NOS Oil and other fluids

[Patrick J. Martin]

I was doing some spring cleaning in the garage, and came across a box of oil cans, radiator stop leak, and transmission stop leak, that I had completely forgotten all about. I have no idea the age, but all the containers are the old cardboard cans with metal ends. The containers are all full and show no sign of leakage.

My question is, would these products still be suitable for use, or do they have a shelf life and shouldn't be trusted any more?

 

[Nicholas Yassan]

I use the old ATF in the cans which you can use a regular can open to open if you dont have the special metal spout. i had found a whole carton of them. I can say as far as ATF goes, it works fine. I esp used it in my cars when I know I have a trans leak and dont really care.

 

[Jeremy D. Ledford]

What are the brands on those cans Patrick?

 

[John ED Renstrom]

the oil is still good but may be worth more to keep rather then use. or at least not damage the can getting it out. but best if they are still full for some one collecting the old brands.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

The oils are still as good as the day that they were packaged, but I wouldn't use them. The additive packages of todays oils are different than the additive packages of the oils in the cans that you have. When you start mixing different generation additive packages by doing oil changes with newer products and older products, you will inevitably be causing sludge to form as a result of the incompatibility. I would believe that all of these old products will have more value as collectors items. If you were to sell them for the cost of replacement of like items that are currently produced, it would be a break even. If you get more for them than that, you are making a profit. Usually old oil cans sell in the $5.00 range at swap meets. The more common ones sell for less, and the really obscure brands might sell for more. Anyone here remember when oil was sold in glass jars?????

 

[Kevin M. Parkinson]

Anyone here remember when oil was sold in glass jars?????

No, I don't remember that Paul.

 

[Mike Stevens]

glass oil jars

Patrick,
I agree with Paul. This old stuff while still good oil is probably better left to the collectors. While the metal end and wrapped cardboard cans may not bring a premium price you should be able to get the replacement cost of new oil for them.

Jeremy asked what are the brands. We are waiting your reply on this one.

Yes, I remember the glass jars and bottles. We used to refill the glass cone top bottles from 55 gallon bulk containers. It was still a quart of good new oil just cheaper than keeping a lot of containers in inventory. Wish I had a few boxes of those bottles not...even empty ones.
One of my best scores was a Rislone glass bottle. It has a great paper label. It may get displayed in my up coming 'museum' or maybe just stay here on the bookcase where I can see it all the time.
Mike

 

[Patrick J. Martin]

Hello guys, and thank you for all your responses. While part of me hates to not use what may still be good stuff, an even bigger part of me hates the idea of possibly messing up the internals of my car with old stuff, so I'm agreeing with you all who said I shouldn't use the stuff.

Now to answer your questions, the oil is Quaker State, the transmission stop leak is called TransCure, and the radiator stop leak is a brand called Gold Eagle.

 

[Brendan Martin]

No, I don't remember that Paul.

Me neither!

 

[Andrew G. Zajkowski]

Way before my time . but the jar is really interesting look at the graffic's on the label .

 

[Paul Steinberg]

I requested a picture and this is what Patrick sent and said..

Hello Paul,

Attached is a photo of my oil cans. When I found them last night, it was dusk out so the lighting I had to look at them wasn't too good. When I took them out into the sunshine today to photograph, I realized I had made a couple errors. First, these aren't cardboard cans like I first thought they were, they are completely metal. Second, the Quaker State isn't oil but is transmission fluid. Otherwise, they look decent in my opinion. Some scrapes and scratches naturally, and the ends have some surface rust on them.

Patrick