How to Get Motor Oil Out of Clothes
Updated July 2026
The short answer
Motor oil is a petroleum product, heavier and stickier than cooking oil, and used engine oil also carries fine dark particles that act like a pigment. Water and a normal wash cycle will not touch it; the stain needs a degreaser. The safe household sequence: scrape and blot off the excess, absorb what you can with baking soda or cornstarch, work liquid dish soap or a heavy-duty liquid laundry detergent into the stain, let it sit, then wash separately in the warmest water the care label allows. Air dry, inspect, and repeat. Two or three rounds is normal. Two safety lines matter more than any cleaning trick. A garment that is heavily soaked with oil does not belong in a household washer at all. And nothing with oil or solvent residue goes in the dryer, because dryer heat plus oil residue is a real fire risk as well as a stain-setter.
Before you start
You need: paper towels or rags, baking soda or cornstarch, liquid dish soap, a heavy-duty liquid laundry detergent, a soft brush or old toothbrush. Optional: a degreasing pre-treatment whose label says it is safe for fabric, oxygen bleach for the dark shadow used oil can leave on colorfast fabric.
Check the care label. Most work clothes, jeans, and cotton or poly-cotton garments handle this treatment. Delicates and dry-clean-only items should go to a professional.
Gauge the saturation honestly. A splash or smear is a laundry problem. A garment that is stiff, dripping, or soaked through with oil is not; it can foul the washer, leave an oil film for the next loads, and hold enough residue to be a fire hazard around heat. Take truly saturated garments to a professional cleaner, or treat them as shop waste the way oily rags are handled.
Work away from flames, water heaters, and anything with a pilot light, and keep the area ventilated while you treat.
Fresh, used, or already washed?
Fresh oil, amber or honey colored:
New motor oil straight from the bottle is the best case. It has no dark particles in it yet, so once the grease itself is lifted the stain is gone. Absorb first, then degrease.
Used oil, black or dark brown:
Oil that has been through an engine carries soot and fine metal particles. The grease lifts the same way, but the particles behave like a pigment and can leave a gray or brown shadow after the oil is gone. An oxygen bleach soak helps fade that residue on colorfast fabric, and on dark workwear a faint mark may simply remain.
Already washed, or washed and dried:
A wash cycle partially sets oil, and a dryer cycle sets it hard, the same way it does with kitchen grease. The treatment does not change, but plan on extra rounds and temper expectations for anything that has seen dryer heat. The same logic applies to kitchen grease that went through the wash; that version of the problem has its own guide linked below.
Steps
- 1Scrape and blot off everything you can. Use a spoon or dull knife for thick oil, then press paper towels onto the stain and lift. Do not rub; rubbing spreads oil and pushes it deeper.
- 2Cover the stain with baking soda or cornstarch. Let the powder pull oil out of the fabric for 15 to 30 minutes, then brush it off. If the powder darkened, apply a fresh layer and repeat until it stays mostly clean.
- 3Work in liquid dish soap or heavy-duty liquid detergent. Coat the stain generously and work it in with a soft brush or your fingertips, from the edges inward. Dish soap and heavy-duty liquid detergents are surfactant-based degreasers, which is exactly what petroleum oil requires.
- 4Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. The degreaser needs contact time to break the oil's grip on the fibers.
- 5Rinse warm from the back of the fabric. Flush the loosened oil out the way it came in.
- 6Wash the garment separately. Use the warmest water the care label allows and a full dose of detergent. Do not add other clothes; loosened oil can redeposit on them.
- 7Air dry and inspect in good light. An oil stain that remains looks darker or slightly wet compared to the surrounding fabric.
- 8Repeat the full round if any stain remains. Two or three rounds is normal for motor oil, more for used oil or anything that was previously washed. A degreasing pre-treatment labeled fabric-safe can be added on stubborn rounds, following its own directions.
- 9Fade a leftover dark shadow with oxygen bleach. For colorfast washable fabric, an oxygen bleach soak in cool water per the label helps lift the pigment residue used oil leaves behind. Test a hidden seam first on colors.
