMPLE GREEN to remove the smell of the LESTOIL. But the LESTOIL will do a darn good job of removing the grease, it just leaves its own smell that you have to get rid of.
 
   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes #2  
Good evening Mr. Skurka

Your next mission, should you chose to accept it, is to discover the recipe for removing tar from clothing. It's ture, that you would be doing the WORLD a Great service if you determine the right procedure. And while you may never recieve the full benefit of your great discovery, including fame and fortune, it is true that the members of TBN would be forever indebted to you. And what more could a guy ask for than a life time free membership to one of the greatest message boards on the NET!!

Mike
 
   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes
  • Thread Starter
#3  
SURE. . . how about I take a big handful of tar, wipe it on my daughter's school jumper and toss that into the wash with a load of my wife's fancy silk blouses late in the evening on the night before my wife has a meeting at school with my daughter's teacher?

I said I wasn't the brightest bulb of the bunch, but I think I have about 6 months of picking fleas off of my body from spending a couple nights in the doghouse before I will be dumb enough to play with tar.

Heck at this point I'm paying the neighbor kid to come over and fill my fuel tank every week. . . I might not be too brite, but momma drowned all the really dumb kids in our family.
 
   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes #4  
Boy, it sure is nice to hear that other guys have had things like this happen to them too! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks for the chuckle....er......Gee, I'm really sorry that had to happen to you Bob. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

In all seriousness, the next time this happens (Oh no, there WILL be a next time, you do know that, don't you?), do not - repeat - DO NOT take the soiled clothes anywhere near the house.

Well, I guess you may have figured that one out already. After all, you're the child that didn't get drowned, right? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Anyway, when I was in college, I worked for a road building company in the summer. Now back then (+ - 30 years ago), the solution to the problem for getting out fuel oil, which we got on ourselves frequently, was to slice up an apple and lay the slices right on the stains. I'd do this in the garage BEFORE going into the house. The next day, the aroma would be gone and the clothes could be washed in the washer.
 
   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes #5  
Bob, all I have to say is Thank you. I went to buy some deisel the other day, but realized I forgot the can. I bought a new five gallon can, filled it up, and closed the spout. What I neglected to do was close the vent hole cap. I put the can in the back of my nicely carpeted Tahoe and drove to my tractor.

Hmmm, something smells...Oh shoot, what is all of this foul smelling liquid everywhere!!! Of course, little spurts of deisel were shooting all over the place, and now my truck stinks. I steam cleaned and sprayed citrus cleaner and steam cleaned and everything. Didn't even make a dent in the smell. Will try simple green this week...

A
 
   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Get a spray bottle of Simple Green and spray down the area. I used a full bottle in the wash with my daughter's school uniforms, but I wasn't taking any chances. At that point of the night, I figured that I was either getting the smell out of the clothes or I was getting the heck out of the house!!!
 
   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes #7  
MicroMike:

Thank all of you for the good humor!!!regarding tar, I've heard plain old lard (something we used to have in the olden days!!!) works. I know it will take it off cars...

JackD
 
   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes #8  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Your next mission, should you chose to accept it, is to discover the recipe for removing tar from clothing. )</font>

WD-40 will take tar off your vehicle, haven't tried on clothes.
I would think various petroleum distilates would take care of it.

Have you tried Diesel? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes #9  
Kidding aside.....

In August, I was weedeating my dadblasted ditchbank that the State of NC will not plant grass on. It was in the evening and getting pretty dark, but I was bound and determined to get done before quitting. When I finished and came inside, the boss yelled, "Get out of here with that tar on your clothes!". I looked down, and sure enough, there was flecks and pieces of tar all over my new Liberty overalls!
With high-power flashlight in hand, I walked to the ditchbank and OMG! The State attempted to plant grass and guess what they sprayed down to hold the seeds in place? TAR!
Tar was spread from the edge of the road all the way to the phone box - 20 feet! The weedeater threw it all over me. Back to the house I went, took off my new Liberties at the door, and went straight to the laundry closet.
Let's see, what will work?
GOOP works wonders on hands for grease, let's try that. Fifteen minutes with GOOP and a toothbrush, and Viola! No tar on my new Liberties!

There you have it.... GOOP gets tar out!
 
   / Getting DIESEL smell OUT of your clothes #10  
Let me get this straight--
You say the state of North Carolina sprayed TAR all over the place and got it on your clothes? I assume you probably stepped in it too, making your shoes TAR HEELS? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Only in North Carolina! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
 
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