Stubbornly oily bilge

[DrunkenDonkey]

Morning all,

 

So this is another of my jobs that should have been dealt with long ago, hasn't been and is now a much bigger problem than it needed to be!

 

My bilge is dirty. I mean. DIRTY. Or maybe it isn't as bad as it looks to be fair, it generally isn't where oil is concerned as it floats on top and gets everywhere. I would love to know exactly where all of this dirty engine oil has come from but half the battle in that respect, is getting the bilge clean enough to see where new oil is coming from or if it even is any more. I have the feeling an oil filter burst and let a lot of oil into the well underneath the engine.

 

I left the boat for a couple of weeks recently and I came back to find the bilge very deep with water (prompting me to try fixing the packing gland in the previous thread). This has picked up the oil from under the engine and spread it throughout the entire bay (cruiser style by the way). Now that the majority of liquid has been removed using the bilge pump diverted into bottles, I am left with a horrible sticky black film over every bit of metal surface. I poured a whole bottle of gunk into the bay and let it soak for a few days before pumping out, I think it has helped somewhat, by looking at what has come out, but the bay still looks exactly the same.

 

I'm aware this will involve plenty of elbow grease, whatever I do, but do you guys have any suggestions for getting the oil loose from the metal.

 

I was thinking something along the lines of...

 

White spirit and scrubbing to loosen it, then was thinking some oleophilic pads would bring up the white spirit along with the oil?

 

Or washing powder and lots of scrubbing.

 

Or how about a steam cleaner, or pressure washer, wet vac etc. The main problem now is that it is so sticky I don't think a wet vac would touch it, probably going to need some kind of solvent.

 

As you are all aware I'm sure, there are many hard to reach places etc. so would really like a solution that will destroy the grease without needing to much agitation.

 

Any ideas??

At present I'm looking for any solution that will work, price be damned, just looking for ideas really or a place to start.

[Stilllearning]

Steam cleaning followed by hand finishing with cloths and disposable paper toweling is one way forward. It is a disgustingly dirty job, but needs to be done to get the engine bay clean. Once cleaned, keeping it clean is relatively easy.

Why it is so dirty is probably because the water that got in lifted the oil that was under the engine and spread it nicely all over everything.

Good luck.

[BEngo]

Washing soda.  From your local supermarket for about a quid.  Dissolve one bag in 2 or 3 litres water ( hot is easiest but cold will eventually dissolve.)  Tip into bilge and agitate with a dish  mop or similar.  It is alkaline so lubber gloves recommended.

 

Leave for a couple of days, agitating periodically.   Pump out olly mess and take to tip.  Repeat if required.

 

Ñ

 

[DrunkenDonkey]

Even bilging out what I have done so far has been precisely a "disgustingly dirty job" so I'm not expecting it to be fun. I just want to know that something will work before I invest in products or tools....

I did like the washing powder route just based on price!!

[hawkesmith]

Screwfix degreaser pt no. 88668 £8.99 for 5 ltrs. Use it neat. Buy 3 ltrs. Jet wash down. vacuum out. It will leave the bay clean enough to paint. I needed 75 ltrs of storage capacity for the contaminated water.

My engine bay base was 5mm thick with grease from the stern greaser.

[stegra]

Aerosol cans of carburetor cleaner dissolve tough grease in an instant. Not sure if it's wise to use it in an enclosed area though. It's also hellishly flammable. Maybe working a small area at a time would work, soaking up the liquid as you go. 

[hawkesmith]

sorry just seen my mistake: Buy 15 ltrs!

[John Hartley]

Jet wash will spread the oily water even further than it is now. Gunk and plenty of rags and elbow grease.

God luck

 

[DrunkenDonkey]

The 5l of gunk I already used did seem to help somewhat... it's so messy though I can't tell what is working and what isn't apart from looking at the sludge that I'm getting out of it.

 

Looking in the bilge it is getting dryer and dryer, but the black doesn't seem to be shifting at all. Bad time of year for it as well to be honest! It might even be that the inside of the engine bay has been blacked and that is obscuring any cleaning I am doing, I really hope not because getting that up will be a nightmare, but there is definitely some rusty patches that need attention so I am hopeful of getting back to bare metal... one day....

[Slim]

As a degreaser I always use Jizer  or Comma Hypaclean.  5 L much cheaper than small tins. 

Dry bilge as much as possible. Any water will react with degreaser.

Garden spray or brush on liberally. It may affect seals in a spray. Leave for a couple of minutes.

Rinse off with a hose. A jetwash uses less water but you tend to get covered.

Suck out using a wet and dry vac. A grotty one. (a new one will cost about £40 but you will have it for years)

Apply washing up liquid liberally, rinse, brush around then suck out. It does generate a bit of froth.

Allow to dry then soak up any water with the cheapest disposable nappies available. Tesco's ?.

Your biggest problem will be disposing of the water.

