# Hydraulic Oil



## Carm

What is the shelf life of unopened hydraulic oil? Found an unopened 5 Gal. pail in the barn cleanout project. dont know how old it is, maybe 10 years or so. Also found some unopened gear oil.


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## johnbron

:smoking: I would trust it to be good for at least 1000 years.

So hurry up and use it before it go`s bad.


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## Chris

Carm,

Standard hydraulic fluids do adsorb water, as intended, to reduce free water and rusting in the system. There is no way that I would use fluid that is 10 years old. I would give under relatively controlled conditions of temperature, humidity and pressure --- maybe 3-5yrs. (depending on brand, reagents, seal, breakdown of the simple base oils and protective additives etc) in near perfect condition, while some would show signs of breakdown, atmospheric moisture contamination & settling between 24-36mo. In fact most manufacturers don't recommend using hydraulic fluid past 24 months. (all of these are unopened containers) 

I would open it up and look for all signs of settling, water absorption etc just for kicks, but I wouldn't use it. I think you may be better off just disposing of it and buying new fluid IMHO. I hope this helps!


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## Live Oak

You could still use it in a log splitter or some other non-critical application such as that.


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## Argee

I don't know.....if the container is still sealed...why wouldn't it be usable...what does the mfr call out as to shelf life?


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## Chris

Ok, Argee you use it!  1000 years? Would you use fluid going back to 1000AD? Back to the time of the map below? HAHAHA
Maybe to oil the chamber pots in the Sung Dynasty in China?

<center><img src=http://www.tractorforum.com/1000ad.jpg></center>


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## Argee

HA HA HA HA You never know????:furious: :furious:


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## johnbron

:smoking: 

Well now that Ya`all may have convinced "Carm" that his oil is obsolete I would play the nice neighbor role and take that oil off his hands so he would not have to go to the trouble of disposing it. BUT from his house to My house is a couple of miles too far to make it worth while.cruisin


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## jodyand

Well to me as long as the can has never been open it should still be good. Now if it has been open or the can has a hole in then no i wouldnt use it. But if it hasnt been open how could it go bad:question: If its in a air tight container


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## Chris

It is not vacuum sealed. Bye


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## Carm

johnbron, I appreciate the neighborly offer, but.....no thanks. I also found some gear oil in gallon cans made specially for some abdulla hsjaddhfjskfh in Saudi Arabia. I dont know where it came from, but it sure is an odd find. Maybe Ill try to photo the stuff just for fun. Anyway, I guess I will smell the oil to see if it smells like it is bad. I can just use it to lubricate things. Maybe Ill dump it in the jet fuel I get from work to run in the diesel equipment. I dunno


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## Argee

I don't want to be *ARGUMENTIVE*  but I would use it....:lmao:


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## Mike

Hi All, Lubricants can be a touchy line, As a rule, it should be good. If it is just a standard aw 32,46, or 68 I would have no problem in using it in a standard application. For newer applications where there are friction modifiers added to it and other additives the have a tendency to settle and seperate from the base oils. So, if it is just a reg aw oil, and you want to use it in an older tractor (pre 1970) I'd use it, the price on a bucket of Hyd oil can be quite dear, 29 to 45 dollars.

Hope this is of some help.

Mike (Maritimer)


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## Chris

> _Originally posted by Argee _
> *I don't want to be ARGUMENTIVE  but I would use it....:lmao: *


How can you not be ARG-EE-MENTATIVE?

It is in your name!   

:furious: :furious: :furious: :furious:


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## Ernie

Andy, you are so true, hell Mom always protected him. :furious: :furious: :furious:

But I am with him on the oil, it can be used up to 1000 yrs just not for use in anything mechanical,how about an old oil lamp:furious: :furious: :spinsmile :spinsmile :idea: :idea: :idea:


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## Argee

> _Originally posted by Ernieg _
> *Andy, you are so true, hell Mom always protected him. :furious: :furious: :furious:
> 
> *


Of course she did....I was her favorite:lmao: :lmao:


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## Ernie

No one ever said that you were her favorite, she protected you from being eaten as were most young in that era.:furious: :furious:


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## Chipmaker

It was no beg deal to order oil and other lubes when in the miltary and windup getting the spec'd fluid with a manugfacturing date of 10 or more years old. We even wound up with fluids that dated Viet Nam era during the early 90's. A check of the shelf life and most showed a shelf life date of unlimited as long as can or container was unopened.

My friends father-inlaw has a shed full of all kinds of motor oils most still packaged in the old cardboard foil lined quart cans requiring one of those hard to find pour spouts. Some of it is even multi-vis but the majority of it is straight weight. He uses it all the time. This fellow has more oil than some distributors do. Don't ask me how he acquired it all but he is well known as a pack rat and hunter of bargains so he has been collecting it all for most of his life. A lot of the oil is "Cities Service and Sinclair with the old flying winged Red Horse on them (now Citgo brand), so that shows you just how old this stuff is. Also has a few cartons of Arco branded oils / greases fluids .(Atlantic Richfield) 

I certainly would not be afraid to use it, and if it appears to be clean and the container was still sealed it should be serviceable.


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## Live Oak

> _Originally posted by Chipmaker _
> *It was no beg deal to order oil and other lubes when in the miltary and windup getting the spec'd fluid with a manugfacturing date of 10 or more years old. We even wound up with fluids that dated Viet Nam era during the early 90's. A check of the shelf life and most showed a shelf life date of unlimited as long as can or container was unopened.
> 
> My friends father-inlaw has a shed full of all kinds of motor oils most still packaged in the old cardboard foil lined quart cans requiring one of those hard to find pour spouts. Some of it is even multi-vis but the majority of it is straight weight. He uses it all the time. This fellow has more oil than some distributors do. Don't ask me how he acquired it all but he is well known as a pack rat and hunter of bargains so he has been collecting it all for most of his life. A lot of the oil is "Cities Service and Sinclair with the old flying winged Red Horse on them (now Citgo brand), so that shows you just how old this stuff is. Also has a few cartons of Arco branded oils / greases fluids .(Atlantic Richfield)
> I certainly would not be afraid to use it, and if it appears to be clean and the container was still sealed it should be serviceable. *




Chipmaker, we did the same thing too with the POL products on the flight line when I was still on active duty but our POL handlers would open test containers of the products and have the oil analysis lab evaluate them first and then use them if they met specs. Not sure I would pour something like that in my 4410's ehydro untested which is about a $2,500 transmission although if in a bind and no other resources, I would probably use it and keep a VERY close eye on it.


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## Ernie

Very good info Chief, I think that most of us would also be very carful in using that old of hyd fluib in our equipment, but then again


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## Argee

There you have it Andy....it is safe to use old oil:lmao:

You heard it here first:furious:


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## P71

Are there different kinds???? 

The man at the auto parts store said this H-O type was ok to use in the tank of my Hydro and FEL.

one other question , why does my joystick scream when it bottoms out on rolling the bucket back, but not at any other position when bottomed out??:twoonone:


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## johnbron

:smoking: 

P71, It sounds like the relief valve is not working in that position.


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## P71

Thanx for the reply, As soon as it cools down I'll check that out:thumbsup:


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