Completed the engine service today. All went well except my oil pump hose came adrift and sprayed oil out. Some got on the bunk cushion.
I have it at home and tried scrubbing it with laundry detergent and water. Got rid of some of it.
The cover is a canvassy material. How can I clean oil off.
Hi Morningbird
When i used to work at car dealerships and we got grease or oil on carpets or upholstery we would use Prepsol to get it off
Not saying it will work in your case though
Regards Don
White spirits or lighter fluid will do the job just fine. Based on cost alone go with white spirits, lighter fluid is basically only white spirit anyway.
Thanks Gents. I'll try a few tomorrow. Really pi..ed off at myself for being careless.
Select to expand quotetwodogs1969 said..
Tea tree oil or eucalyptus oil
Ahhhh clever thinking .... replace one oil stain with a more pleasant one.
I have to disappoint you, you can not remove diesel sludge marks from material, completely.
It is because the soot and the glicerine in the sludge. You can keep washing it and washing it but you never ever be able to get rid of it completely. Sorry! 
l would - while kicking myself - turn around the cushion the other way, and get busy with the fridge 
!
Select to expand quoteLooseChange said...twodogs1969 said..
Tea tree oil or eucalyptus oil
Ahhhh clever thinking .... replace one oil stain with a more pleasant one.
Mate I remember my mother always using eucalyptus to get oil stains out of clothes
White spirit and turps don't work. Neither does tea tree or eucalyptus oil.
Engine sump oil is hard to shift.
I can reverse the cushion with the other bunk. Some stains will still be visible but from experience such stains do fade over time. I had a small engine oil stain on a cushion years ago, you can't see it now.
Still kicking myself SirG. But I had a nice bottle of wine last night to console myself.
On the positive side, adjusting the tappet clearances has made the engine start and run better. An often neglected part of a service. Only needs to be done every few hundred hours but very important for engine performance. And the new fuel filters and engine oil will see me through a couple of years before the next service.
How about a can of Degreaser?
Spray it on, leave for a short period of time, a couple of minutes...??, then scrub it.
Then wash off thouroughly before it damages the fabric??
Havent tried it, just throwing a suggestion out there.
We are talking about D I E S E L engines here!
The nature of those engines, they create sooty deposits in the sump oil and also create glycerine in the sump oil, somehow, by not completely burning the diesel fuel. Once l had the thing explained to me by a science guru but l forgot. I am not a chemist.
Whoever, when this concoction gets into materials it is - unfortunately - next to impossible to remove, completely.
A pair of scissors is the only tool, one recommended to me.
For twenty plus years l was involved with transport, using diesel powered machinery. We always had issues with sump oil stains on concrete, never to be cleaned by anything. Hot, high pressure washing with detergent has done the most damage to it at high cost, still visible, though.
One could try high pressure washing it after soaking it in WD40 for a while.
The better half suggests a paste made with baking soda. Apply the paste and leave for a few hours / overnight.
The Baking soda is a good idea. However you need to mix the bi-carb with white vinegar. Make it into a paste, then leave it for a few hours and see what progress. Once you get most of it out, you may need to add a little napisan or similar, whatever that pink stuff is now.
The other thing that will sometimes clean it up is WD-40, once you get rid of the stain, you'll still need to remove the oil that's left, so go back to the vinegar mix. You can also try coca cola but I've not tried it on fabric.
Worth trying anything if you're looking at a replacement anyway.
:-)
