5 Year Old Oil Good?

[bryceban]

Howdy, I have a 98 Mercury 200HP outboard that I am going to remove the oil injection pump on and just pre-mix in the gas tank but the 2-3 gallon oil reservoir is full of Mercury Quicksilver that I'm guessing is 5 years old since that was last time the previous owner used the boat. If it visually looks ok would you use it? I figure its about $40-$60 worth of oil.

Also, would you have any problems switching to something cheaper like say Pennzoil TW3? I heard I'll be using more oil going the pre-mix route and don't want to needlessly spend more for a branded product unless there's good reason. Thanks!

 

[Cujet]

It's very likely to be just fine. Oil really does not go bad all that rapidly. I have some two stroke oil that is 20 years old and still fine.

 

[jdw1222]

And to add Pennzoil xlf or semi synthetic is a good choice and priced well. Any tcw3 seems to be pretty good now, but semi synthetic and full synthetic will perform better and smoke less

 

[Lubener]

Naw, send it to me and I will dispose of it properly for you.