Shelf life of unopened UniversalHydraulic/transmission fluid ?

dennis52 · Feb 5, 2014

There is currently a special on Gulf Universal hydraulic/transmission oil so I changed my oil today but thought I might buy two more 20 litre buckets for the next change which will be due in about 30 months.
Does this type of oil deteriorate with time?

Diamondpilot · Feb 5, 2014

It will be fine. I would just turn the pail upside down 24 hours before you use it.

Chris

beemerphile · Feb 5, 2014

You won't find much consistent information on this. Possibly the wide variation in storage conditions makes them cautious. Best answer is to write the manufacturer. The longest I have seen in print is five years unopened and properly stored.

Gary Fowler · Feb 5, 2014

I wouldn't think that an air tight bottle or can would ever deteriorate if kept in a shady or dark area where temps were not too hot. I don't think cold would be an issue. Heck if a Twinkie bar is good for 50 years, oil should for sure be ok. I know I had food(C ration) from 1949 served to me when I was in the army in 1970 which was packaged in air tight cans.

woodlandfarms · Feb 5, 2014

I asked an oil guy once.. He said it comes from Dinosaurs so and that was millions of years ago, so whats 20 years on a shelf.

not sure how I felt about that response.

Midniteoyl · Feb 5, 2014

All depends on if the container is sealed and moisture conditions.

crazyal · Feb 5, 2014

The oil will have additives that will settle to the bottom. How long that takes I can't say. Like Diamond Pilot said, turn it up side down over night, roll it down a hill, some other way to shake it up and you'll be fine. I've taken a 5 gallon bucket to my local hardware store and had them put it on the paint shaker for 5 minutes.

slowzuki · Feb 5, 2014

Snow plow oil and brake fluid has a water absorber in it that becomes saturated over time as plastic isn't a perfect vapour barrier but other than that we use old sealed oil all the time.

dennis52 · Feb 5, 2014

crazyal said:
The oil will have additives that will settle to the bottom. How long that takes I can't say. Like Diamond Pilot said, turn it up side down over night, roll it down a hill, some other way to shake it up and you'll be fine. I've taken a 5 gallon bucket to my local hardware store and had them put it on the paint shaker for 5 minutes.

Come to think of it , at the end of the pour of the "fresh" out of the store pails of oil that I filled up with this week, I found sediment. At the time I thought it must have been foaming I was looking at.
Anyway I poured it all in .
Maybe it's already old that's why it's discounted.
No manufacture date on the pail. Certainly no instructions about shaking up the oil.