2 cycle oil shelf life?

[Superbuick96]

I bought a quart of Valvoline cycle oil a several years ago, the back of the bottle label says 2005 on it. I bought/opened it in 2007, but havent used it since. It was in the garage for awhile, now its stored in my basement. I havent used it because the last 3 yard tools I bought, chainsaw,blower,and weedwacker all came with 4oz. bottles of oil. That stash has been used up, and now Im wondering if I should use this open bottle of Valvoline this coming season in my equipment. There does not seem to be condinsation in it,the cap was on the entire time. But at the same time I dont want to compromise my equipment, so as to not waste an half a bottle of oil. What does anyone think?

 

[Radman]

Rule of thumb - 1 year opened, 3 years unopened. Of course you be the judge.

 

[Panzerman]

I would say its best to examine it and see how it looks, I had some Ammoco two stroke oil in quart bottles that was 10 years old and I dumped it and it looked fine, really a waste. I dumped a gallon of Polaris two stroke oil that was 6 years old and it came out in clumps. So just check it out. I have some Pennzoil that is about 9 years old, it turned the yellow bottle blueish from the dye. I ll probably try it, in the lawnboy. Any low performance two stroke is not all that demanding. Depends on how it looks in the bottle.

 

[boraticus]

I've found two cycle oil several years in my garage at camp a few times. I shook the bottle, poured some into a small glass and did a visual inspection and compared it to a batch of new oil. Looked the same. I used the old 2T oil with no problems.

If it looks good, it more than likely is.