EXPIRED: When Does New Oil Go Bad?

If you are like me, you probably have a several bottles of "new" oil in your garage, but they have probably been there for a while. Like a gallon of milk in your refrigerator, does a bottle of motor oil have an expiration date? Unfortunately, I've never seen a "use by" date on a bottle of oil, so how can you know if your "new" oil has gone "bad"?

In this video, I'll show you two simple ways to test your un-used oil at home to see it is still safe to use.

Here are the links to the products I used to do the tests.

Who is the @themotoroilgeek ? I'm a Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Certified Lubrication Specialist and Oil Monitoring Analyst (I've maintained both of those for over a decade). I also worked for Joe Gibbs Racing for 12 years as their lubricant specialist. During that time, we worked with Wix Filters (one of our sponsors) to test and develop filters for our race engines. We also worked with Lubrizol and Chevron-Phillips Chemical to test and develop oils for our race cars. Following that, I was the head of R&D for Driven Racing Oil. During that time, I formulated and tested over 50 products. We also worked with Cummins, Comp Cams, Oak Ridge National Labs and General Motors on various R&D products. Those efforts are recorded in peer reviewed white papers published by SAE International and ACS Sustainable Chemistry journals. I also own and operate SPEEDiagnostix, which provides used oil analysis.

#motoroil #syntheticoil

[im-that-guy-pal]

You are very lucky to reach your age and still have your father around. Let him know how much you appreciate him before you can't anymore.

[guywilliam]

Retired from 40+ years in the oil industry including many years manufacturing PCMO's and other lubricants. We had display cases with motor oil going back to the 50's. I often wondered what the oil in them would look like. Buy when price is good and rotate your stock. Not so much due to aging oil but more because the technology improves every couple of years. I recall the scramble to meet API-SH and the introduction of ILSAC back in the early 90's, a real game changer. Keep up the great content!

[LarryLarson-hr]

To be honest I'm actually interested to see the old oils lab test to see how good they still are or not good for anything at all

[eac]

Project Farm has done tests right here on YouTube of oil 40 years old and it still performed as it should have.

[thromboid]

That photo of your dad on the track ahead of Senna is GOLD!

[papaal]

Additive fall out in new oil too.
Shake the bottles.
PF say.

[edrannou]

Most important channel for car guys ever. Everyone doing internal combustion engines needs to know this stuff. I'm 70 and I wish this info was available 55 years ago. Keep up the good work.

[mellsterr]

I hate to admit it, I’ve used oil over 10 yrs old many times. I have bulk oil from my semis, 15W40, and run it in everything I own!
The date on the drums are 10152003 and 01152010!

[migueldelaguardia]

Finally someone on line actually putting out facts not fiction.Thank you Lake for this public service.

[CharlotteCaniac]

I could watch this channel all day long. This guy needs his own tv show.

[mitevm]

Wow, your father's story made me appreciate your channel 10 times more. Real petrol head. Awesome!

[yellow]

If the oil is in a sealed container, then in theory all the additives should still be there too. I'd be curious if there's a difference between old oil that just sat there, and old oil that was vigorously mixed/shaken. Granted, chemical reactions in the oil can't be undone by shaking it, but I think it'd be neat to see the effect shaking the oil would have on its "badness."

[tonyInPA]

I’m one of many volunteers working to get USS NEW JERSEY ( Iowa class battleship) to drydock in the next few months. One of our tasks is reactivating the anchor/windlass system to allow us to leave the pier.

Oil in this system is a minimum of 32 years old, and the original plan was to fully flush and refill lubricating and hydraulic oils. But when I sent samples out for analysis, they still came back as good, with a recommendation to filter the hydraulic oil as the solids were slightly high. This isn’t a surprise since that system only has a strainer screen (think 1930s tech) and the sample was taken from a low point of a 70 gallon system that has been resting for 20+ years.

In this case we will be filtering and adding a decent amount new. And the use of a mil spec oil here is one case where spending a bit more gets benefits…not totally unlike racin’!

[oby-]

Thank you for this. When changing oil, I have always poured a little oil out, replaced the cap and shook the rest of the bottle before pouring it into the engine or trans or rear end. If I can, also drain the container as long as possible to get the most oil out of the container.

[davidhomen]

I love learning how much you have to offer. I watched your dad a lot back in the day.

[joeythedime]

My dad still has Arco Graphite Oil from the 70's. He shakes the cans on a paint shaker and runs it in his 1962 Ariens snow blower. Kind of crazy but that snow blower still runs great.

[HoldenMcRotch]

I bought a Roadtrek camper van that sat for a long time and had 12 year old engine oil with only 900 miles on it, in the sump. I drove it home 1900 miles, changed the oil and had it analyzed. Report came back absolutely perfect. Blackstone said usage, not time is most important with modern engine oils.

[Duchydog]

Well done Lake and thank you. Great to see your Dad again too. He looks terrific and HNY to you all.

[walterbright]

Great information. In 1999, I found Mobil-1 for $0.97 quart in Santa Fe. I bought all of it, all grades. I found it again in Kansas and NJ a few days later. In all, over 400 quarts. I still have some of it, mainly 15w-50. I called Mobil and they said it would be safe to use until it was 10 years old but did not recommend using it after that. I no longer use it in autos even though I have two that in theory it meets the requirements of their engines. I noted it has seemed to turn dark in color which worried me. I only use it in lawn mowers and they seem to have thrived on it with near zero consumption. I did nothing special to store it. Keeping some of it in the basement and some in the garage.

[LawrenceWeber-zo]

Worked for Valvoline as a chemist and then worked at the research center of Union Oil of California (later to become Unocal). A lot depends on the blend/additive package and storage conditions. Just opened some 40 year Valvoline I had kept from when I worked for them A quart of Valvoline 30wt looks fine. A 50wt Racing had some minor residue. Pennzoil 30wt was my go to for old engines that consumed oil as it had better viscosifiers. Depending on your application, most old oils may be fine to use. Like in a lawnmower or older car you don't car much about.