Eurocarparts engine oil out of date

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Borys

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
1,812
Location
Nowe nad Wisla
Car
2005 cl500
I did a routine oil change on my cls500 using Shell Helix Ultra 5w40, exactly the same as last time.
Next morning on cold start I hear a tapeting noise from the engine. Hold on a second that wasn't there.
I had one bottle left of oil in question - expiry date is 10/06/2016
Seriously how they can sale something like that.
I guess trip tomorrow to EC
I hope it did no harm to lifters
 
Obviously selling out-of-date oil isn't right, and you should certainly complain.

But - oil expiry dates are not an exact science, and I seriously doubt that an oil that is out-of-date by only 3-4 months will have deteriorated to the extent that it will cause any issues to the engine on first run.

So assuming that the tappet noise issue is indeed related to the new oil, then I think it is more likely to be due to the oil spec or make rather than to its age.
 
I have some Helix ultra on the shelf and I also think it's the date of manufacture otherwise mine is also well out of date. The oil will be just fine for at least 5 years from that date.

For info this oil is made from natural gas. It's good stuff.
 
So where tapeting noise came from?
Out of date is out of date
Would you drink a milk out of date? Surely not!!!
 
KillerHERTZ said:
100,000,000 year old oil, out of date by 4 months, gutted ;)

Not funny at all .... karma is a b%$€
Thanx for constructive comment
 
When you drained the oil from the engine it may well have also removed deposits which were keeping the lifter/buckets tight, (dont know the set up) With the fresh oil now in there may well be slack around them.

I wouldn't have thought ECP will be at all bothered/worried about the shelf life of there oil, I may of course be wrong.
 
nick mercedes said:
When you drain the engine oil, what happens to the tappets? What noise do tappets make until they fill with oil? Be prepared for everyone at ECP to laugh at you. HTH.

I said the next morning
Seriously
 
So where tapeting noise came from?
Out of date is out of date
Would you drink a milk out of date? Surely not!!!

Yes, I would, right up to when the milk started to smell 'off'

The date is a sell by date, the product, stored correctly, will be fine for many days later.

Same goes for the oil, stored unopened it'll be fine for a considerable time later. Manufacturers will be covering their backs, with a good 'safety factor' built in..
 
So where tapeting noise came from?
Out of date is out of date
Would you drink a milk out of date? Surely not!!!

Why not? I do this all the time. It's called 'yogurt'.

On a serious note.... as I said, it is not right to sell out-of-date oil (or anything else for that matter), but on a practical level I doubt very much that 3-4 months will make any noticeable difference to the oil quality, or that it will be the cause of any engine issues.
 
Last edited:
Howdo. Did it rattle straight off after the change for a few seconds? Or was the next morning the first time you'd started it? A rattle for a few secs is no worry.

Not taking the piss BTW.
 
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