 

Whatever you wind up doing-good Luck  

 

 

[David Schweizer]

I used paraffin in mine, plus lots of old towels to soak/wipe it up. Worked a treat

[jonathanA]

Someone here suggested sawdust and wet/dry vac

 

we use sawdust for animal bedding So I chucked some in brushed it about left it for a few hours vacuumed up...  made a big difference and finished off with white spirit and rags before painting 

 

much more civilised than gallons of contaminated water sloshing  about

[philjw]

7 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

Someone here suggested sawdust and wet/dry vac

Has anyone tried cat litter for this job?  Sounds like it should be absorbant like sawdust.

[magpie patrick]

9 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

Someone here suggested sawdust and wet/dry vac

 

we use sawdust for animal bedding So I chucked some in brushed it about left it for a few hours vacuumed up...  made a big difference and finished off with white spirit and rags before painting 

 

much more civilised than gallons of contaminated water sloshing  about

I did similar when I had Ripple with fullers earth cat litter and a vac - It worked well enough to get through the BSS exam

 

I'm about to have to do it again with Lutine...

2 minutes ago, philjw said:

Has anyone tried cat litter for this job?  Sounds like it should be absorbant like sawdust.

Cross posted - yes I have, worked very well

 

I can imagine sawdust might get places you don't want it to 

[Joe the plumber]

I'd use white spirit applied with a paint brush and plenty of paper towels to shift most of it and then this to finish the job:

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001AZE5WS/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

It's marvellous stuff.

 

It's great on car engine bays and to clean brake dust off wheels too.

[DrunkenDonkey]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I think it is going to have to be a death by a thousand cuts type of solution. A bit of everything. I did try cat litter before but you have to be very prepared to get rid of it all quite quickly. I wasn't and now I have pebbles everywhere. I probably didn't use the best kind of cat litter either...

 

I'm thinking the sawdust and wet vac is a good shout. Do you think the wet vac will be a lost cause afterwards, even if I use something to soak the oil up first?? I originally thought to just suck it all up wet with a wet vac but that would for sure kill it.

 

Once the majority is out, I'm then planning the white spirit or some other solvent to break up and remove the last of it from the metal, then oleophilic pads should bring the solvent and oil up together I would think? With liberal elbow grease.

 

I'm really keen to get this sorted before summer, have my automatic bilge set up and let the heat take care of finishing the job off for me as I suppose I'm fighting a losing battle at this time of year. But I'd rather do it now than wait until summer and have it get wet again in winter.

 

Once clean and dry I can then use the summer to work out where the leaks are coming from and finish the job!

 

Just had a slightly odd idea, but if I soaked some saw dust in white spirit then applied it, would it then act as a kind of "poultice" that I could brush around and scrub the sides with to break it down and soak it up at the same time? (Taking fag breaks at the bow end )

Edited February 5, 2019 by DrunkenDonkey

[ditchcrawler]

I would remove as much liquid as possible first, then put absorbent granules down and brush them around well to dry and remove whats left before cleaning it with Jizzer or Citraclean to get the oil off the steel/paint followed by drying again. What I use to do with my drive when I had leaky cars was to scrub some biological washing powder into the oil and just leave it, that worked well

[Momac]

Possible cleaning solutions include 

 

Elbow Grease

https://www.therange.co.uk/household/cleaning/cleaning-products/multi-purpose-cleaners/elbow-grease-all-purp-degreaser-500ml/#270934

 

or perhaps if larger quantities are required try  Viro Sol

http://www.cloverchem.co.uk/2013/uk/product_detail.asp?prod_code='326'&range_sub='20'

 

 

I like a clean engine bay

.

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Any suggestions for the best way to responsibly and legally disposing of the gallons of liquid oil/water/cleaner/who-knows waste that might be produced degreasing a bilge?

 

Jen

[Momac]

9 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Any suggestions for the best way to responsibly and legally disposing of the gallons of liquid oil/water/cleaner/who-knows waste that might be produced degreasing a bilge?

 

Jen

At the marina where I keep my boat there is tank for disposal of oily water.That doesn't help you directly but it does demonstrate that such facilities exist.

Certainly the oily water should not be put down a drain.

 

[Phil Ambrose]

I noticed a post saying their engine bay was covered in a very thick layer of grease. I found a good way around this issue by glueing a bit of plastic across the bottom of the swim to form a bilge to collect water  and grease from the stern gland.

In the "tray" under the engine I put a newspaper spread out and a couple of disposable nappies opened out. To clear all that is needed is to bundle it up into a bin bag. I trim the elastic off the nappies  so they lay flat

Phil

 

[David Mack]

50 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Any suggestions for the best way to responsibly and legally disposing of the gallons of liquid oil/water/cleaner/who-knows waste that might be produced degreasing a bilge?

 

Jen

If you leave it in drums it will settle out into watery stuff at the bottom and oily stuff on top. With care you can pump out most of the watery stuff from the bottom and dispose of it in a foul sewer. There is then less oily stuff to get rid of - in the waste oil tank at your local tip if possible.

[DrunkenDonkey]

Yes there is an oil dump at my local marina too. Free for anyone to use.