What not to do
- Do not use gasoline, kerosene, or paint thinner on clothing, ever. They are extreme fire hazards, hard on skin and lungs, and they contaminate the washer with flammable residue.
- Do not use WD-40. Spraying a petroleum product onto a petroleum stain adds more oil to remove and leaves flammable residue in the fabric, and the popular advice recommending it skips both problems.
- Do not use acetone or nail polish remover as a degreaser. Acetone dissolves some synthetic fibers and is highly flammable.
- Do not mix cleaning products or solvents.
- Do not default to the hottest water in the machine. Warm-to-hot helps on oil, but only up to what the care label allows; boiling a synthetic work shirt sets wrinkles, shrinks blends, and can set the dark residue.
- Do not machine dry until the stain is completely gone. Dryer heat sets oil permanently, and heat plus oil residue in an enclosed drum is a genuine fire risk. Fire services warn about exactly this with oily rags and work clothes.
- Do not wash a heavily oil-soaked garment in a household washer. Blot, absorb, and pre-treat first, or hand it to a professional.
Workwear, washers, and when to stop
If you get oil on clothes regularly, separate the wardrobe. Dedicated work clothes take the abuse, get washed together and always apart from household laundry, and nobody grieves a faint stain on them.
After an oily load, run the empty washer on a warm cycle with detergent and wipe the door and gasket. An oil film left in the drum will find its way onto the next load.
A shop tradition worth knowing: many mechanics work a petroleum or lanolin hand cleaner, the tub kind sold at auto parts stores, into stains before washing. That use is off label; manufacturers direct these products at skin, not fabric. If you try it, test a hidden seam for dye transfer first and rewash the garment thoroughly afterward.
When to stop: after three full treatment rounds with no further improvement, more of the same will not help. On dark workwear, a faint shadow from used oil is a normal outcome, not a failure. For a garment that matters, take it to a professional cleaner and say it is motor oil. And a garment that stays saturated no matter what belongs in shop-rag disposal, dried flat in a single layer away from heat first, never balled up while oily, because piled oil-soaked fabric can self-heat.
Frequently asked questions
Can motor oil come out after the clothes have been washed and dried?
Sometimes, with patience. A wash cycle partially sets oil and a dryer cycle sets it hard, so treat a washed-and-dried oil stain the way this page describes but plan on extra rounds and a real chance of a faint permanent mark, especially from used oil. Work the degreaser in thoroughly, give it dwell time, and keep the garment out of the dryer between rounds.
Will motor oil ruin my washing machine?
A lightly stained garment that has been pre-treated will not. A heavily soaked one can leave an oil film in the drum that transfers to the next loads, and its residue is something you do not want near the dryer's heat. Pre-treat until most of the oil is out before machine washing, wash oily items separately, and run an empty warm cycle with detergent afterward if the drum feels or smells oily.
Can I use WD-40 or gasoline to get the oil out?
No. Gasoline, kerosene, and paint thinner are serious fire and health hazards on fabric and leave flammable residue in the washer. WD-40 is itself a petroleum product, so it adds oil to the stain while carrying the same flammability problem. The internet repeats these tricks without the warnings. Dish soap, heavy-duty detergent, and repetition do the job without turning laundry into a hazard.
Why did used engine oil leave a dark mark that will not budge?
Used oil is full of fine soot and metal particles picked up inside the engine. Degreasers remove the oil, but the particles behave like a gray-brown pigment lodged in the fibers. An oxygen bleach soak fades that residue on colorfast fabric, and repeat treatments help, but on dark workwear a faint shadow is a common final result. The oil is gone at that point; what remains is pigment.
Do mechanic hand cleaners work on oil-stained clothes?
Many mechanics work the tub-style petroleum or lanolin hand cleaners into stains before washing, and the shop consensus is that it often helps. It is an off-label use; the manufacturers direct these products at skin. If you try it, test a hidden seam for dye transfer first, work in a small amount, and rewash the garment thoroughly so no cleaner residue remains before it ever sees a dryer.
Different oil, different fabric, or not sure how set the stain is? Use the Stain Rescue Tool to get a step-by-step plan for your exact situation.
Use the Stain Rescue Tool