At Carlisle the Driven Oil guru did some informational seminars and I asked this question. He said that oil sealed in the container will not go bad. This seminar was very informational; I'm glad I got to see it.

FYI- the normal oil you buy at the parts store is changing again in 2017; even more reason to run some of the oil made for our old cars like Driven or Brad Penn, ext. The newer oil will have even less ZDDP and more detergents.

He also discussed Diesel oil since there are a lot of people running it in their flat tappet muscle cars. He did not recommend it. I wish I could retain more info but he pretty much said that the oil is designed to run at Diesel RPM's and not 6000 RPM in a muscle car.

Wow That's alot of oil!

Yup your gonna hate buying oil alright after all this time. I will know the feeling someday.

Too bad I'm not one of those guys who think oil needs to be changed every year or 3000miles since I have so much of it.

I have used oil that was over 20 years old and never had a issue with it I a sealed container shake it up if you want but never a issue. Life expectancy is relative to where it was stored in cool dark storage never a issue in hot bldg. or cold area.

Oh yea I rebuild the motors too, I know my way around a motor andd lubrication... This one had 16500 hours on it and the bearings are in great condition.750 hour oil change intervals. This motor ran on fresh citgo 600 oil I buy in bulk.


This picture is from when I was getting ready to change my oil in my RV at home, it holds 44 quarts. I have run my RV on left over oil since it was new and now has over 100K miles on it. I use the old fuel jugs for my old oil to haul it away. I am now out of 15/40 rotella, all I have left in gallons now is like 3 gallons of rotella 30 weight, hopefully enough for my lawn mower for the rest of my life.

I also maintain 20+ vehicles at work since 1983. I'm starting to figure it out.

It's not about the water itself. Read my comments on the affect of water on additives. Additives are what makes modern oil different from the icky stuff that comes out of the ground.





The LOL is appropriate, you can't return additives to suspension by shaking.

Anecdotal experience stating no failures with outdated oil is just that...anecdotal. It doesn't alter the fact that the oil might not be as good as when it left the refinery.

Fair enough and I read your post. Is it safe to say the OP can use his 2 year old oil?

Several other people mentioned water and I don't think it is a big deal, is my opinion.
Anecdotal or not it's been my experience.

Do you trust what the oil company's tell us? They want to sell us oil, imo.

I always thought experience is better than "I heard" or been told this or that?

I really don't know, but can say I keep half full one gallon jugs of motor oil around for like up to 2-3 years I'd say before I use it all.

Some of the old and 'well seasoned' engines really don't care anymore what kind of oil is inside of them, as long as there's a proper amount hydraulic pressure present to keep metal-to-metal contact to a minimum.

I've run all kinds of oil in a few old engines of mine just to keep them operational.
There was this beaten-up daily used 440 I had which has been topped off very often with all kinds of drained, used engine oil coming straight from a local garage's recycle bin, plenty used W90 gear oil, ATF, brakefluid and even fully transparent Xerox Fuser oil.

Are you saying the additives are the only thing that keeps the bearing alive? How does that change the properties of just oil? Unless the additives are making 0 weight oil 30 weight oil. I always heard oil stays oil unless it's refined into something else. Had a shop teacher who never changed oil in thirty years just the filter and added one quart, he died before the car did.

I think 2 or 3 were 50wt. I used it in my Harley's & worn out equipment. I usually added stp for new breakin. 50wt cranked kinda slow in winter, but that's only about a month down here.

Just heard an old jobbers shutting down, maybe I'll be set for another 20yrs, probably cost more than 20 bucks a can like last batch. Oh yeh, to Op I'd use it

Are you calling a 55 gal barrel a "can"?