black gooey tar like substance

[purewhitemp5]

Ok I finally got out to work on the truck today , task at hand was to remove the household carpet padding........yes you read right........ that is stuck to the floor by some sort of black gooey tar like substance. Now it wouldn't have been bad if just the perimeter was held down by this stuff , but it looks like it was coated on the floor ..... anywhere from 1/16 to 1/4 inch thick.... all over the floor.
I have no problems removing " The Padding " because all you have to do is breathe on it and it crumbles , but what I am left with is this gooey (and I meen gooey) substance that resembles the black stuff they put on the plastic vapor barrier to keep it sealed to the door.

To make a long story short anybody have any idea how to remove this stuff? I have been told to take a 500 watt halogen work light , place it on the other side of the panel and let it sit for 5-mins and then scrap the " Goo " off and then repeat. I also have been told to use oven cleaner , but I tried a small 6" by 6" section sprayed it down good and let it sit for an hour , came back started scraping and the oven cleaner barely put a dent in it , same with degreaser and gas. Heck I am about ready to slap some GOJO with pumice on there and go at it with a scrub brush.....since that's the only way it came off my hands.


So anyone have any ideas ??........Help ...........SOS.........glub!! glub!!

[Tucknuts]

googone? lol is it tar?

[vectorit]

Low constant heat is probably your best bet.
If you were here in SoCal like me, you could scrape that crap off with a butter knife. What with the 108 degree days we been havin the last week or so.

What I would do where you are at, is go to wally world and pick up one of those shop lights. the yellow one that sits on the floor that has a brightness close to looking at the sun, those put out a ton of heat but not so much like a heat gun that could cause a flare up.

Put that light on pointing at the floor for a while, and then just go to town with a putty knife. Get all the excess off, then once you get the chunky gooey globs out that's when I would go to the scrubbing stage.

[purewhitemp5]

Originally Posted by Tucknuts

googone? lol is it tar?

It just might be , but on steroids.

[Tucknuts]

ive been racking my brain trying to remember how i got that crap out of my subaroo... when i was like 15 years old.. and I tried a variety of solvents but cant remember what actually worked. but heat sounds like a good idea... maybe a propane heater forced air type but keep it at a distance to get it warm fast.if you can get something to just neutrilaze the gooeyness and scrape it so that it doesn't gum up the tool...can you heat the floor from the bottom?> that might help then once scraped off use something like goo gone or thinner.

[Wilson_]

You can also go the other way and use cold. I have used dry ice as well with very good results.

Taken from
http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=525936








STEP 1: Buy dry ice, I bought 30lbs. b/c I did it in the afternoon in 70+ degree temp. so it melted quite quickly. I recommend you wait to do this at night so the ice will last longer. Then break the ice up into smaller manageable pieces/chunks.


Break the ice up!


STEP 2: Apply broken up dry ice chunks on top of the tar pieces in the car. Spread the ice around and I recommend placing a lot of chunks around the edges of the tar pieces. If the chunks are too big, just bash it with a hammer.



Break the ice up!


STEP 3: Wait about 15-20 minutes, or until the pieces of tar turns whitish and starts to crack. Then use your scraping tool(s) to lift up the tar from the floorboards. If the tar is still sticking to the floorboards, let the ice sit longer on it.




Be sure to put dry ice on the tar pieces behind the firewall mat.

Be sure to also place ice behind the center lower console.


STEP 4: After you remove the big patches of tar, you will be left with a lot of tar residue and little chunks that are stuck to the floorboards. Use some adhesive remover to dissolve the smaller pieces of tar off of the floorboards.



I recommend using 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner.

Now is a good time to put on a dust/paint mask, and apply the cleaner chemicals to a rag.

Start scrubbing!

[Terakilla]

I didn't have too much in my car but I used my air chisel with a wider chisel and went to town.

['68OrangeSunshine]

I used kerosene. But then I live in Tucson, so I never noticed the temperature.

[cdowns]

i take a heat gun directly to the crap and heat and scrape as i go

make sure you've got real good air flow a fan will help you breath freash air while you do the job

after scrapping is complete a final cleanup with kerosene will leave the floor in pretty good shape

[Dr. Evil]

Try a CO2 fire extinguisher, Point and use short blasts. No smells either...from hydrocarbon type cleaners, no flames or fire.( especially So Cal).. dont want to turn your truck into an charred shell. Dont want to go to hospital with lung issues . Wife/girlfriend or whatever wont like the smell of fuel / after you finish too. Dry ice is great , be careful not to get burned.

[rwolf9653]

Propane torch and a scraper. Just like scraping the tar off a roof. Regardless it is going to be a slow and tedious process that might expose some problems that you didn't know about.

[Green Machine]

I've tried mineral spirits on undercoating before, but had much better results using kersene, melts it right off but stinky. It would be worth a try I think to try either mineral sprits or some kerosene, I think diesel fuel would work as well as kerosene, but have not tried that.

[68gmsee]

Originally Posted by rwolf9653

Propane torch and a scraper...........

Only thing that comes to mind....

There is a possibility that the extreme heat could create gases that would ignite. I wouldn't use an open flame.

[LockDoc]

-
If you use the Dry Ice be sure and wear some insulated gloves. Like Dr. Evil stated, that stuff will burn you and you won't realize it 'til after it happens.

LockDoc

[Bert W]

I was racking my brain on this and couldn't remember what I've used in the past. It was kerosene. It sounds like undercoating that someone rolled or sprayed in. You have gotten good answers so far. soften the goo, scrape the excess out, clean residue with kerosene (after removing the heat source and un-hooking the negative battery cable), and then you will need another solvent to dry up the oil residue from the kerosene. I'm also seeing a respirator and/or some good ventilation for the project.

Wow! All that to say, do what the other guys said.

[purewhitemp5]

Thanks everyone for all the tips. I think I am going to stay away from all the " open flame " ideas as having the gas tank in the cab makes me real paranoid.... I think I am going to start with the 500 watt work light idea first......if that doesnt work out I 'll switch to industrial grade floor stripper lol !!