Morning,

So about to get the car serviced in a few days and was talking to my mate about going to buy some Edge and told him I still had some from previous service.

He asked me if old oil is ok to use. I would have always thought it was and never heard of oil degrading in the bottle. Anyway the more I thought about it I nipped into Asda and Halfords to look at the bottles. The stuff in Asda (Edge 5W-40) states it was manufactured in 2010 on the stamp. The stuff in Halfords (Edge 5W-40 - Turbo Diesel) was manufactured in 2012 on the stamp.

Anyone have an opinion on this? I don’t think it matters but thought I would ask on here out of curiosity.

Also, notice the new Edge has FST (Fluid Strengthening Technology) on the latest bottles. Was looking at the datasheet and seen the comment that some VW’s shouldn’t use it with the injector design. Thought it was worth mentioning here.

 

Then you put it in the car, heat it and cool it countless times, sit it in sub zero temperatures,then up to 25c, throw it around the engine at breakneck speed, squeeze it through microscopic spaces, leave it in the car for up to a year.

And you are worried about it sitting on a shelf?

 

Afaik it doesn't matter. It's not quite the same stuff, but on ship we have fully synthetic castrol oil, over 100 tonnes of it sat in tanks for years as the company buy bulk orders when crude is cheap. So I doubt it matters when it is in a sealed container....

 

No not at all. Just I was thinking about it and thought I'd see if anyone had a different opinion.

 

Will be fine, all oils are tested for storage stability.

Water getting into the bottle which can cause clouding,
give it a quick shake if you are worried.

 

Wat is 'Fluid Strength Technology'? Something that makes it more resistant to oil burn / breakdown?

 

It reduces metal to metal contact.

The EDGE website tell you all about it

 

So it's not going to reduce my oil consumption?

Oh well, think I might try the Edge 10w-60 next time.

 

So I emailed Castrol out of curiosity. The FST is Fluid Strengthening Technology. They use a stronger base which they claim makes the oil stronger and dynamically repspond within the engine. Don't know anymore than that.

Now heres the one that might surprise - I asked the question on if its ok to use old oil. The advisor claimed that although there are no best before dates on the bottle the rule of thumb was that anything over 3 years old after filling the bottle was not ideal. He said there were no formal rules but this was a general rule of thumb. Never seen that coming!

 

If it is still clear with no drop out then it will be fine.

What are you using now?