Shelf life of unopened synthetic "racing" engine oil?

[RDY4WAR]

This depends on the oil. Oils low in detergents or anti-oxidants, if not kept in a climate controlled environment, can oxidize and have the additive package separate from the base oil. Driven XP series, for example, should be recycled at ~4 years. Something like High Performance Lubricants HDEO, with a beefy detergent package and TBN of 14, could still be serviceable at 20 years. It won't be as good as new, but usable.

I personally wouldn't use an oil that's 10 years old. Even the expensive is oil cheap when you consider its role in the engine. I'd recycle it and get fresh oil.

[PRH]

Several years ago one of the warehouses I deal with started carrying a well known, respected brand of racing oil.

The warehouse rep was going around visiting shops and had the oil company rep with him.
No name dropping, but most on this board would know who he is.

Anyway....... the topic on shaking the oil bottle before dumping it in came up and his response was basically........ why wouldn’t you?
It was like that should be standard practice.

[RDY4WAR]

Several years ago one of the warehouses I deal with started carrying a well known, respected brand of racing oil.

The warehouse rep was going around visiting shops and had the oil company rep with him.
No name dropping, but most on this board would know who he is.

Anyway....... the topic on shaking the oil bottle before dumping it in came up and his response was basically........ why wouldn’t you?
It was like that should be standard practice.

I think I know who you're talking about, and I've had lengthy discussions with him, going deep into chemistry jargon, about shaking the oil/additives and the conditions for suspension. I always shake the bottle before pouring it in.

[Steve K]

Honestly, Oil is relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things, I can think of no reason to bulk buy and have it sit on the shelf. The cost involved to build an engine and risk wrecking it by using old oil doesn't make any sense to me. Just my 2 cents

[David Redszus]

Several years ago one of the warehouses I deal with started carrying a well known, respected brand of racing oil.

The warehouse rep was going around visiting shops and had the oil company rep with him.
No name dropping, but most on this board would know who he is.

Anyway....... the topic on shaking the oil bottle before dumping it in came up and his response was basically........ why wouldn’t you?
It was like that should be standard practice.

I think I know who you're talking about, and I've had lengthy discussions with him, going deep into chemistry jargon, about shaking the oil/additives and the conditions for suspension. I always shake the bottle before pouring it in.

Most of the oil additives are in solution, not suspension. If additive particles are in suspension, they will most likely be removed when passing through the oil filter.

[Krooser]

Several years ago I bought over 90 qts. of oil from a local garage sale. Mostly Pennzoil with a couple other brands mixed in.

The sellers Dad had a small shop for decades and did a lot of work for local folks.

Most of this oil was 20 years old or more. I used it up on my daily drivers for another few years. Never saw any settling in the bottles.

[mag2555]

Yes additives do settle out but you can with some minor effort get the oil back to being 100 percent usable.

Go to a store that mixes paint and by a a new empty gallon paint can or two depending on how much oil you need to use.
Once home pour you oil in the Gallon can and take back to the store and pay then to mix it on there shaker.
A 2 minute shake will be all it needs.
Bingo! Good oil once again!

[BradH]

Would sending random samples for VOA provide the info necessary to determine if the oil is still viable?

And just for clarification, the original plan wasn't to have the oil sitting around for so long. It certainly wasn't purchased at the time thinking it would give me a readily available supply 10+ years in the future.

David R - You bring up a good point about the additive pack being in solution, not suspension. Although it sounds like a quick fix to simply agitate the oil to re-blend everything, I recognize it's not the same thing.

[hoffman900]

Yes additives do settle out but you can with some minor effort get the oil back to being 100 percent usable.

Go to a store that mixes paint and by a a new empty gallon paint can or two depending on how much oil you need to use.
Once home pour you oil in the Gallon can and take back to the store and pay then to mix it on there shaker.
A 2 minute shake will be all it needs.
Bingo! Good oil once again!

You’ll aerate the oil.

Are you guys building like demo derby motors or what?

[BradH]

Well, not intentionally...

[mag2555]

So your saying oil does not get airated in use, please!?

[lefty o]

So your saying oil does not get airated in use, please!?

it does, and if someone put it in a paint mixer, even that air would settle out of the oil after a short time.

[RDY4WAR]

Several years ago one of the warehouses I deal with started carrying a well known, respected brand of racing oil.

The warehouse rep was going around visiting shops and had the oil company rep with him.
No name dropping, but most on this board would know who he is.

Anyway....... the topic on shaking the oil bottle before dumping it in came up and his response was basically........ why wouldn’t you?
It was like that should be standard practice.

I think I know who you're talking about, and I've had lengthy discussions with him, going deep into chemistry jargon, about shaking the oil/additives and the conditions for suspension. I always shake the bottle before pouring it in.

Most of the oil additives are in solution, not suspension. If additive particles are in suspension, they will most likely be removed when passing through the oil filter.

Not necessarily. An old friction modifier, MoS2, is a solid particle additive that's 0.5-1.0 um in size. Most full flow oil filters aren't going to be efficient that small. Some will inevitably be caught, but I'd think 70-80% would get through. It's pretty much only found in Liqui-Moly's supplement and isn't very efficient as reducing friction. Polymethylsiloxane, a solid particle anti-foaming agent, is still commonly used.

In suspension, in solution, yeah my terminology got away from me. You don't want it to fall out is the point.

The oil can oxidize in the jug. If you pour a little bit in a glass container, and it seems to have a cloudy appearance, it's oxidizing. I saw it recently from a certain high end, low detergent oil that was left in the elements for 4 years.

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[RDY4WAR]

Would sending random samples for VOA provide the info necessary to determine if the oil is still viable?

And just for clarification, the original plan wasn't to have the oil sitting around for so long. It certainly wasn't purchased at the time thinking it would give me a readily available supply 10+ years in the future.

David R - You bring up a good point about the additive pack being in solution, not suspension. Although it sounds like a quick fix to simply agitate the oil to re-blend everything, I recognize it's not the same thing.

If you were to do a VOA on it, you're best bet would be to send it to Polaris Labs (Amsoil) and request they run oxidation and nitration. However, it would be useless without a VOA of it fresh for comparison. The VOA may come back 50 abs/cm oxidation, but if the oil started with 40-50 abs/cm, then nothing has changed. It's good to go. Though uncommon, some oils do startout with high oxidation in FTIR (50-120 abs/cm). If the fresh oil was <20 abs/cm (common) and the current VOA shows >50 abs/cm, it's oxidized a good bit.

I guess to summarize, a VOA of a 10 year old unopened oil would be pretty much useless without a VOA of it fresh for comparison. Even then, you'd want both VOAs run in the same lab to the same parameters and calibration.

[midnightbluS10]

I did some generic searching for "shelf life of synthetic motor oil", since I have more than a case of "good stuff" that's at least 10 years old sitting on the shelf in my climate-controlled basement. FWIW, I define "good stuff" as having cost me about $10 (or more) per quart.

Some manufacturers (Amsoil, Mobil 1, Castrol, ...) say five (5) years... which makes me suspect since they certainly would prefer consumers purchasing new product over not.

Some people have stated as long as it's not been opened nor exposed to extreme heat or cold that there's nothing to "go bad", other than there may be some additives that come out of suspension during extended storage. "Shake it up and pour it in!"

Any feedback or input on the subject is appreciated, given I'm not a tribologist.

Do you suspect the milk farmers put fake expiration dates on milk, too, so you'll buy more? Smfh. Jesus Christ.