in our FIT . Would you leave it or have the oil and filter changed ? There's a little over 100 miles on the oil . Called MOBIL techs and was told the shelf life is 5 years . A few techs said they would not use it in their vehicles .

 

Curious how you came about to know the age of the oil?

 

It's a long story. We didn't recognize the bottle and it wasn't at the Mobil 1 website. There's the Advanced Fuel Economy OW-20 and the Extended Performance OW-20. Called the parts dept. and had the code from the box and bottle given. Then notified Mobil and they had that in their system. Showed manufactured date of June 2004. After that we notified the parts dept. of how old it was. What they do with it after being told is beyond our control. We also notified Honda Customer Service and they contacted the dealer regarding our complaint. The Customer Service rep said they can't tell them not to use the oil, he said he wouldn't want it in his car as well. We were told we will be reimbursed and then we will get the oil changed elsewhere. I wonder how many other dealers do this?

 

Wow what a crazy story

This is precisely why I have a local mechanic that I know well only use the oil that I bring him

 

I personally wouldn't worry about it. I don't think there's anything in oil that would go bad whilst sitting in a factory sealed container. (You do need to change it more due to contamination than breakdown.) My guess is that the five year shelf life rating is probably because Mobil doesn't want to spend the time, effort, and money to verify that it's good over a longer term, rather than because they know it goes bad after that time—but of course only they know for sure, and they probably won't tell you precisely.

That said, it's not my car, and so not my expense and/or hassle if something goes wrong.

 

We have an email from MOBIL tech saying a 5 year shelf life and that 10+1/2 year old oil is past the recommended use .

 

Crazy story indeed. Better safe than sorry to change it anyway if Mobil recommends it. It may or may not be fine, but you're getting reimbursed anyway so why even worry about it.

 

Had the oil and filter replaced earlier . Using MOBIL 1 A.F.E. 0w-20 and Honda A02 oil filter . There was less than a 120 miles on the 10+1/2 year old MOBIL 1 0w-20 from June , 2004 .

 

Motor oil is not like yoghurt or milk.
It doesn't go bad, it doesn't spoil.
It gets contaminated and broken down by heat, friction, and contact with fuel, metal, and moisture.
None of this to worry about if it was sealed in a bottle.
Maybe you should have sold it to a petroleum museum for testing.
The technology was different then and new standards of oil have come since 04, so that would be one reason to prefer recently made oil.

 

^^It is what it is. Choose your poison!

 

Was reimbursed in full , so no extra cost . If a few Mobil techs said they wouldn't want it in their engine , that's good enough for us as advice . Better safe , than sorry .