Does lube oil go bad?

[Portage_Bay]

A question for the lubes experts, I know there are some here.

Does lube oil in a factory sealed container go bad? Without enough room to pour the lube out of a gallon jug without making a mess for topping up I use a 1 quart container and a small funnel. Yesterday I opened a factory sealed gallon jug, poured some in the quart container then into the generator. When done I noticed a dark smudge on the funnel spout and some on the bottom of the quart container. Yes, I'm sure both were clean when I started. The funnel is kept in the quart container and closed with a lid. Wiped out after each use.

I've never seen that before. This gallon jug is at least a year old but had been sealed until yesterday. I've got a few more on board that I keep for topping up. I'm wondering if I can trust these old yet sealed jugs of oil.

 

[rslifkin]

Some additives can theoretically settle if the oil has sat long enough. It wouldn't hurt to flip it over a few times, etc. to try to stir any settled stuff back up. It's likely not a big concern though.

 

[Portage_Bay]

Some additives can theoretically settle if the oil has sat long enough. It wouldn't hurt to flip it over a few times, etc. to try to stir any settled stuff back up. It's likely not a big concern though.

That was my thinking but I wanted knowledgeable opinions. So that little gen just got a shot of extra additives.

 

[Bacchus]

I've recently read an article about lube oil "ageing" in the container and on the shelf. The essence I re all us there is some aging/ oxidation but it shown after 5-7 years not 12mos which many eng mfg recommend as a change frequency regardless of hours / miles.
I doubt there are many scientific studies as the time & cost involved is a significant hurdle and the results are not meaningful to most consumers.

 

[High Wire]

FIFO. First in, first out rotation. Should be ok unless you see chunks in the bottom of the jug.

 

[fgarriso]

FIFO. First in, first out rotation. Should be ok unless you see chunks in the bottom of the jug.

Chunks of what?

 

[SIBERNUT]

Hey, when I bought Phelps it had maybe a dozen sealed quarts of oil floating around the ER & gawd knows what else. Anyway , 6 or so say "ESSO", how old ya think they are?

 

[mike66]

Hey that's the good stuff!

 

[OldDan1943]

In theory, it will not go bad. The additive may ‘age out’ but I dont know.
Shake it up and use it.

 

[diver dave]

Sealed it seems it cant absorb water and prolly cant oxidize either.

 

[OldDan1943]

If you are away a mile+ and you need oil, I doubt if anyone would say, “This container is unsealed. I cant use this oil because it might be bad”

 

[Bmarler]

It’s not milk.

 

[dannc]

Years ago, Blackstone Labs bought a bunch of different oils off EBAY, tested them, and I think ran some of them in a car engine. The oils were at least 30-40 years old. It was just oil. The additives might have been at different amounts but many of the oils were similar to "modern" oils.

I have used oil that was in a five gallon bucket that was open a few years before I used it all with no difference in the used oil analysis.

Later,
Dan

 

[SteveK]

I have sent samples to Blackstone and then if they said change oil I change it. So if my oil change is more than a year and the oil is still good, how is a one year old can not good.

 

[High Wire]

Chunks of what?

I’ve seen flakes of what looked like varnish in the bottom of a CAT SAEO 5 gallon bucket. We now use 1gallon jugs.

 

[Delta Riverat]

When I did my first oil change I used up all the various oil bottles found in the engine room and the aft locker first.

Easier than draining them into the waste bucket for recycle. It'll get recycled next change -

 

[Art]

Seems to me:

If you open an old oil jug... and a claw comes out the top... that represents a female jug that'd been trying to birth a reptile fossil baby! So... that oil could probably be deemed too old to use.

Otherwise - No Problem!

 

[PM]

Oil can get old but won't go bad. A worst case scenario is that the additives in it have been replaced by the manufacturer with a more modern version, in theory making the new oil better. But this doesn't make the old oil worse.

This is assuming the container was still sealed.

pete

 

[SIBERNUT]

In the Navy, we had a high speed centrifuge, spun a tube that had to be cleaned manually every so many hours. Oil came out of engine, thru that and right back in. NO filters

 

[cardinaltlee]

I sell oil for aviation use. The oil we use in aviation has a use by date. You should dispose of the oil after that date. The oil comes in plastic bottles and the plastic allows water to pass through into the oil because oil is hygroscopic . We used to get oil in metal cans and that had no shelf life.

