4-year old oil in a sealed container

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rickeroo

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I've got a gallon of 15W-40 oil that has been in its sealed original container for about 4 years at about a cool 65*. I plan on using it in an air-cooled lawnmower, but I'm concerned as to its quality.

Do the components of the oil separate over time where the oil on top is different from that on the bottom ? I wonder if the lighter 15W might rise to the top, and the heavier 40 sinks to the bottom. Since I'll be drawing about 12 oz at a time rather than all at once, as in refilling a car for example, I don't want to harm the engine because the oil is no longer uniform throughout.

Can anybody help me with this ? Thanks in advance.
 
I would shake it up very well & use it & I have before. I'm not sure how long the Rotella T Synthetic 5W-40 had been setting in my garage floor, but it had been more than a few years. It was before they called it T6 if that tells you anything. My 2015 John Deere is running like a charm on it. Also, can anyone find the link to where a guy ran really old oil in his car & got a UOA & everything looked fine? I vaguely remember something like this.
 
I used 10+ years old M1 15W50 without problem.

15W40 oil doesn't have 2 parts: 15 and 40. It just only thicken as an 15W when cold and thin down as an 40 when at operating temperature.

Overtime the additives may fall down to the bottom so you need to shake it a little .
 
Step 1: Go to your local parts store

Step 2: Look at all that fresh, clean, and new oil just sitting there on the shelves, ripe for the taking.

Step 3: Realize that the fresh, clean, new motor oil in those new plastic bottles is MILLIONS or BILLIONS of years old.

Step 4: Laugh at the idea that oil is not good after 4 years.
 
Also consider that some cars have two year OCI with the oil working under dirty conditions, so the four years are like no problem for the quality of that oil. And for any engine that is not picky or have aftertreatment stuff, I would not worry about oil 15 or 20 yrs old. The only thing that could happen in that can in maybe some of the add pack stuff could settle. The base oil itself will not change in hundreds of years.

So Yeah, this post--->

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Step 1: Go to your local parts store

Step 2: Look at all that fresh, clean, and new oil just sitting there on the shelves, ripe for the taking.

Step 3: Realize that the fresh, clean, new motor oil in those new plastic bottles is MILLIONS or BILLIONS of years old.

Step 4: Laugh at the idea that oil is not good after 4 years.
 
Well, yes and no.

In some sense the oil is not a uniform thing that has already been settled for a million years they pump from the ground straight into a bottle. It's a mix of a ton of things especially the additives that do make the magic happen that make the oil different at cold temp and hot temp. This manufacture didn't happen a million years ago, more like a few months to a year of when you bought it.
Additionally the bottle and container is made as cheaply as possible to cut costs, so it's not as 100% hermetically sealed and expected to prevent every single molecule from getting in and out of the plastic or the plastic breaking down especially at the seams.

So it is well within reason that the additives could settle out, and so it could be described as the "15w" or the "40" multiviscosity falling to the bottom so the oil acts just like a straight 30 or 40 or 20. Some folks have posted pics of oil, where it's a grey goo or sludge on the bottom, and it would take like minutes in a paint shaker to get that goo back uniformly back into the oil.
That being said, a bunch of the bigname oil manufacturers have publically stated shelf-life of oil is 4 or 5years, so 4years is still within that quote.
If you go over 5years, the oil manufacturers aren't going to stand behind the claim that the oil is still good (meaning up to the specs on the label).

Still, your lawnmower will probably take anything so it doesn't matter too much. If it was your car with stricter oil specs, I'd heed the 5year recommendation.
 
Last edited:
These threads come up often. Shake it and use it, you'll have no problems with the oil. Blackstone did VOAs of oil a lot older than that, a few decades older and the products were fine. They tested it shaken and unshaken. Hopefully this article will help you decide. I'd use the 4 year old oil.

The only risk I see is the oil might be dated spec wise. EG: SM vs. SN. If you run into that situation and your car called for SL or SM oil and that's what you have, use it! I had SE oil I put in my mower with no ill effects.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/Newsletters/Gas-Diesel/April-1-2012.php
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime

Step 3: Realize that the fresh, clean, new motor oil in those new plastic bottles is MILLIONS or BILLIONS of years old.


That product in those containers is not millions or billions of years old. The product in those containers is refined from a product that is old, but in addition to the refined crude oil product there are additives that are created from non-crude sources.

Comparing crude oil to motor oil is an absurd comparison in the current context.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: bubbatime

Step 3: Realize that the fresh, clean, new motor oil in those new plastic bottles is MILLIONS or BILLIONS of years old.


That product in those containers is not millions or billions of years old. The product in those containers is refined from a product that is old, but in addition to the refined crude oil product there are additives that are created from non-crude sources.

Comparing crude oil to motor oil is an absurd comparison in the current context.

^ Oh good, I wasn't the one that had to say it. ^

As other's have stated, yes 4 years is usually not a problem. If it was in an unheated garage and your climate goes from very hot summers to very cold winters, then maybe you could have an issue, but if it is kept in a temperate, dry place, it will be fine.

It is the additives separating that makes and oil go "bad" most of the time if it has an air tight seal. The good thing about that, is you can often see the sludge or sediment from them if they do separate. I would be concerned at maybe the 8-10 year mark and maybe take a quick look to make sure there wasn't any separation.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Comparing crude oil to motor oil is an absurd comparison in the current context.

That really depends on whether or not you feel like being argumentative with an unimportant, non-technical detail.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: bubbatime

Step 3: Realize that the fresh, clean, new motor oil in those new plastic bottles is MILLIONS or BILLIONS of years old.


That product in those containers is not millions or billions of years old. The product in those containers is refined from a product that is old, but in addition to the refined crude oil product there are additives that are created from non-crude sources.

Comparing crude oil to motor oil is an absurd comparison in the current context.


It was more of a joke than an actual comparison.
 
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3818363/Re:_I__ran_20_year_old_oil_in_#Post3818363
 
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