Lateralus

And here's the problem: the house is for sale, so I'd really like to get that oil off. What about Oil Eater and Purple Power, the two products acegot recommended? I imagine the asphalt being at least 15 years old (I would guess 25) might work in my favor since obviously any bleaching out would affect dark new asphalt much more. The trail of oil I did with the auto part store cleaner, you can see very faint indication it was cleaned in that area but the remaining oil stain is far, far more visible.

The asphalt is at least 15 years old, which is how long my mom has owned this place. Thanks for the recommendations. :)

Any specific products that can be bought by non-contractors that do a good job on driveway oil stains? The last one I used didn't work well at ALL (see next paragraph) Someone drove down my asphalt driveway recently and left a nice, big trail of oil down it. Plus quite a few drip spots as well. I went to the auto parts store and got some powdered concrete / asphalt cleaner, followed the directions and kept it moist for 30 minutes then scrubbed it HARD. Then pressure washed. Well, it did a LOUSY job. Next time I try cleaning it, there is so much to scrub I might even go rent a power brush scrubber of some sort to do that part of it.

This is actually the third time I've stained my deck. First year I stripped it completely, followed with Behr cleaner / brightener, sanded and it came out perfect. I used Superdeck Valley semi-transparent stain, which on horizontal surfaces lasts about a year in this climate (Oregon coast). (Off topic, but if anyone's interested, am not the least impressed with longevity of Superdeck stain, even in this climate.) 2nd year it also came out perfect. Horizontal surfaces were definitely in need of a new coat. This time, all I did was use Behr cleaner / brightener and then apply a coat of Superdeck Valley. I would have switched to a better stain but didn't care to strip it again. 3rd year which is this year, I just finished TODAY. As with year 2, the stain was well worn and in need of a fresh coat. The DIFFERENCE this year is that I had some new grass near the deck which I did not want to risk killing (house is on a slope with no way to avoid water from the deck finding it's way into the lawn) so I used Wolman's DeckBrite this time, a powder mix based on oxygen bleach which is apparently 100% safe for plants and lawns. It certainly didn't brighten the wood up as much as the oxalic acid based Behr cleaner / brightener but I thought it still looked quite good for stain. So I stained it, and the stain looked great going on. HOWEVER, this time when it dried, in many places it dried nearly BLACK, looking almost charred / burned in the worst places. I'm now wishing I'd used the oxalic acid based brightener, that's for sure. Even after using the Wolman's I *thought* about going over the whole surface again with oxalic acid based brightener but didn't because of the grass. QUESTION: Is it possible to use oxalic acid (or something else) AFTER the fact to get rid of the black / charred areas or am I pretty much stuck with this until next year when the stain will need to be redone again anyway? I can post pics if anyone wants.

I'm looking to go to a backpack sprayer but so far, all of the ones I've looked at online or in stores do not seem to be designed for decks / harsh chemicals. I'd like something I can use for stripper and cleaner / brightener. Being able to use it to apply stains would be a plus as well. Anyone have a recommendation? Thanks! :)