Hello
Thought I'd better join in the fun - seeing as many of my emails from work to private individuals are now being posted on forums as general info :cool
I see I'm on here already ... ( a private email to a bloke in France if I remember correctly ! )
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91251
Chip oil ... yes, let me know how you get on with that one ..
Anyway - the 3 year rule of thumb is as I said in the email - a rule of thumb - virtually all oils are a carefully balanced mixture of additives and base oils ( detergents, dispersant, anti-foam, antioxidant, friction modifiers, Viscosity improvers, anti wear additives - to name a few ) to provide the right protection, performance and specification to enable to oil to function properly as it should - some of the additives used don't readily mix with each other, so they have to be skillfully blended so that they do. Over time, depending on the storage conditions, some of these additives can drop out of suspension, so the carefully blended package can loose some of it's performance ability. This isn't guaranteed to happen, and as I said in my email - the oil can be fine for longer, but after this time, some of the additives may have separated out so the quality and performance ability can't be guaranteed - the only way to be sure would be to have the oil analysed, which would probably cost more than new oil !
The other reason for the shelf life guide is that oil formulations can change, so a product that has been sat around on the shelf for a while, although it may have the same name, the latest version may meet different specifications that the older one doesn't.
I would suggest that with any oil that is older than a couple of years - a sensible thing is to turn the bottle gently a couple of times - then have a look - the oil should be clean and clear and bright - any streakyness, or sediment could be settled out additive - if the oil is cloudy or opaque - could be water in it. At the end of the day it's a judgment call regarding whether you want to risk using oil that you can't guarantee is 100%, or just buy some fresh oil. Ideally, you should buy only what you need to use - that way you will always be using fresh oil.
As suggested, SAF-XO is a high performance product and not a fast mover - hence CCO having some older stock - chances are, it would have been okay to use - but sensible to return for replacement if unsure - they do provide an excellent service and also stock the Act>Evo GP 20W-50 which is the current BMW recommended oil for the Boxer engines, as well as the normal bike specific oils - they stock the SAF-XJ full synthetic for the final drives too
here's their website if you've not found it ;
https://ssl11.lon.gb.securedata.net/classicoils.co.uk/merchantmanager/index.php?cPath=24
Simon and Guy at Opie are great blokes too - they are extremely knowledgable about oils and also carry plenty of stock.
http://www.opieoils.co.uk/
Don't forget you can check up on oil recommendations on the Castrol website too - or drop me an email if you have specific questions via the Castrol website
www.castrol.com/uk
Hope that helps ?
Cheers
Andy Griffin
Castrol Technical
Great to get accurate information direct from the horse's mouth - I never really expected to find out the real facts; but have been very impressed by Castrol and CCO and hopefully this will dispell some of the myths often perpetuated about oil.
Thanks Andy,
Will Haylock (AKA Engineer).
)... what do WE do with old oil ? ... we don't have old oil as it's blended to meet sales requirements 
