gear oil shelf life

[wazzabie]

I have a case of unopened 80w 90 conventional gear oil that I bought new back in about 1998. It has been sitting in the garage all these years. The application I have does not require synthetic. The oil has not been in sunlight. Just sitting on the self all these years in sealed bottles. The gear oil meets the specs I need. Hate to go out an buy new oil if this stuff will work.

Is this gear oil still good?

 

[sweetk30]

shake it up good and use it .

I have seen gear oil seetle out a bit in 5 gal buckets .

 

[dyeager535]

Anybody ever asked a gear oil manufacturer what they say?

Engine oil I've only ever seen 5 years for a sealed bottle, but who actually changes their gear oil at recommended intervals, or at any interval other than "I have to take it apart, might as well do fluid"?

Obviously engine oil deals with combustion byproducts which a diff doesn't, but would be interesting to know what the manufacturers say about it. I got a bunch on clearance years ago, I'm not going to think much about using it when the time comes.

 

[dhcomp]

Still sealed? Go for it.

I wouldn't' be worried in the slightest.

Would i pour 10 year old oil into a new Ferrari? Probably not.

Old gear oil into a truck rear end? Not a doubt in my mind.

 

[diesel4me]

I bet there's many old service stations that have bought bulk gear oil in 55 gallon or larger drums and it takes them decades to use it all up,if they aren't a high volume repair facility...

Only thing I'd be concerned about is condensation,but if its still sealed ,that shouldn't be an issue...I once asked an Amalie factory rep if oil can go "stale" or has a shelf life..he couldn't say for sure,but did remark some of the cases of older straight weight oils they dont sell much of lately,dated back to the '80s,this was in 1992...and he added "I dont doubt there is some really old oil still buried in our warehouses across the country--some of the boxes are probably worth more than the oil,to a collector"...he also added that if anything,the additives would settle out of the oil maybe,but the oil should still be OK..

I used 10 quarts of Sears "Spectrum" 10W-40 I found in my basement my dad must have bought in the late 70's in my K5 years ago,it was probably 20 years old--looked nice and golden with no water or separation,so in it went!...never noticed any harm...

 

[Stein]

It's only 300,000,015 years old now. Compared to 300,000,000 when it was made that 15 years is statistically insignificant.

Seriously, I'd use it without thinking twice.

 

[ryoken]

I've got gallons of straight 30 that have been sitting around like 10 yr's or so in clear jugs.... they get a bit funky looking/separated after a while, shake em up, I use em...