How do I clean gear oil out of my car?

My husband spilled gear oil on the passenger side floor board of my car. You can't see it cause my interior is dark wine. But the SMELL is aweful. I have tried Dawn and Tide with hot water, WD40, and carpet cleaner. I thought I had it. I was wrong. Please help me it is so bad i can taste it when i get in.How do I clean gear oil out of my car?
Having been an auto mechanic for over 30 years getting unwanted oil and grease stains out of interior carpets has come up every now and then. What will work will depend on how much gear oil has been spilt. If it is wet to the touch than use sawdust to absorb it and vacuum out the sawdust. If it is not wet or you have now absorbed the wet oil with sawdust I would try a product called 'brake clean' It is available at any auto parts store and it is what is used to remove oil and grease from brakes. (the chemical in brake clean is the same as what some dry cleaners use for cleaning clothes) Do not spray the carpet with the brake clean though, instead spray a clean rag with the brake clean and blot up the gear oil into the rag. Make sure you test a hidden area of the carpet first for colour fastness first so that the carpet doesn't get ruined. (I have never found an original equipment carpet installed in an automobile to be a problem) Also note that some brake clean products are flammable.How do I clean gear oil out of my car?
Even when you get gear grease on your clothes it takes many washes to remove the smell, it is really nasty stuff. It depends on how much he spilled, but since you have been putting solvents and detergents on it the oil has worked more deeply into the carpet and into the padding underneath. It takes work to get the carpet itself out but that is about your only alternative if you really want to clean it. I would then take it to a professional cleaners, like a dry cleaners. If they are negative of the results of a good cleaning then I think I would contact J.C. Whitney in the Chicago are and have them send you a catalog. Check out their price on a new set of front carpets. A salvage yard would also be a good choice for a carpet. I think Tide with Bleach Alternative works will on my cloths that I get grease on. You could try to mis up a strong batch of this in boiling hot water and then use you wet vac to draw the water up, repeat as necessary. I think in the end you will find that you need to take your carpet out.
There are some hand cleaning soaps that use ';orange'; products in them that might help with the smell. Also ';orange'; type cleaners to degrease automotive oil clean-ups. The hand soap comes in a hand pumped orange gallon bottle. Caution should be used when using any cleaners on fabics and even carpets that might lead to discoloring. As with all cleaners you'll need to remove the cleaner also. The oil-smell might be the main problem, but the cleaners can also out gas toxic fumes.
Get some degreaser and spray it on the floor and then you would put a lot of hot water on it. Spray it again and let it sit a few minutes. Then take some dry towels and sponge it up, or if you have a wet dry vac you can suck it up. See if that helps any.
gear oil does stink bad. the oil has probably soaked into the padding so there will not be much you can do. you need to go to a professional that has a machine to clean your carpets.





if not then you need to remove the carpet and clean it from underneath
OK get ready for some bad news.





Gear box oil is real hard to get rid off. I know the smell you mean, it's nasty.


Firstly you need to lift the carpet, which will involve remove several peices of car trim.


There is likely to be a layer of oil under the carpet. Clean it out with something like white spirit.


Next clean the carpet with something like white spirit, but be carefull it may damage the color of the carpet.


Another option is to try a good dishwashing liquid, it had an additive that breaks down oil.





Good luck, this is somewhere between tough and impossible.
Brake cleaner....I've used it to remove grease and oil from carpets for years. I spray it directly on the carpet and blot the stain. May take several applications. Don't worry about the smell...it dissipates in a few days.
spray WD-40 on it. let it sit with the windows down in a well ventalted place (outside) for a little less than an hour. Then spampoo it out.