Does motor oil (unopened bottle) expire?

[DaveInLA]

I bought a couple of 5 qt jugs, Mobil 1 5w-30. Will they still be good 6 months from now (stored in cool garage)? thanks

 

[Blue99]

Dave, I think a shelf life of 4-5 years is commonly quoted on this site, based on info at the Shell website. Your stash of M1 is safe. I think the quarts of M1 0W-30 on the shelf at the local Walmart will probably sit & collect dust until November as many view 0W-30 as a winter oil in my area. To view the many past threads on the subject, click on the search function at the top of the page & enter "shelf life".

 

[palmerwmd]

Mobil 1 claimesd a chefl life of 120 months on their webiste some time ago. Makes perfect sense to me too given the harsh conditions in an engine dont hold a candle to just sittingin a bottle. My guess is 10 years is conservative for a syn oil. Non syn and espececially bottles open and contaminated with certain types of oil eating bacteria excluded.. Fred..

 

[TallPaul]

Somewhere I read you should avoid temperature extremes, say greater than 70 or so F and below freezing. Consequently, I moved my stash into the cellar. I am running some SJ oil that had label copyright dates of 1998. Truck is running fine. Will be doing a UOA on it this fall. Will be interesting to see the results.

 

[Ray H]

It's motor oil, not medicine, live bait, fresh meat, or produce. The stuff sat underground for millions of years at he11ish temperatures before being pumped to the surface. It then underwent similar he11ish temperatures during the refining and hydrocracking processes. (As far as anyone familiar with the proceeses know, none of it went "Pffttt" in a smokey flash like the audio tapes in the opening of each Mission Impossible episode either...) According to the product data sheets, it's designed to withstand temperatures in excess of 400 degrees F. in the presence of oxygen before flashing. And y'all are worried about its shelf life at ambient temperatures? By the way, those with half a clue would look up a few material safety data sheets online instead of revisiting this tired topic every two or three months. Without exception, they all state, "indefinitely" regarding refined and additized product stability when stored at ANY temperature within human tolerance in sealed containers.

 

[Blue99]

quote:

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Non syn and espececially bottles open and contaminated with certain types of oil eating bacteria excluded..

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Oh no, Palmerwmd, not the dreaded oil eating bacteria!! Once a crankcase gets contaminated, a half quart of oil can disappear every 1k miles. Some poor, uninformed souls try to blame it on "thin" oil. Luckily, Blackstone can test for the bacteria & list the results on a UOA for a small additional fee...

 

[palmerwmd]

quote:

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Originally posted by Blue99:

quote:

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Non syn and espececially bottles open and contaminated with certain types of oil eating bacteria excluded..

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Oh no, Palmerwmd, not the dreaded oil eating bacteria!! Once a crankcase gets contaminated, a half quart of oil can disappear every 1k miles. Some poor, uninformed souls try to blame it on "thin" oil. Luckily, Blackstone can test for the bacteria & list the results on a UOA for a small additional fee...

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The oil eating bacteria like thin oils the best. Fred..

 

[Ray H]

Hmmm... Would bacteria contaminated motor oil spread over collision damaged areas remove sheet metal wrinkles <i>a la</i> botox technology?

 

[Blue99]

Ray, I think you are on to somthing here! Bio-tech uses for motor oil, it's a cutting edge technology!

 

[Gary Allan]

Didn't the goverment fund some bio engineered algea that digested crude oil? I believe it was developed to help in spills. I never heard anything about it beyond the little bit on the news. This was naturally when mulitiple Amagoxxxx of Liberian regristry crashed within a few weeks of each other on our shores a couple of decades ago. ..and for you biochem freaks [ May 30, 2004, 02:36 PM: Message edited by: Gary Allan ]