motor oil shelf life

Generally two to five years.Make sure that oil meets the specification requirements,by sending a sample to an oil analysis lab,before use.

The temperature is also playing a vital role in the shelf life of the oil.

I've heard all kinds of numbers for this. Two years seems awfully short. Five years looks like a good conservative estimate, but ten years probably is workable when properly stored (avoid freezing temperatures and high heat, so no garage storage). I'd try to stay within roughly 5 years. If you buy a new car and have 5 year old oil, it will not meet spec (e.g., SJ or SL oil and manufacturer specifys SM).

A recent reference guide I received from our industrial oil supplier gives the following shelf life for their product lines: (see attached image).
I apologize for the image scan quality.

There is also a pretty good article on lubricant storage limits here:

http://www.machinerylubricatio...bricant-storage-life

I have worked in the paint and plastic industries including electrical insulation. We would test things before and after 2 weeks in a oven at maybe 300 degrees F. Anything that survived that was expected to last indefinetely. Your oil gets far more heat in a 3 month OCI.

TallPaul makes a good point about not meeting modern specs.

I've used motor oil that had a date that was 11 years old and changed it 6,000 miles later in my truck and it wasn't sythentic. I still got my truck which has 201,000 miles on it. My truck doesn't care, it just want's a good brand, (Shell Rotella T)

i've mercedes c240 v6. 2002 USA made, (runtime reading - 74500 miles) engine manual recommends to change motor oil every after 10000 miles run (by using 10w-40) i'm just confused what brand to choose. PLS advice to get a correct decision.. thanks a lot

I'm running some Pennzoil Plus oil thats atleast 8 years old. I shook the bottles, nothing gooey was on the bottom of the bottles so in it went.

It's SL rated and thats what my 02 Jeep calls for.