oil shelf life?
 

Anyone have any knowledge about this?

I've got a few bottles of Redline MT-90 and MTL that have been in storage for about 5 years, and a few bottles that I bought about a year ago. They're all sealed and haven't been tampered with.

I've emailed redline about it but who knows how long they will take to get back to me. The shop I got the oil from a year ago said as long as they're sealed, they're good for a few years. I'm leaning towards disposing of them but just figured I'd ask around anyway.

I Would just get some new oil. No tellin if oil has a shelf life.

Redline just got back to me:

I always wondered about this anyway, who knows how long stuff sits on the shelf before you buy it.

GO REDLINE! :tup:

Redline... never heard of it, I use Royal Purple in my tC? Redline better? Or stick with RP?

redline FTW!!!

Doesn't really answer the question... :ugh2:

I've never tried any Royal Purple products in any of the cars I've owned.

I have used Redline MT-90 in my first car, it made a HUGE difference in shifting. At the time the synchros were a bit worn, especially 1st to 2nd gear. Then again at the time it was a 10 year old car that probably hasn't seen an transmission oil change in 5+ years. Either way I was really happy with it.

I've tried Redline lightweight shockproof gear oil in my 350z, great stuff. Shifting improved at all temperatures, hot or cold.

Sounds like your talking about tranny oil... not engine oil? :ugh2:

**Edit:OR is that the point of discussion is considering Manual Tranny fluid?!?! LMAO Wow, I'm slow. I thought this was in reference to Regular Engine oil... Please forgive me lol.

My question was in reference to Engine Oil.

Yes, tranny oil.

haha sorry. Redline oil is made with a fully synthetic ester based formula. nissan recommends you use an ester based oil for this car because of the vvel system in the car it sticks to the components better and has better lubricating properties. Also durring my research redline oil can withstand a very high amount of heat before starting to break down so thats why i chose this oil over anything else.. if you go on the redline website they have videos that explain everything much better than i could check it out!

I've never used Redline engine oil so I can't comment.

oh and you're forgiven. :icon17:

I think oil have no shelf life as long as it is not open before & store in a cool dry place..

"Car oil" shelf life-4 to 5 years, that's unopened!

tranceformer--Trannie oil that old, I would not use!

i like amsoil myself

Ok ty for the explaination. But every oil 'claims' they do that as well, do we have any kind of 3rd party testing to proove it? Or is this what Nissan reccomends, and through personal trials you find it better?

It's just I've never seen redline, and have been very happy with Royal Purple so I was planning to stick with them...

ofcourse every oil says they are the best. I went by alot of customer reviews on different forums including this one. And they also have their oil specifications on their website. most companies just say hey we are the best but dont say why.

Sounds good, I'll have to check it out.

actually it isn't just ester oil they recomend if you read the technical papers or hell the patent aplication you find out that nissan is using a special ester different from the ester used in ester oils in the amount of .5-1.5 percent. The ester used in the nissan oil has no lubrication properties but instead works to glue the oil molecules to the hydrogen free diamond like coatings on the bearings in the vvel system. In the patent application it goes on to explain that any quantities greater than 1.5% of the special ester will dramaticly reduce friction up to 5% but at the cost of water being absorbed into the oil from the atmosphere thus destroying the life of the oil and it's lubricating abilities. Which is why nissans ester oil is actually a conventional oil because over time the esters draw in water vapor reducing their effectivness meaning the oil has to be changed more often anyway. There is only a 7 year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty anyway so there wasn't really a reason for nissan to spend more on making the ester oil synthetic based so what you buy is essentially a 3 dollar quart of oil with 10ml of alcohol based ester that costs an additional $9. Biggest scam ever.

There's some truth to the above about high-ester oils sucking up water and thus having a shorter life in the engine, I think. I can't find the reference now, but this was something I read about a few times when I was doing my first google-research on oils for my 370. I ended up going with Motul's 300V, which like Redline is an ester-based Group V.

These kinds of oils in all likelihood are better for our engine, especially under hard use (high temps and high revs), but the tradeoff is that they cost more, and they're not going to endure time very well in an engine. They may well last as well as any other synthetic miles-wise, but they're not going to hold up against months of spending lots of time shut off in the garage, because they'll suck up moisture quicker, which creates acids in the oil. So I'm using the expensive Motul stuff, and I'm still changing every 3K miles anyways (which goes by in about 2 months for me lately), getting no extended drain benefits. Of course I have other factors driving my change interval down, like the fact that I'm leaving an additional quart of old oil in my oil cooler system on each change.

I suspect by early next year my miles-per-month is going to drop off more, and I may switch to changing on a time schedule instead (once every 2 months or so, roughly, although oil analysis will help decide that) so that I don't let the Motul sit around in the engine too long.

exactly so it doesnt make sense to buy the nissan ester oil.. its just regular oil with some ester additives. both motul and redline are FULL synthetic and are cheaper. On the website they recommend 7500 mile oil change intervals for cars that see alot of stop and go traffic and as high as 15,000-18,000 mile oil change interval for an all highway car.

The Mobil 1 website states on the FAQ section that the shelf life of oil if unopened, is approximately 5 years.