How to Get the Diesel Smell Out of Clothing

Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of getting diesel fuel on your clothing? Not only is it a mess, but it also has a distinctive smell that’s hard to get rid of. In this post, we’ll share some tips for how to remove the diesel smell from clothes. Keep reading to learn ten methods you can use to get the smell of diesel out of your clothing!

Mechanic’s Hand Soap

Mechanics hand soap will get rid of diesel smells on your clothes. First, rinse the clothing in hot water to dislodge any residue and help to dilute the soaked in diesel. Then begin washing your clothing by hand with mechanics hand soap and let the clothing soak in the water for roughly an hour. Remove your clothing from the water and wash your clothes in a hot water cycle. Depending on the amount of diesel fuel absorbed you may need to repeat this process more than once.

Baking soda

You can get rid of that pesky odor by following these steps. First, spray down the saturated clothing with a water hose and then add 1 cup baking soda to about half teaspoon dish soap in a hot bucket with roughly a gallon of water in it. Soak for an hour before rinsing again. Now you can wash your clothing using a hot cycle in your washer. Don’t add any additional items into the wash unless they’ve also had diesel spilled on them. You might have to repeat the process if necessary depending on how strong the smells are.

Baking soda paste

Using baking soda paste is another option when it comes to removing diesel smells from clothing. Simply add baking soda and vinegar together to create a paste. Take that paste and apply it to the diesel stains and scrub the paste into the stain. Let this sit for an hour and then rinse. Place the clothing into your washer and set it to the hottest wash setting. Also be sure to use vinegar instead of fabric softener for this wash.

Coffee and baking soda

Similar to using baking soda and vinegar you can use coffee and baking soda. Simply mix the coffee and baking soda together to create a paste and apply it to the diesel stain. Allow this to sit for an hour and then rinse with hot water while scrubbing. This should help to eliminate the smell of diesel coming from the stain but you may have to repeat this process more than once to completely eliminate the odor.

Vinegar

Vinegar is a natural way to take care of pesky odors from your clothes without having to resort to highly toxic chemicals. First, rinse the items in hot water then add 1 cup distilled white vinegar for every gallon that you use; let them sit until they’re thoroughly soaked before washing on high heat setting with detergent – this will help remove any unwanted smells! You can also mix 2 tbsp baking soda into each load if desired because it helps neutralize organic matter that may be present like sweat or body oils while cleaning

Listerine

This might sound odd but you can use Listerine to help remove the smell of diesel from your clothing. Simply add Listerine into a spray bottle and completely saturate your diesel stained clothing. Let the Listerine sit on your clothing for 30 minutes and then rinse with hot water. Again, wash this clothing in your washer machine on the hottest setting and instead of using fabric softener, add vinegar. This should help eradicate the smell of diesel from your clothing.

All purpose orange cleaner

Take your diesel stained clothes and place them into a gallon of hot water. Add a few drops of orange cleaner to this gallon of water and let your clothes soak for approximately an hour. Remove your close from this water, rinse them out, and wash them in your washer machine on the hot water cycle with a quality detergent.

Citrus essential oil

Start by getting a gallon of hot water and add 1 cup of baking soda to it. Now add approximately 10 drops of an essential oil of your choice. We prefer using lemon or orange flavors. Let your clothing soak in the hot water for around an hour and then remove and wring out your clothing. Place your clothing in the washer machine on the heavy setting and this should help to remove the diesel smelling odors from your clothing.

Enzyme treatment

To get rid of diesel smells from your clothing you can use an enzyme treatment. Place this high performance laundry detergent directly on the stain and use a toothbrush to scrub it into the stain before allowing it to soak in hot water for an hour. Rinse off this piece of clothing with hot water and then wash it using a hot water cycle.

Ammonia

When you want to get rid of the smell from your clothes, try soaking them in a solution that includes two cups of ammonia and let it do its job for about three hours. Then rinse off all residue with hot water before washing on the heavy setting. Don’t forget that you need to add vinegar to the wash instead of fabric softener to further neutralize and diesel smells.

Final Thoughts

It’s important to remember that some of these methods will work better than others and some are much easier to perform relative to others. Regardless of the method you choose, always be sure to thoroughly rinse your clothing before performing any of these treatment processes.

Another thing to take into consideration is that if the smell is extremely set in and you’ve already washed this article of clothing multiple times prior you should first mix 1 cup of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of Dawn dish soap, and 1 cup of vinegar into a gallon of hot water. Then allow your clothing to soak in this mixture for around an hour. This may not be enough but this is a great starting point for using any of the other methods listed above to remove the smell of diesel from your clothing.

We hope these tips and tricks help you to remove the smell of diesel from your clothing because we all know that oftentimes when you spilled diesel on an article of clothing, you chalk it up to a complete loss.