I bought three cases of Valvoline VR-1 20w50 about 18 months ago, back when it was cheap(er). Given the number of miles I put on the teener in a given year, the remaining 2 cases will probably last me another 3 years or so. Any problem using oil that is 4 to 5 years old if the bottles are unopened?

BTW, I read a number of the various articles on the web, but thought I would get better gouge from the experts here...

Thanks in advance!

Sort of depends whether or not your the sort of guy that won't eat food that is past its "expiration date".

It's a couple hundred million years old already. I don't think a couple years will be a big deal.

I would not worry about it with todays oils and additives.

BUT I actually do have personal bad and dumb experience with very old oil I should not have used in my truck.

1990-ish I briefly came to own a 1979 Pinto, whole other story that's better with

But that Pinto had a half a case of Texaco Havoline motor oil, old-style cans that require a spout punched in.
I knew it was old oil but used it to change the oil in my 1980 Datsun truck and after a several weeks of use and then sitting a week or so it would not start, cranked slow.
Low battery, I assumed and put the charger on it, an hour later I try again and get the same thing.
I then proceeded to guess my way through cleaning battery cables, ground connections, jumping from van, up to concluding the starter was bad and replacing it.
Before I got out my amp meter and read 370 amp starter draw and realized the engine was the problem! The old oil had turned to almost a jelly, it was so thick it drained so slow I put a heater under the engine to get the stuff out, N CA area it was not cold.

So embarrassing note here, at the time I was a Porsche dealership tech.

Test don't guess!

Jim

Thanks all! Appreciate the responses. The oil is stored in my garage (in VA), so should be ok. Maybe I can sneak it into a climate-controlled closet upstairs in the house

I said those exact words to Ray Mital more than once.
The things added by sustained exposure to the internal combustion
environment are another story.

I would have no issues using it until it's started "canning". Canning is when the bottle looks like you pulled a vacuum on it and it's somewhat collapsed...that typically means that a significant amount of atmosphere has permeated the package and started to affect (oxidize, or something else) the product. If the bottle looks normal and there's no "use by" date it on....shake it up some (sometimes fine solids will fall out of suspension over time) and run it.

I apply this rule to just about everything in a bottle.

@PatMc Another Pat Mc (short for McCabe, what’s yours?) here…. I see them on the flaps shelves with “canning” sometimes…

Mobil 1 says 5 years for its conventional for synthetic…. Others as you may have read state around 5 years conventional 7 for synthetic.

Or not comply with the "5 second rule"

Plus, you’ll need to give it the ole paint can shake when you do finally use it. Some of the additives will settle over time. I actually do the shaky shake on every bottle. But, there’s probably medication I could take for that.

When you find the medication, please share as many of us could use it

It's called "Applejack"