 

[Steve DAntonio]

In the Navy, we had a high speed centrifuge, spun a tube that had to be cleaned manually every so many hours. Oil came out of engine, thru that and right back in. NO filters

Centrifugal filtration is a great way to clean oil, and fuel for that matter, it's what an Alfa Laval does. https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/PBB115CentrifugeFilters.pdf

Some engines use a centrifugal filter for oil, Scania marine and truck engines use this system. The oil change interval on a Scania marine engine is 500 hrs. with conventional oil. There are aftermarket centrifugal oil filters too, https://www.pacificmarine.net/engineering/oil-purification-systems/spinner-II-oil-filters.htm

My experience with aging oil is additives can drop out of suspension, which is why you often see what looks like sediment on the bottom of oil containers, some even new. Can you simply shake it back into suspension? All oil manufacturers I've asked say no, but I've never tested this with an analysis.

 

[Knot Salted]

Some additives can theoretically settle if the oil has sat long enough. It wouldn't hurt to flip it over a few times, etc. to try to stir any settled stuff back up. It's likely not a big concern though.

I concur

 

[Juggerknot]

Some additives can theoretically settle if the oil has sat long enough. It wouldn't hurt to flip it over a few times, etc. to try to stir any settled stuff back up. It's likely not a big concern though.

My thoughts exactly. While I am not a chemical engineer, my bet is additive settling. Personally I have used oil that was properly stored in sealed jugs years after purchase, Delo too which I run in my 7.3 PS Ford, never an issue and my oil analysis reports come back clean. My thinking is that this dino-juice sat in the ground 100s of millions of years just waiting to go into one of our motors and it really has no expiration date. IMHO, sealed jugs don't go bad.

 

[psneeld]

I sell oil for aviation use. The oil we use in aviation has a use by date. You should dispose of the oil after that date. The oil comes in plastic bottles and the plastic allows water to pass through into the oil because oil is hygroscopic . We used to get oil in metal cans and that had no shelf life.

I used that word "hydroscopic" before on TF and posters seemed to not care as once the oil comes up to temp, any moisture is "boiled/evaporated" out.

Oil analysis seems to confirm that often used (properly) engines need not worry.

 

[Fr8dog61]

I sell oil for aviation use. The oil we use in aviation has a use by date. You should dispose of the oil after that date. The oil comes in plastic bottles and the plastic allows water to pass through into the oil because oil is hygroscopic . We used to get oil in metal cans and that had no shelf life.

I wouldn’t worry about that. The FAA makes you put an expiration date on EVERYTHING. Shake and pour…

 

[Steve DAntonio]

I used that word "hydroscopic" before on TF and posters seemed to not care as once the oil comes up to temp, any moisture is "boiled/evaporated" out.

Oil analysis seems to confirm that often used (properly) engines need not worry.

It's actually "hygroscopic", rather than "hydroscopic". A hydroscope is something one uses to look underwater.

 

[psneeld]

It's actually "hygroscopic", rather than "hydroscopic". A hydroscope is something one uses to look underwater.

Ooops...thanks...I think the heat spell in Florida is finally getting to my old brain...must have had "need to hydrate" on my mind that came out in the typing.....

I think I did get it correct in the thread a few weeks back that discussed moisture under the valve cover or something like that.

 

[Art]

Ooops...thanks...I think the heat spell in Florida is finally getting to my old brain...must have had "need to hydrate" on my mind that came out in the typing.....

I think I did get it correct in the thread a few weeks back that discussed moisture under the valve cover or something like that.

Spell Check = AI 101 !!

I bet you placed one incorrect correct letter in the correct word you wanted to use... and... Spell Check AI took over. Ya just can't take your eyes off Spell Check's AI feature. Often it places words as it pleases!

 

[psneeld]

Spell Check = AI 101 !!

I bet you placed one incorrect correct letter in the correct word you wanted to use... and... Spell Check AI took over. Ya just can't take your eyes off Spell Check's AI feature. Often it places words as it pleases!

Nope, 100% goof on my part and I do know better....per my post on the subject in a different thread.

Not THOROGHLY checking my work, which does happen and being in a rush to finish a post and run out of the house can sound just as dumb as letting AI change your words and not catching it. I do catch them most of the time but on this one I just plain goofed.

 

[OldDan1943]

Re: does lube oil and or diesel fuel go bad???
I can only relate to the group, on the 2 nuc subs I was assigned to, never did we ever take on fuel or replenish lube oil tanks.