Does motor oil in its original plastic bottles go bad, or get stale? Any reason not to use it? I have bottles of oil, some open partials and some never opened, and I have no use for it because it doesn't match our engines any more. If I can give it away can someone use it?

Thanks~

 

As long as the caps have been on, and no water or dirt has gotten in the bottles, the oil is usable.

 

Thanks for your reply!

 

Don't forget to check the label! Oil that was the best on the market for your new 1978 car ain't so good for today's cars.

 

We had this discussion a while ago
We basically reached the conclusions above
If unopened, it doesn't go bad
But it also isn't meant for more modern engines and their viscosity needs

However, I'm sure you can find a market for it with older car hot rodders
They've been having issues with the new EPA-compliant oils and their flat tappet engines
Seems some stuff important to those older engines has been taken out of the new oil, and the new stuff has been causing premature failures, especially with re-builds or new cam installs

I'm sure you could find someone who would like the old stuff
At least trade you some new stuff for it

 

I've got one or two bottles, and my mother in law has some left over from my brother-in-law moving out. I'll check the SAE numbers and post those when I give it away. Cool to think a hot rodder might be getting some useable oil.

 

there's a ton maore about automotive engine oils then just the SAE numbers...read about it here, it's probably more than you want to know.

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

 

I was thinking of the API symbol. The oil bible site you listed even mentions the API symbol is kind of a time index to show the age of the oil- I thought I would post that when I advertise the oil so anyone who knew what they were looking at could refer to it.

Thanks for your post!