Repair asphalt driveway damaged by transmission fluid leak

Question

I am looking to repair a driveway damaged by transmission fluid (ATF) in the photo below. As you can see the driveway has pitted and cracked where the fluid was standing. Once winter comes I expect the freeze/thaw cycle will wreak some real havoc.

There are two other small holes in the driveway caused by a floor jack, which I intend to fill with one of the products available at home improvement stores.

Is there a good way to dig or scrape up the ATF contaminated asphalt so I can use the same product to fix this damage? Or is there another preferred fix for this kind of damage?

Answer 1

The approach I'd recommend (based on my experience with this repair), is to use a heavy chisel to dig out the softened asphalt, then use a cold-fill pothole repair product to replace the material that is removed.

This gives a better result than using a saw, as the filler material blends (visually) better with the existing driveway when it doesn't have straight lines around it, and it prevents the removal of undamaged asphalt.

I tried the saw method on the larger patch pictured, and the dig/fill method on some smaller spots, and the latter gave a superior result.

Answer 2

With a diamond blade on a gasoline powered saw you could remove a neat square out of the pavement, and then fill with fresh concrete and/or asphalt. Such saws can usually be rented.