Motor Oil Shelf Life

[YukonJack]

Cleaned out my garage recently and found 7 quarts or Shell Fire & Ice 10w40 motor oil unopened. The old card board cans with metal top and bottom. I believe this is from the 1980's. Anyone think this is worth using or should I just keep it on the shelf? 

[Ivan_B]

Keep it on the shelf, or you can sell them. They are probably collectable, now 😃

[matt167]

Card board cans are worth $10-20 each as collectibles. At least worth more than oil in questionable condition.

[Sniper]

That's what lawnmowers are for, using up old oil.  Lol.  Chain bar oil in your chain saw, etc

 

I would not use it in anything expensive

[JBNeal]

My rule of thumb on oil shelf life is that it can be used on equipment older than the packaging...older machines are designed to operate with more contamination than newer machines (I've heard that some engines had optional oil filters back in the day), so that older engine oil should be fine in older engines, as long as the packaging is still sealed.  The additives in the oil (i.e. detergents) begin to break down when exposed to oxygen and heat cycling, so the clock really doesn't start ticking until ya crack that seal.

 

As a fun exercise, pour that older oil into a clear container, and you'll probably see a thin black stripe exit the oil package at the end of the pour.  I have seen this on high grade oil that has sat on a shelf for as little as maybe 6 months.  From what I can tell, this is contamination from the refinery that settles out, effectively just fine dirt, that'll get trapped in a filter or settle in a reservoir.  Much like real life, engine oil is never 100% "clean", even straight from the refinery taps, as refiners have a target window that they try to achieve for their products as to contamination percentage, size, density, etc.

 

But yeah, considering the vintage of the containers, selling them as collectibles could yield quite the ROI percentage wise...that profit could be used to purchase a whole case of oil AND a slice of apple pie...but shipping that oil without incident, wellll good luck with that ⚡

[Ivan_B]

8 minutes ago, JBNeal said:

(I've heard that some engines had optional oil filters back in the day)

Yes, and many relied on splash lubrication (instead of an oil pump) as well. And they also had less motorhours from the factory 😅