Shelf life of today's synthetic oil

Is there an APP on a phone with a monthly reminder that it's time to shake your stash of oil ? ;)

Not that I know of, but your oil gets shaken every time the starter starts your engine and the oil pick up tube does what it does as well. Use with confidence! It also gets shaken when the jug gets moved to pour.
 
Im wondering what the shelf life of opened oil is, I have 1/2 quart open of RGT (cap threaded on) sitting in the garage (Arizona so garage regularly gets above 100°). I do 6000 mile OCIs so that means a bottle is sitting in the garage for about 6-7 months at a time.
 
Im wondering what the shelf life of opened oil is, I have 1/2 quart open of RGT (cap threaded on) sitting in the garage (Arizona so garage regularly gets above 100°). I do 6000 mile OCIs so that means a bottle is sitting in the garage for about 6-7 months at a time.

Still good. Even on a brand new container, the caps are not air tight, and not every mfr uses a foil seal.
 
I used a 5qt jug of PPHM 10W30 date code of 2014 made with natural gas in my Escalade and no issues ???

To be safe I made sure to shake bottle vigorously before adding to my truck 😎 (y)

Dave
 
As far as i'm concerned, good till used. The only problem for you might be if you trade, or lose a car in a wreck and you end up with oil that does not meet the certs of the newer car.
This is exactly why I stopped stocking oil and filters. I have one oil change on hand, then I replenish that when I use it. Typically I'll just order online and have it shipped to me. I used to buy oil and filters on sale but I'd end up with a stash for a car I ended up selling or like in my last case, both totaled by hail in the same day. The replacements used a different grade so I ended up giving it all to my neighbor.... Waste of time and money.
 
I bought some Rotella Gas Truck on clearance that was 2 years old for my Fusion. i didn’t think twice about pouring it in my new, warranted engine.
 
"Forever" in today's terms. Blackstone tested oil from the 1960's and it was still serviceable in the engines it was specified for. There is no reason to think anything lesser of modern oil.
 
I guess a couple of decades in the right conditions, humidity etc...

I always shake oil before i add/fill it because some additives are known to seperate during longer storage.
 
Does anyone have any insights on the shelf life of QSUD? I see WalMart has it on sale for $14.67 for a 5 quart jug. I just purchased a car, and it's the first time I have had a car in 7-8 years. I'm not sure how much I'll be driving but I'm guessing about 5K miles a year. I live in a Philadelphia, so it will mainly be city driving. I'm planning on doing 5k OCI. I bought a few jugs of the QSUD when I saw the price and I was thinking of buying more, but it may end up sitting around for years. What's the risk of the oil sitting on the shelf for an extended period?

The car in question is a 2017 Kia Forte S with 33k miles. It has the 2.0 MPI engine. I specifically avoided turbo and GDI engines. I'm going to have the oil changed this week (i'd rather change it myself, but I don't have anywhere to do it). It was a lease and I have no idea how long the oil has been in it. The oil that is in there looks and smells fine but I want to change it just to be sure. Last car I had was a 96 Maxima that I had for about 15 years. It had 170k on the odometer when I parted ways with it and it was still running strong.
I loaded up on QSUD last spring buying 4 jugs-2 years worth for me. At the time I thought it was a good deal($17.77 5 qt jug) I too was wondering if I had maybe bought too much, worried about degrading. Then I figured I'm just being a stereotypical neurotic BITOG member. The oil is stored my basement and will be fine.
 
Blackstone did some testing of oil that was decades old IIRC. It was in unopened original packaging. They determined it was still good, although not up to the specs of today's oils. Not very surprising. Bottom line shake up your oil and use it.
 
I've never seen or heard any problems due to oil being old, as long as it is stored in reasonable conditions with a tight lid and the oil meets the spec required for the motor. Pennzoil has been documented (photos) to have some additives precipitate and settle to the bottom of the bottle. Looks like dark sandy stuff but I've never seen it in person. I've had a bottle of PUP 5w30 in the garage for about a year but I shake it up every couple months along with my stash of gear oils and other fluids. So when someone talks about precipitation of additives, I always say shake it up and pour it in, the engine will cook it and mix it together just fine.
 
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