babbah

I have a case of MOBIL1 Synthetic 15-50W that may be be between 5 and 10 years old - all in original sealed condition.
Can I use this oil?

65 fi

07/14/2006
Shelf Life of Unopened Mobil 1™ Quarts
Does Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil (in an unopened quart) have any sort of shelf life, like conventional motor oil?
ExxonMobil recommends a five year maximum shelf-life for engine oils, including Mobil 1™ synthetic.

Boyan

Dont use it if you have a flat tappet cam.

Frankie the Fink

This particular formulation (15W-50W) is designed explicitly for flat tappet cams and has the correct PPM of ZDDP.

I've been using it in my solid lifter '61 since 2008, 30,000 miles ago

rene-paul

Aircraft synthetics usually have a shelf life of 10 years.

tuxnharley

What would possibly cause a full synthetic motor oil in sealed containers to deteriorate? Why should it have any shelf life limitations at all - other than corporate attorneys wanting to set some risk/liability limits, or marketing types wanting to sell more product?

Rich Yanulis

That's the way I see It.

If it were my car and my oil, I would use it

pullin-gs

If most of the ingredients sat in the ground for a million years, I expect it can sit on the shelf for a spell.

warrenmj

Since the manufacturer says 5 years, why would you even think about risking your engine to save less than $100? Sell it at a discount to one of the forum members that said to use it.

AZDoug

I'll buy it for $1/qt.


I agree the shelf life is somewhat towards infinity.

The rate of chemical reaction or breakdown approx doubles every 10 degrees F, so if you oil is in a motor at 200F, and is good for at least a year of heat and cool cycles, up to say 7K miles oil kept at room temp would be good for approx 1x10^9 years.

7K miles @40MPH=175 hours.

2^13=8192 , times faster oil will deteriorate at 200*F vs 70*F,

175x 8192/24/365=19.8 years, and that is conservative.

I would expect the oil to be perfectly good for 2-3 times that long.

Doug

MikeM

Run for your life! The sky is falling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frankie the Fink

There are some on here that probably have had the same oil in their crankcase for more than 5 years...

Crunch527

That warning reminds me of the industry propaganda from about 10 years ago when the Jiffy Lubes of the world created a multi-billon dollar empire based on the myth that engine oil needed to be changed every 3000 miles...wish I would have thought of that one for myself.

Maybe they should start stamping all oil with an expiration date like is on milk...would increase their sales..."lather rinse, repeat"...

Frank

StingU2

… you sure can use it.

Rich Yanulis

You made me laugh........because I was thinking the same thing

babbah

Thanks all! Yup I'm gonna use it.

SonnyAK

As long as it was frozen, at or before the expiration date, it should be good for consumption! Sorry I just had to say that
I'd feel good with using it...I can't imagine any issues since it's still in the sealed containers...

ohiovet

I think if shelf life was critical an expiration date would be marked on all containers so the manufacturers would cover their butts.
If it is still sealed, use it.

Easy Rhino

Use it, but don't let the judges know that you do not have proper date-coded oil in your crankcase.

Mobil 1 was not available in the mid-60's.

Plasticman

Think the plastic container will "fail" before the oil does.

In the past couple of years, have had 2 "old" plastic quart oil containers leak.

I now store my older oil containers on large aluminum baking trays (also for garage tips thread). I use the old oil for tool & machinery maintenance.

Plasticman