Does anyone know if oil has a shelf life or if there's a recommended time of use once the oil manufacturers produce it and package it for sale?


Thanks
OJ

 

Nope. Oil is forever.

 

At swap meets, I have seen some full oil cans that look to be from the 40s and 50s. I don't think that I would use those in anything expensive.

 

Never heard of a shelf life on oil but it has been said in other posts that you should give oil thats been sitting around for awhile a good shaking since the additives will settle out over time.

 

Look at it this way, if factory fill axle or manual transmission oil often stays good in a vented gearcase for 10-20 years, why not in a sealed bottle? Oxidation is essentially zero at room temperature.

Jim

 

No seriously though its a good ideal.

 

Lets think about this shelf life question some more.

Seems to me, the complexity of todays motor oil recipe, the way it's packaged now days, many things could govern the useful shelf life of motor oil.

Temperature hot & cold extreems, humidity, strong light, ozone levels, the permeability of the oils container material type, the oils formulation, are some of the things that come to mind.

Since most consumer motor oil products are now packaged in plastic, rather than the metal containers of years past, strong light, humidity & ozone can get to the product, as the permeability of plastic isn't nearly as good as metal, glass, or ceramic, thats needed for a hermetic seal.

SO, motor oil stored under stable temps, low humidity, low light levels & low ozone levels, is thought to be stable for about 4-5 years.

Example, Mobil says their products stored under stable conditions, are ok for 5 years.
Shelf Life of Unopened Mobil 1 Quarts

Other oils may not be stable for as long, depending on their recipe, container type & storage conditions.

Oils sealed in metal, glass, or ceramic & stored in stable conditions of temperature & low light should be more stable than ones stored in plastic containers which have lower permeability & light attenuating properties.

Opaque containers are better than clear containers, for light sensitive formulatons.

Metal, glass, or ceramic is better for humidity sensitive recipies, like brake fluid, for instance.

So the plastic containers brake fluid is now packaged & sold in, is a leap backwards in packaging imo.

Give me the old metal can, with the foil seal in the cap, it's less likely to be messed with, humidity & strong light wise in a metal can, when we purchase it & set it on the garage shelf!!!!

More thoughts for consideration.

 

So you would put that can of 1940s oil in a new Scorpion 6.7L Powerstroke.

You are a brave, brave soul.

 

1-5 years depending on who you ask

 

So, its only good for as little one year in a sealed container, but up to one year in actual use in the engine? While I agree that brake fluid, which absorbs moisture out of the air, may be more sensitive to storage conditions, as long as the seal holds and the bottle doesnt crack, these products should have an indefinite shelf life. This is not fine wine, or even beer.

Side, but related question, who flushes brake fluid every three years or so? Ford is silent about it, but many imports recommend this because brake fluid absorbs moisture. Who changes gear oil on a schedule of time rather than mileage?

Jim

 

C'mon man. You are talking about the obsolete additive, not the oil itself. Although I am going to have to mostly agree with you. Not because the old oil loses anything, but because before the mid 80's motor oil was mostly produced by solvent dewaxing. In the mid 80's we saw hydrotreated motor oils from the companies that owned the process. Probably by 1990 or later the hydrotreating process was licensed to most other companies. So really, old oil is low performance oil with obsolete additives. So I would only use old oil in an old vehicle. But what I'm saying is, the old oil still retains the original specifications it was manufactured to. Which is of course why I wouldn't use it.

At my workplace we recently changed the oil on a 50 megawatt electric power generator. The same oil had been in continuous service for 20 years. No oil changes, very little makeup oil. Just routine filter changes and regular oil analysis as part of the preventative maintenance program. The only reason it was changed was because a new prime mover was installed and it had rotation reverse of the original. So since the generator uses plain or hydrodynamic bearings, the bearings had to be replaced with new ones for opposite rotation to get the correct oil wedge. The original oil was removed for inspection and cleaning of the lube oil reservoir. We didn't have a clean reusable tank big enough to hold all the oil, so we put it in the recycling oil tank and refilled the reservoir with new oil. Just so you have an idea how big this generator is, the shaft journal measures 13" diameter.

BTW, both the original fill and the current refill are Mobil oil. They did not issue and end of use date with the oil. In fact they use documentation from long term use like ours and others as testimonial for the quality and endurance of their product. If Mobil is recommending a 5 year shelf life for it's consumer motor oils it must be to make sure the additives are current and not obsolete.