Old Oil - really, really old oil...

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by SOKRATES

Interesting. just curious, where or which lab does the analysis for you? what constituents do you measure?

I use Blackstone Labs, and have for decades. Not because they're the best, just because they're who I use. Their results check for and measure the presence of wear metals, the levels of additives, the presence of insolubles, water, antifreeze, they measure the viscosity and flashpoint and give you a total TBN number. Just like your blood work at your yearly physical, the numbers are important, but the trend is absolutely fascinating. If you watch it carefully, it will tell you volumes. Much more than if you just blindly change your oil every six months (like some around here recommend, mostly for "peace of mind"). Kind of like the doctor saying, "I know you say you feel great, but your numbers are all down and show you're anemic and your white cells are off the charts. Let's do a little follow-up." Now, the flip side of that is "ok, so what if I just never bother checking wear metals, or for the presence of antifreeze, and one day I eat a cam lobe?" I just pull the engine, put it in a crate, send it to blykins along with a fat check and say "fix it." This is not life and death; it's just a stupid hobby.

Originally Posted by Unique427

The main issue is separation of components.
The additives can settle into a goop on the bottom.

Ahh, you did not read the articles - shame on you (you would then be roasted in front of the class for the next hour). They controlled for that by comparing 50 year old oil that they had put in a paint shaking machine versus cans from the same case that were tested untouched. But that's ok, you're buying peace of mind.

Originally Posted by Unique427

Shelf life of a properly stored unopen container is generally accepted at (5) years (according to Mobil1).

And if I was writing the warranty/rep language I would cap it at five years too. Even if the engineers said "Pat, I think this stuff will last a hundred years and still be good as new." Remember, the people in the oil labs say they don't see time as a factor. But if I'm defending some sort of really expensive claim for the oil company and I find out the guys on the other side used ten year old oil do you think I'm going to proffer scientific evidence? Of course not. I'm going to say "look, it clearly says this oil is no good after five years, can't you morons read?"