Shelf life of store brand oil?

[Jimmy9190]

I have 8 quarts of Carquest house brand 10W30 conventional in my stash. It is a little over 2 years old. I'd like to use it in my Dakota this winter. The CQ oil looks to me to be a bit thinner than the QS conventional 10W30 I have been using for a while now. That may or may not be so, it's just how it looks to me and is my own perception when I compare the two oils. Plus, I have it so I may as well use it. I would rather use it during the cooler months coming up. I have a couple of Caruqest Red Label filters to use up too, I bought those with the oil on a 5 quart/Red label for $11.99 filter deal two years ago.

So my question here is I know name brand oil has a good long shelf life, 3 years maybe up to 5 years depending on how and where you store it. This CQ oil has been stored in a cardboard box, under my workbench in my non-climate controlled garage here in Central Florida for two years now. I am just wondering if anyone has any info or idea whether a house brand may have a shorter shelf life than the name brand oils, because of the differences in add packs?

Thanks for any info here. I would like to use this oil if possible.

 

[Bamboooo]

 

[daves87rs]

Just use it...it will work just fine....

 

[Bill in Utah]

Jimmy, Please use the search and see that this has been discussed MANY MANY times on the board.

People have used new oil for well over 7 years old and no problems. Most oil companies will tell you that 2 years is not old at all.

Bill

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: Bamboooo

I tried a search, did not come up with much info on my question. Maybe I didn't use the right search terminology or phrase(s). That is why this post is here.

I figure the CQ oil is just fine to use. I was only wondering if anyone else might have any additional info on my question, that's all. Thanks.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I am just wondering if anyone has any info or idea whether a house brand may have a shorter shelf life than the name brand oils, because of the differences in add packs?

No. Add pack has nothing to do with the oil's shelf life.

 

[jim302]

CarQuest Oil = Valvoline, with possibly very minor differences in the additive pack (there is no proof of any differences, just speculation).

Use it and don't worry about it.

The old red filters should be fine too, but they aren't as good as their blue (premium quality) filters. They should still do the job just fine unless you are really concerned about only buying the best.

 

[chubbs1]

Jimmy, for future reference, if it is at all possible try to keep your oil in your house. If you have oil in climate controlled conditions, oil pretty much lasts indefinitely.

To use the search go on google and type your search terms and bitog.

 

[pbm]

I have 15 year old (SH) 10w30 Amoco oil in my Buick right now.
It's running fine. I'm only going to run it about 3500 miles because I want to get my 17 year old 5w30 synthetic in it for the colder months.

 

[Lead Shoes]

The search button on here is messed up, go to Google and search the question, 8 out of 10 times the question is covered on here somewhere and shows up on Google's first page

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks for the info. I will only run the CQ oil and filter for 3000 miles. I work from home so I don't drive as much as I used to. I have used CQ 10W30 and CQ Red Label filters before with no problems at all, then in summer of 2010 I tried QS and it did a very good job too. I like the way my truck runs on QS but I figure I might as well use the CQ oil up and it might be best used during the cooler months. It does look to be thinner than QS, but I have no way to know for sure. It probably doesn't matter much. The weather doesn't get very cold here in winter anyway.