Shelf Life Of Oil

[YukonJack]

The other day I was doing some clean up and came across 7 qts of 10w40 Fire and Ice motor oil. Think this was made by Shell. It is in the round cardboard cans with the metal top and bottom. These are at least 20 years old. My question is, is the oil still good? Do they have any value or should I just use them if they are still good?

[desoto1939]

This oil should still be good if the container has not been opened. Also this oil would have more of the old antiwear protection properties than the newer oils of today.

I would not use this in your newer car becasue it might do some damage to the catalytic converter. They have removed some of the zddp properties in the newer oils.

Just my two cents . I would definetley use in your antique car. I think the old metal cans would be worth more to a collector than the paper cans because over time they will start to leak so go an use them.

rich hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

[Plymouthy Adams]

this was just discussed about 4 days ago..here is an mention to your question as per the oil expert..:

Motor oil becomes permanently thicker with exposure to northerly winter type weather. This is more of a problem to mineral based oils. Waxes form. This is why it is a bad idea to even store a bottle of oil in a cold garage. It goes bad on the garage shelf just because it is exposed to the cold.

read the entire article here as I had posted 4 days back..answers your every question on oil, which to use how they act and perform, basically about everything you would need to know..(Motor Oil University)

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-101/

[Rusty O'Toole]

The oil may have value to a collector. There are collectors of garage memorabilia. If you do not care to save it for them go ahead and use it. The oil will not be up to the latest specs but should be fine for your old flathead. Possibly better than new oil.

The part about thickening permanently in the cold sounds like hooey. Maybe it will thicken in the cold but it will thin out again when it warms up.

This reminds me of something I read a few days ago in an old Chrysler manual about Fluid Drive. They said it is NEVER necessary to change the oil in the fluid drive unit, because it is a sealed unit and dirt never gets in, and there is so little air inside that the oil does not even oxidize.

In other words if the oil was stable and did not change while sitting under the ground for 1,000,000 years sitting in a sealed can for 30 years or 50 years is not going to affect it.

Oil does not wear out but the additives do. This is why oil companies recommend changing oil regularly. The anti wear and anti acid additives wear out over time due to contamination even if you do not drive much. In fact the less you drive the faster your oil gets gummed up and contaminated with sludge.

This has nothing to do with oil in a sealed can on a shelf.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Rusty O'Toole

[TodFitch]

...

In other words if the oil was stable and did not change while sitting under the ground for 1' date='000,000 years sitting in a sealed can for 30 years or 50 years is not going to affect it.

Oil does not wear out but the additives do. ....[/quote']

Largely agree with you but with a couple more caveats. First being that the additives may not be stable enough for long (decade or more) storage. Second, if the oil was just distilled out of the crude it probably is very stable as it is the same stuff that has been sitting in underground storage for eons. However a lot of petroleum products nowadays (since at least the 1950s) are not just distilled out of the crude but formed by fractionating, hydro-cracking, etc. I am not as sure that those techniques create a base lubricating oil that is stable enough to be stored for decades before use.

I'd say the best use of that old oil would be to sell it to a collector of garage memorabilia.

[adam_knox]

Hey Rusty, do you have a source for the manual that claims the fluid drive oil should never be changed? I'm pretty sure my manual has it listed as a maintenance item and http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/049/page29.htm says every 20K mi. Just curious if they posted an update after 1950 or something. Thanks!

[Rusty O'Toole]

Hey Rusty, do you have a source for the manual that claims the fluid drive oil should never be changed? I'm pretty sure my manual has it listed as a maintenance item and http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/049/page29.htm says every 20K mi. Just curious if they posted an update after 1950 or something. Thanks!

The page you show is for Fluid Torque Drive, a torque converter which is different from a Fluid Drive unit.

All torque converter type transmissions need periodic oil changes no matter what make they are.

Fluid Drive is different. It is a sealed unit, and no oil changes are necessary. Every owner's manual and repair manual I have, states that you should check the oil level and top up if necessary every 10,000 miles but never mentions changing the oil.

The only reference I have, which states specifically that you DO NOT need to change the oil is this one, an advertising pamphlet put out by Chrysler in 1941. It describes the Fluid Drive in detail, and in the FAQ section answers your question. Refer to the second and third question on this page. They say that after hundreds of thousands of miles of testing, they have never found it necessary to change the oil.

http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1941/41FluidDrive/Page19.htm

If you page back a couple of pages it says the same thing in slightly different words in paragraph 3.

http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1941/41FluidDrive/Page16.htm

Edited January 26, 2012 by Rusty O'Toole

[adam_knox]

Thanks Rusty for the info, sorry for linking to the wrong source.

[Dodgeb4ya]

I have never changed the FD oil in all my 1946-50 Chryslers, and never will. They all work as new. Most of them I've owned over 30 years too.

Rusty's info is correct.