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- Mazda
Great analysis
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing
I change the oil myself most of the time. And I'm usually guided not by mileage, but by time since the last change. Since rumor has it that if the oil just sits idle in the vehicle, it still goes bad and loses its properties let's just say I have a Ford F-150 with a 3.5 Ecoboost engine, though I think this rule applies to all brands.I changed the oil on my CX-5 at 3,000~3,800-mile interval for the last 2 times.
But it’s not because I want to change the oil more often like in old days, but it’s because the oil life has exceeded 12 months.
This pandemic has really changed many things.
BTW, I just changed the oil on my 2016 CX-5 at 45,872 miles last week as the “Oil change due” message and the red wrench indicator has been on since last December. The indicator was caused by the 12-month oil life, but the oil has only ~3,800 miles when I changed the oil.
This should be discussed more.Re: above and about the oil just sitting in the vehicle and rumored to go bad: Have you ever wondered if it has a shelf life sitting in a retail outlet? Or is there a “date packaged” location on the jug? Honestly, I’ve never thought to look.
I have a car that has been garage kept and has not been started in 12 years. I am going to take a sample and send it into Black Labs. I will post the results.Re: above and about the oil just sitting in the vehicle and rumored to go bad: Have you ever wondered if it has a shelf life sitting in a retail outlet? Or is there a “date packaged” location on the jug? Honestly, I’ve never thought to look.
Very informative, sir. And a pleasant read, as well. Thanks!This should be discussed more.
Imo, this is partly true and partly a marketing scam by the oil companies.
This wasn't as big as a problem for older cars using conventional oil that was of higher weight and viscosity.
Conventional oil lasts a while. And old vehicles had more lenient clearances. I would have no problem throwing an unopened bottle of 10 or even 20 year old conventional oil into an old pickup truck.
In old days, when I used to stockpile oil on sale, I've used old unopened bottles before like this.
Newer vehicles have tight clearances and use low viscosity synthetic or synthetic blend oils with all kinds of additives.
According to websites an unopened bottle of synthetic probably has additives that break down after 5 or more years as well as old oil become thicker/gummier and lose it's viscosity.
I find that believable.
That being said, I think the expiry date is overly inflated by the oil companies.
Some have a printed date but alot don't have any dates on the bottles.
As far as I know, most synthetics have around a 5 year expiry... Some might be shorter.
Usually I buy oil now as needed instead of stockpiling, however if I had a 6 or 7 year old unopened bottle and it looked good and wasn't gummed up, imo I might still use it.
Think about this. Alot of companies don't date the bottles. Think about how long this stuff sits in warehouses, at distributors and on store shelves. Or the barrels sitting in the auto-dealers and garages.
Does synthetic oil expire. Most likely yes. Is it as soon as oil companies say? Maybe not.
However currently I can't think of anyone that has enough $$ to stockpile 5 years worth of oil. That would be over $600 of oil.
Buy it as you need it. If their is a sale, maybe buy a years worth and then you don't have to worry about when it expires.
Lastly, if I found an old bottle laying around, I wouldn't hesitate to use it to top off with.
I have never seen any oil analysis data from suppliers of bottled motor oils that shows additives breaking down once they are formulated into the oil.It's not the oil that breaks down over time, it's the additives
Well first question is who opens any fluid like coolant, brake fluid and motor oil without replacing the top. If anything, else leaving the container open unsealed (with a cap) will get environmental contamination, air, moisture in the air, dust, dirt, rat poop, cat hair, spider webs, if in CA ash from fires(lol) etc.Also, there is a difference between oil in a sealed container, and oil in an open environment like in an engine. Not sure how much oil and additives are affected by air and oxygen, but I would expect anything in a sealed container to last a lot longer.
The more I think about this...It's not the oil that breaks down over time, it's the additives
you're assuming that the addative packages only include natural elementsThe more I think about this...
They drill this stuff up that been sitting in the ground for 10's of million of years... 20 million , 50 million years old...The additives are elements that have been stable in the ground for millions of years ...They bottle it and then say it'll expire in 5 years... Lol.. gotta be courtesy of the oil magnates legal team...
They never used to date the oil...perhaps if some dumb s*** pours slimy thick 50 year old molasses type oil into his crankcase???
I personally am more worried about my corn and vegetable oil going bad. Those are perishable and wouldn't want to ingest those.
I am so looking forward to this reveal.Hmm well crude oil is refined so a little different then just pulling from the ground land using it, reminds me of Jed Clampitt from the Beverly Hillbillies . I don't buy into the needing to change the oil by months. And that is why my perfect TEST to this is my 12 years parked car for testing the oil. I was looking to find my record book to see what oil brand I used and the exact date I changed it to post along with the oil analysis when I get the results.
Yes it is a good information forum however you have to go to the technical information from the original owner of the forum other wise it not much different than threads on this forum.