Shelf Life

[perryg114]

I have had some recent concerns on another forum on shelf life of oil. I frequently use oil that is over 10 yrs old without issue. Usually it is some formulation of Mobil 1. I would not think that mineral oils would degrade over time if kept sealed in the original bottles.

Perry

 

[BobGoblin]

5 years. Aditives degrade.

 

[spasm3]

As far as motor oil goes, I would only worry about it being out of spec for a newer car. As far as the oil itself, i would not worry about it degrading. Cooking oil? That might not be good lol.

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted by spasm3
As far as motor oil goes, I would only worry about it being out of spec for a newer car. As far as the oil itself, i would not worry about it degrading. Cooking oil? That might not be good lol.


I agree.
I've had very good UOA'a using oils that were 17 years old. As far as "additives degrading"....I think "additives falling out of suspension" is more accurate....I make sure to shake older bottles before using.

 

[demarpaint]

A while back Blackstone wrote an article about oil shelf life, I didn't bookmark it unfortunately. They tested oil a lot older than 5 years old. IIRC it might have been over 20 years old, and the oil was fine. As already stated if the oil meets the specs for your car, shake it and use it.

 

[BobGoblin]

It appears I was wrong.

Here is article (part 1)

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/wp-...esel-2012-04-01-The-eBay-Oils-Part-1.pdf

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Seriously how much could oil and those additives degrade they've all been in the ground a million years. But I'd guess we'd know if we'd been around a million years ago the oil we'd be using would be so much better our carts would have never worn out!

 

[BobGoblin]

Aditives are made in factory. They were not in the ground for million of years.

 

[kschachn]

Chemical stability is dependent upon the specific compound, not upon the origin of the atoms.

 

[Uphill_Both_Ways]

Originally Posted by BobGoblin
https://www.blackstone-labs.com/wp-...esel-2012-04-01-The-eBay-Oils-Part-1.pdf
"The [Castrol] bottle was partly in French so I'm guessing it was from Canada. . . ."

Inconsistencies: The picture is of a can, not a bottle. Depending on the can's age, it would have contained an imperial quart, larger and heavier than a U.S. quart and discernible at a glance. Or if it was a U.S. quart sold in Canada after metrication, it would have had to have it's capacity printed as 946 millilitres.

Since he was guessing about its origin, it probably was a U.S. quart no different than the others. Maybe sold in Louisiana?

Or perhaps it was an "antique" knock-off sold to him at an inflated price.

Conspiracy!!!!!

 

[JLTD]

I think there's a UOA on here somewhere with 40- or 50-year-old oil. Couldn't find it.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted by BobGoblin
Aditives are made in factory. They were not in the ground for million of years.


Oh seriously they are all man made and didn't come out of nature LOL

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted by BobGoblin
It appears I was wrong.

Here is article (part 1)

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/wp-...esel-2012-04-01-The-eBay-Oils-Part-1.pdf



That article provides a lot of good information. Good to know oil lasts a long time.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by JC1
Originally Posted by BobGoblin
It appears I was wrong.

Here is article (part 1)

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/wp-...esel-2012-04-01-The-eBay-Oils-Part-1.pdf



That article provides a lot of good information. Good to know oil lasts a long time.

That was the article I was referring to. 5 year old oil as long as it meets the specs for the vehicle would be fine. Just shake and pour.

 

[SonofJoe]

I have some oil I threw together in the lab on my last day at work. It's coming up to ten years old now. I wouldn't hesitate in using it.

If an engine oil has been formulated properly and stored properly, it's life will essentially be infinite. There have been reports on BITOG about black deposits on the bottom of bottles. I don't know for sure but this usually points to a badly formulated DI pack.

 

[Uphill_Both_Ways]

Somewhere on this site is a thread started by a guy who was about to, or was using, new old stock oil in his 240 Z.

 

[Malo83]

Bah! that's why i don't keep an oil stash, why?? rather have fresh oil with the latest and greatest additives.

 

[JC1]

I usually only buy 4-6 jugs when on sale. We only get really good oil deals on black Friday or boxing day.

I just got a few bottles of 19 year old oil for a girl at work from Walmart. I'll use them on my OPE.

 

[Bud]

Just stay one oil change ahead and you won't have to worry about it.

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted by Bud
Just stay one oil change ahead and you won't have to worry about it.


But I think most people on here have run into situations where they see a great oil on for a very good sale, so they stock up as much as they can. In my case, when I saw that they reformulated Mobil 1 5w30 ESP Formula, and Canadian Tire was reducing it's price drastically to clear it out, I went out to every Canadian Tire store within a half hour radius of my house and stocked up. I now have 5 oil changes worth of it for my Corvette, so it'll last close to 5 years. But I'm not too worried, I think when a lot of manufacturers claim a shelf life of 5 years, that's rather conservative. I wouldn't have a problem with even 10 year old oil, as long as it has the necessary certifications for the car I'm putting it in. (so I wouldn't run an SL or SM oil in a car calling for SN for instance)