Having lurked this forum for most of the past ten years, I've seen endless discussions on whether oil "expires" with age. I will soon have a data point to add to this ongoing debate; I have no idea which side of the argument is correct, nor do I care.
I just did a oil run on my 1997 Camaro that has been sitting rarely driven for the past 7 years. The car has 183k miles, and the oil I just drained and took a hot sample of has 1,450 miles on it for those years - Mobil 1 High Milage 10w-30 with a Fram Ultra. The car was fed Castrol GTX until around 85k, with the last 100k being exclusively Mobil 1. I refilled with the old formula Pennzoil Ultra 5w-30.
The car has sat outside through every winter and summer of northern Illinois, being started and driven a handful of miles at a time once every month or so; sometimes it would just be started and idled for 45+ minutes. Occasionally when started cold in sub-zero temps, it would be driven immediately at wide open throttle.
The oil was slightly dirty, with no fuel smell or other visible effects of the years it sat in the sump. I will be sending in for UOA this week and look forward to posting the results.
I just did a oil run on my 1997 Camaro that has been sitting rarely driven for the past 7 years. The car has 183k miles, and the oil I just drained and took a hot sample of has 1,450 miles on it for those years - Mobil 1 High Milage 10w-30 with a Fram Ultra. The car was fed Castrol GTX until around 85k, with the last 100k being exclusively Mobil 1. I refilled with the old formula Pennzoil Ultra 5w-30.
The car has sat outside through every winter and summer of northern Illinois, being started and driven a handful of miles at a time once every month or so; sometimes it would just be started and idled for 45+ minutes. Occasionally when started cold in sub-zero temps, it would be driven immediately at wide open throttle.
The oil was slightly dirty, with no fuel smell or other visible effects of the years it sat in the sump. I will be sending in for UOA this week and look forward to posting the results.