can I trust old, but unopened, oil?

[cadjak]

I was helping a friend clean out his garage and he had half a case of Castrol GTX 5w30. The plastic bottles were so old that they were discolored. None of the oil had been opened. Is it okay to use the oil in my van? I normally use exactly that brand and grade of oil.
-cadjak

 

[97f150]

I wouldnt

 

[Ugly3]

If the unopened conventional oil was subjected to freezing temps the quality becomes suspect over time. Not so much with synthetics.

 

[blupupher]

So long as they are not leaking and the oil meets your engines specs, use it. I found some SJ Pennzoil in my dads garage when he was moving. He says he has not bought oil for at least 7 yrs that he could remember. I used it and had no ill effects. My engine calls for SH or newer.

 

[y_p_w]

Some of the additives might come out of suspension, but I wouldn't worry about it. Just take a look at the bottom of any empty light colored motor oil bottle, and you'll notice it.

 

[TomH]

Ray H is absolutely correct.

 

[mechtech]

Ray H is right, except that oil can be produced in 20 minutes from vegetation with the proper heat and pressure.

 

[Ugly3]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ray H:
Baloney. Unopened motor oil is good indefinitely unless subjected to temperatures approaching the melting point of the plastic bottles. (That means a long, Long, very
L-O-N-G time - this stuff isn't fresh meat or produce. Petroleum's the end product measured in millions of years of dead animal and vegitation decay.) Freezing temperatures have NO effect on sealed, virgin motor oil longevity. Don't believe me? Check ANY brand motor oil MSDS you can locate online. You probably won't find an MSDS for Castrol (the company's paranoid about sharing technical information with customers), but I doubt their products are any different in regards to long-term storage.

---

I hope you are correct, however, I read somewhere that dino motor oil is best stored indoors (not in an unheated garage) because the parafins or VI improvers "age" in the cold weather just like they do in an engine during use. I actually opened some very old oil (maybe 10 years old) and it was seperated and milky coming out of the can.

 

[oilyriser]

I poured some old SJ oil into a car this spring, and noticed there were some clumps of a gelatinous substance in the oil near the bottom. It was probably fungal colonies, growing in the trace of moisture that had entered the opened bottle. Sealed bottles are probably good.

 

[wavinwayne]

I recently used 5 qt's of Quaker State semi-synthetic 10w30 oil that was 10 years old. It was rated API SH & the date code & copyright both indicated it was made in 1995. I got it for 20 cents/qt at K-Mart. I ran it, along with one qt. of MMO in my wife's '97 Expedition for 1100 miles. It did just fine, IMHO.

I even cut the oil filter open to make sure there was no funny business going on in the engine. The filter was as clean as a whistle, except for the oil of course. You can see it if you want; just look at the end of this thread: http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=002981;p=1#000031

 

[wileyE]

Have some 15-20yo? valvoline tcw outboard oil that has thick lumps in it, un opened bottles. Bar oil for the saw now, poured through a screened funnel.

Pennzoil 10w30 api SG from pop's garage, used it and it was fine.

 

[y_p_w]

I guess the lesson is that:

A) The chances of the stuff being usable improve if the seal is more or less intact.
B) Pour it into another container and physically check to see if the stuff still looks like new oil.

If it looks off, it's not worth trying to use it. Motor oil isn't that expensive.

 

[haley10]

What is the API rating? If it is SL or SJ it probably fine.

 

[Ray H]

Baloney. Unopened motor oil is good indefinitely unless subjected to temperatures approaching the melting point of the plastic bottles. (That means a long, Long, very
L-O-N-G time - this stuff isn't fresh meat or produce. Petroleum's the end product measured in millions of years of dead animal and vegitation decay.) Freezing temperatures have NO effect on sealed, virgin motor oil longevity. Don't believe me? Check ANY brand motor oil MSDS you can locate online. You probably won't find an MSDS for Castrol (the company's paranoid about sharing technical information with customers), but I doubt their products are any different in regards to long-term storage.

 

[Ray H]

Good points. My post presumed that the container was not leaking and tightly sealed. I should have brought that out.

 

[Meistersinger]

Actually, I know one of the large oil companies has a 48 month Shelf life policy. Nothing older than that is shipped out. However, if the oil is clear and bright with no sediments, it should be ok for use.

Just because the oil lasted for millions of years underground does not mean that once it has been refined, processed, and has a much different chemistry due to additives, etc that it will continue to last in a bottle in your garage for millions of years.

 

[blupupher]

The way I look at it, if oil went bad, it would have an expiration date on it.

 

[Ray H]

I doubt any finished motor oil goes to waste or up a chimney flue for want of "being shipped out on time". The refiners and blenders do a pretty fair job adjusting production to suit market conditions. It's not like this stuff is spoilable milk from "Ol' Bossy" whose udders have to be relieved on a daily schedule. The word "indefinitely" is used without exception in the MSDSs to describe finished motor oils' stability in storage at temperatures below its flash point. I don't know where Meistersinger got the notion I said or implied anything approaching "millions of years" in a garage. That must be some freakin' garage!

 

[Meistersinger]

Harumph, Ray H. I never said anything of the sort. You inferred that from my statement. The fact remains that the oil you put in your car is far removed from the stuff that comes from the ground. To make the analogy you did referring to the millions of years it takes for crude to form, does nothing but confuse the end user about what is actually ok to use in a vehicle.

I stand by my statement though, if the oil is clear and bright with no sediments, it should be ok for use. If not toss it. What kind of money are you out anyway? A buck a quart or less if this was bought long enough ago to warrant it going bad on the shelf.

 

[MN Driver]

Nice discussion, one time one of my friends car's got 1 quart of Halvoline SF 10w-40, and 4 quarts of Halvoline SH 10w-40 in his car. The oil was in my basement and I didn't need a 10w-40 oil anymore(a previous car of ours had it specced in the manual). He would always follow his GM OLM, but this was the only time that it got 3000 miles(mostly because we figured in the days of SF 3000 miles was needed for this grade of oil). The engine ran the same as normal, oil didn't come out any noticably darker or lighter than suspected after 3000 miles and it didn't seem seperated or discolred or anything like that at all. The valve covers didn't get any varnish or get darker, no sign of sludge either. I'm sure the oil had to be more than 10 years old. Since it wasn't my car, I didn't do a used oil analysis, but based on observations it seemed fine.

Personally, if I still ran dino in my car and this oil was a 30 weight I would put it in, but no longer than 3000 miles, I would trust today's dino's to about 5000 miles, but not SF or SH.