Oil gone bad in storage?

[mark pruett]

Recently I was going to change my generator oil, and opened an old gallon of Mobil 1 0w-30 AFE (SN) that has been on the shelf for about 5-6 years.

I was hesitant to use it, because rather than the normal gold/amber sort of color, it was a deep red/brown - so much so, that my younger son (7 yrs) commented that it "looks just like maple syrup!"

I assume it's gone bad somehow while stored in my garage, despite having been unopened. Is this the case, or is the color not actually indicative of anything?

 

[dmac_73]

Was it ever previously opened?

A gallon of oil is cheap. I would just get a new 5qt jug and move on to be safe...

 

[Imp4]

Who knows....
You're not going to be able to diagnose it with any kind of reliability on an internet message board.
The good news is that it is quite inexpensive so you can toss it if you have any worries at all. Or you could run it and roll the dice a bit.

Good luck!!!

 

[Accent Abuser]

Every bottle of M1 I've ever seen looks like maple syrup. It's a dark oil.

 

[xgmad]

Just shake it.

 

[71Chevyguy]

I have plenty of oil in my stash that is 20 years old or older and it does fine in my cars. Just shake it, pour it in and let it do its job.

 

[nascarnation]

I have plenty of oil in my stash that is 20 years old or older and it does fine in my cars. Just shake it, pour it in and let it do its job.

I never went that far back, but had zero problems with 12 yr old stuff.

 

[alex_at]

8 or 9 year old oil here from a gallon container, opened years ago, stored outside in the shed - still using it without side effects in less expensive motorised equipment. So far no issues.

 

[nomas]

Oil gone bad ?

 

[johnachak]

Recently I was going to change my generator oil, and opened an old gallon of Mobil 1 0w-30 AFE (SN) that has been on the shelf for about 5-6 years.

I was hesitant to use it, because rather than the normal gold/amber sort of color, it was a deep red/brown - so much so, that my younger son (7 yrs) commented that it "looks just like maple syrup!"

I assume it's gone bad somehow while stored in my garage, despite having been unopened. Is this the case, or is the color not actually indicative of anything?

Just for giggles, you could send a sample to Blackstone.

 

[Hootbro]

There is probably millions of OPE to include generators sitting around with 5-6 years old or more oil in their crank case being occasionally run with little to no detriment. I would not sweat a 5-6 year old jug of oil being off color, especially one slated for use in a generator.

 

[Duffyjr]

OP are you remembering what it looks like on a dipstick? Oil on a dipstick is always lighter in color.

I have a 4 or 5 year old jug of T5 I've been pulling out 1/2 quart every year for my mower and when I pout it into a quart container it looks way darker than checking it on the dipstick, in fact it looks clear on the dipstick and is hard to read for a few weeks.

 

[FordMan59]

I too am running 15-25 year old oil in my cars without any associated problems. The newest oil in my stash is probably about 5 years old.

 

[Oro_O]

I asked Valvoline directly about this several years ago when I found some very old ATF. It was unopened, stored over decades.

They stated there was basically no "shelf life" limit to an ATF or motor oil stored in reasonable conditions, unopened. It would be usable within the design limits indefinitely.

 

[Ride_Red]

I used a jug of M1 10W30 in my mower and generators. It's taking 6 years to work my way through it. Oil still looks good and runs good. oil comes out clean in the fall. I don't have a calibrated eye to tell if it is darker than the new (ish), un-opened jug.

If it bothers you, you can recycle it, use new oil, and sleep better at night.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Mine did. Stupid vegetable oil. Went rancid. Couldn't cook with it.

 

[mark pruett]

What I'll probably just do is use it as top-up oil in my 2005 Dakota pickup; it's starting to burn a little bit between changes, so I occasionally need to top it up. I figure it's probably not too detrimental in any case if it's just a pint here or there.

 

[Accent Abuser]

I asked Valvoline directly about this several years ago when I found some very old ATF. It was unopened, stored over decades.

They stated there was basically no "shelf life" limit to an ATF or motor oil stored in reasonable conditions, unopened. It would be usable within the design limits indefinitely.

It was in the ground for millions of years.