Spilled engine oil on interior trunk mat
 

A buddy spilled a quart of used engine oil that he was taking to be recycled. It soaked his trunk mat. Nasty. A new matching mat was over $100 to buy.
He removed the mat and spare tire, wiped off the oil from the tire, rim and trunk body, used degreaser everywhere. Then he took the oil soaked mat to the car wash and soaked the mat in gasoline, pouring it over the mat till most of the oil was rinsed out of the mat. (the car wash has traps for grease in their drain lines) Then he put down a tarp on the back patio, put the mat on it, soaked it in a strong detergent/water mixture and scrubbed it, covered it with plastic in the sunshine and let it sit a couple of days. Then rinsed with water. repeated this until the smell was gone. Worked so well that the mat looks and smells like it did before the spill. Time consuming but saved money.

CamryMik
thank you for taking the time to write that up

in a sedan that old oil smell on a hot day would go right through the car

very handy to know that method worked without bleaching out the color of the mat

Great solution!