Motor Oil Shelf Life-Chevron Answers The ?????

Running 15 year old 0W30 "green" Castrol in a half dozen vehicles and OPE engines.
No blowups yet.
Will continue to monitor.
 
Originally Posted By: Zee09
Seems Chevron answers this question with their Euro 5W40 Havoline Ultra
Read down to the bottom in the gray box.
60 months from the bottle filling date- Interesting



Its would only be really interesting if it was believable.

So it isn't.
 
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As I was doing an oil change on my Outback last weekend, I thought how I had never seen a date on a bottle of motor oil, and reasoned that if there were a shelf life to motor oil, manufacturers would print a date on the bottles. Looks like Chevron has now done it.

Perhaps Chevron's reasoning is, 5 years is about all and API standard lasts before a new one is approved. Sometimes more. Sometimes less.
 
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Originally Posted By: nascarnation
Running 15 year old 0W30 "green" Castrol in a half dozen vehicles and OPE engines.



A lot of long time members of this site would kill to get their hands on some of that good ole elixir right there!
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Originally Posted By: Patman
Originally Posted By: nascarnation
Running 15 year old 0W30 "green" Castrol in a half dozen vehicles and OPE engines

A lot of long time members of this site would kill to get their hands on some of that good ole elixir right there!
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Although on the other hand the current 0W-40 carries the same slate of specifications and I’d defy anyone to show it’s somehow inferior.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Originally Posted By: Zee09
Seems Chevron answers this question with their Euro 5W40 Havoline Ultra
Read down to the bottom in the gray box.
60 months from the bottle filling date- Interesting



Its would only be really interesting if it was believable.

So it isn't.


That's not the point.
It is asked here daily.
The manufacturer has spoken.
This is a first from what I have seen.

Doesn't matter what Joe Blow does!
 
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Originally Posted By: Zee09
Seems Chevron answers this question with their Euro 5W40 Havoline Ultra
Read down to the bottom in the gray box.
60 months from the bottle filling date- Interesting



Its would only be really interesting if it was believable.

So it isn't.


And just how do you know all this Mr. Ducked?
 
Fact is, the additives that are in engine oil can and do have a shelf life. No one here knows what that time frame is. The lame argument that "oil" is millions of years old doesn't apply to a formulated product.
 
Originally Posted By: hallstevenson
Fact is, the additives that are in engine oil can and do have a shelf life. No one here knows what that time frame is. The lame argument that "oil" is millions of years old doesn't apply to a formulated product.
Blackstone tested some oils from the 1960's and the additives they were supposed to have were there and intact. A five year shelf life for oil is ludicrous--formulated or otherwise.
 
Originally Posted By: hallstevenson
Fact is, the additives that are in engine oil can and do have a shelf life. No one here knows what that time frame is. The lame argument that "oil" is millions of years old doesn't apply to a formulated product.



^^^^^
Very interesting point here. I do wonder what the shelf life of the additives are. That's the x factor in this whole equation.
 
Dunno-I'm running the last of the famous 99 cent Delo 400 SAE 30 AZ clearance oil in my brother's flat tappet SBC right now, multiple OPE, and in the 7.3 F-450-that oil has to be 12-13 years old, minimum-and nothing I've used it in has blown up yet!
 
Pennzoil is 4 years.

Mobil says 5 years for theirs

Valvoline says it does not ever expire (but gives an API warning and shake bottle note).

This has been on their sites for quite a while, so nothing really new here.


IMO, most of these are not truly the expiration of the oil, but more an expiration on the API rating.
As well as a legal way out of any issues with using an older oil that may not have been stored under ideal conditions.

As many others have said, oil does not go bad. There may be some additive fallout, but overall the oil is fine to use so long as the bottle is sealed.

I have and will continue to use "old" new oil so long as it meets the API rating and is the correct viscosity for the vehicle it is going in.
 
Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
Originally Posted By: hallstevenson
Fact is, the additives that are in engine oil can and do have a shelf life. No one here knows what that time frame is. The lame argument that "oil" is millions of years old doesn't apply to a formulated product.

Blackstone tested some oils from the 1960's and the additives they were supposed to have were there and intact. A five year shelf life for oil is ludicrous--formulated or otherwise.


Was there not yet another story where someone had sampled some used oil found in an abandoned car that had been sitting for years and years and through testing of that oil they found it still serviceable?
 
I guess there needs to be a sell by date, and a best used by date. We will probably get to that by some point. I don't keep enough stock to worry about a 5 year shelf life.
 
I have 3 cases of trop artic 10w 40 oil in QUART CANS!!! I use in my 67 Firebird 326 ho and 69 Camaro 396. Its probably 20 years old at least. A few of the cans leaked and I poured them into plastic. Has the high ZDDP. No sludge, no flat cams.
 
Originally Posted By: hallstevenson
Fact is, the additives that are in engine oil can and do have a shelf life. No one here knows what that time frame is. The lame argument that "oil" is millions of years old doesn't apply to a formulated product.


Only partially true hall, I'm leaning more with the earlier arguments about the new oil specs coming out in relatively short periods of time- ~5 years.

Without starting any debate whatsoever other than to answer the OP's question, it's like trying to "prove" how old the earth is, or the theory of evolution. Since nobody was around that long ago to watch and document any of the suspected changes up until present date, it's impossible to scientifically evaluate those theories. Just like honestly answering the question of how long a sealed container of oil will be good. Let's answer it this way, since this is my theory- with today's plastic jugs, automobiles as we know them will be gone long before that oil "goes bad".

My take on Chevron's date coding? It's purely a marketing move, to make people who are skeptical to begin with buy more oil because they will think it's "spoiled". That's it in a nutshell.
 
Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo
... Let's answer it this way, since this is my theory- with today's plastic jugs, automobiles as we know them will be gone long before that oil "goes bad".
...

I think the plastic containers will go "bad" before the oil does.

I know plastic can get brittle and crack over time, especially if not stored correctly.

I have had 2 plastic bottle failures.
One was a 1 year old 5 qt jug that had a small pinhole leak (just sitting under my workbench, made a bit of a mess).
The other was a 1 qt container, but it was stored under the hood for my top-off oil. It cracked when I was pulling it up from its storage spot under the hood, it was probably 5 years old, and had been under the hood most of that time (I refilled it since the bottle fit perfectly).
 
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