Shelf life of oil

[356six]

Probably a really stupid question, but I gotta ask...Is there an expiration for oil if it hasn't been opened. Standard 20-50, not synthetic?

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Can't imagine there is. Maybe an expert will chime in and surprise me. (Oh, and there are no stupid questions--I may learn something from your asking this.)

Stephan

[randywebb]

Iasked about grease once. The concept is called shelf life according to a major petro co. Grease is a bit different because it is oil suspended in a matrix (often clay and other stuff, or used to be). You can search that post up if you want. IIRC, it was 5 years or so.

So I would definitely not worry about oil w/in that time frame and probably some years beyond.

[cactusdtd]

The stuff starts out 10 millions years old......just don't let it to 10 million years , 6 months.

[wholberg]

From a chemical reaction standpoint, there is not really much going on in motor oil. Petroleum bases oils are fairly inert, and there are only two things you need to worry about.

1. If you are talking about a can of oil manufac tured in 1940 in the paper can with steel ends, I would not put that in your car, unless you were desperate. The lubrication properties of the oil are probably fine, but it will have picked up small particulate contaminants from the paper container. Also, the grades of oil back then were considerably less sophisticated, and not equal to modern oils.

2. For modern oils in sealed plastic containers, the two issues will be the leaching of plasticizers from the bottle into the oil, and the absorption of of lubricant additives, present normally in small amounts, into the plastic container. Given the viscosity of motor oil, unless you leave a case in the corner of your garage for 20 or 30 years, there should be no significant change over time.

So, if you buy 5 cases of Castrol because of a great sale, and it takes 2 or 3 years to use it up, there should be no difference between that and buying it in the store.

[yasir]

Originally posted by wholberg
So, if you buy 5 cases of Castrol because of a great sale, and it takes 2 or 3 years to use it up, there should be no difference between that and buying it in the store.

Glad to hear that as i am just after picking up 40 qts of Mobil 1 0W40

[Mike Feinstein]

Did you say Mobil 1 0W40??? That stuff turns to water within 6 months if not heated to 180 degrees at least monthly.


Couldn't resist. Kidding...of course.