How long can you store engine oil for (buying in bulk/advance)?

fred246

Garages regularly overfill with oil which can be very harmful. People don't check their oil so I can see why they do it, but I wouldn't want it doing to my car. Sometimes they underfill or forget to put any oil in it at all. Just do it yourself then you know it's been done properly.

shaun_from_Africa

twhitehousescat said:

 (youtube clip) "he Project Farm recently tested some 70 year old motor oil that was still good!

"

"Still good"?
Did you actually watch that test?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zHlxeu_yuM

"It lacks the detergents and dispersants to keep an engine clean"

"This oil would become acidic very quickly and acidic oil is definitely going to cause a corrosion problem and would likely sludge up an engine fairly quickly"

"One thing is for sure. They don't make engine oil like they used to and that's probably a good thing"

The oil being tested had the cold flow rate of molasses, no added detergent, and very low anti-wear additives and would likely cause damage to a modern engine in very little time yet you think it's "still good"!

Scrapit

fred246 said:

Garages regularly overfill with oil which can be very harmful. People don't check their oil so I can see why they do it, but I wouldn't want it doing to my car. Sometimes they underfill or forget to put any oil in it at all.

They do? You should tell them!

twhitehousescat

shaun_from_Africa said:

twhitehousescat said:

 (youtube clip) "he Project Farm recently tested some 70 year old motor oil that was still good!

"

"Still good"?
Did you actually watch that test?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zHlxeu_yuM

"It lacks the detergents and dispersants to keep an engine clean"

"This oil would become acidic very quickly and acidic oil is definitely going to cause a corrosion problem and would likely sludge up an engine fairly quickly"

"One thing is for sure. They don't make engine oil like they used to and that's probably a good thing"

The oil being tested had the cold flow rate of molasses, no added detergent, and very low anti-wear additives and would likely cause damage to a modern engine in very little time yet you think it's "still good"!

no but i would not be 
a: storing oil for 70 yrs
b: be using a 70 yr old spec oil on a modern car 

JustAnotherSaver

You know that moment where you wish you'd not done something because you had no idea where it'd end up?

Yeah, that.

fred246

Yes going back to the original question your sister would be better off with two jugs rather than just one.

ElephantBoy57

marlot said:

5 years is fine in a container.
The reason for annual changes is that the oil gets contaminated in an engine.

I haven't changed the oil in my lawnmower since I bought it.

It's about three years old, the oil looks clean. It obviously gets used every two weeks in summer, I cut a few friends lawns too, but it's difficult to gauge how that would equate in miles.

TychoTMA

No one has mentioned that all plastics are permeable to water vapour, and carbon dioxide, which together form carbonic acid. The oil will have various additives in it, including corrosion inhibitors. These important constituents are like to degrade with time.
This is all pretty hard to quantify, and I think the bottom line is that if you own a brand new Ferrari, you buy some new oil, if you own a Peugeot, who cares  .

daveyjp

shaun_from_Africa said:

twhitehousescat said:

 (youtube clip) "he Project Farm recently tested some 70 year old motor oil that was still good!

"

"Still good"?
Did you actually watch that test?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zHlxeu_yuM

"It lacks the detergents and dispersants to keep an engine clean"

"This oil would become acidic very quickly and acidic oil is definitely going to cause a corrosion problem and would likely sludge up an engine fairly quickly"

"One thing is for sure. They don't make engine oil like they used to and that's probably a good thing"

The oil being tested had the cold flow rate of molasses, no added detergent, and very low anti-wear additives and would likely cause damage to a modern engine in very little time yet you think it's "still good"!

70 years ago it was not unusual to change engine oil every 1500 miles and have a regular engine decoke.  Those tests demonstrate why.  Oil quality was low.  If it stopped pistons melting against cylinders it was good enough.

The 70 year old oil hadn't benefitted from 70 years of research, but age hadn't caused the oil to deteriorate.  It was still used in an engine which didn't fail and the wear test on the piece of stainless showed similar results to modern oil.

JustAnotherSaver

It’s incredible how when people argue and counter argue (especially when it’s the internet because everyone is right on the internet and backing down is the ultimate sin) how far from the original point we can end up. 

If this was Facebook, comments would be turned off now. Lol. 

But its not, so on you go...