obsolete oil

obsolete motor oil in the news, claims of engines destroyed, what's in or not in the oil that would cause this ?? first i've ever heard of "obsolete" oil...

I saw the news report also. The oil in question probably doesn't have the detergents and modifiers added. Maybe the oil causes a sludge build up that starves the engine of proper lubrication. I have a Jeep with the 4.7 V-8 that had the oil pump screen plug up. This was a common problem on some of the earlier 4.7 engines.

No idea. BUT, when I was a kid/youth, an uncle of mine 're-refined' used oil and sold it for $.25 a quart. He died wealthy. The product he sold was pure, clean oil (not sure of weight, but I think 30w). All additives were gone, just pure oil. That's all I've got. P.S., Douglas Oil in Vancouver B.C.

Probably obsolete recipe or formula. Page 2 explains the ratings.
I wonder if it even has an api rating?

http://www.aa1car.com/library/API_ratings.pdf

(quoted from post at 20:14:53 02/12/16) obsolete motor oil in the news, claims of engines destroyed, what's in or not in the oil that would cause this ?? first i've ever heard of "obsolete" oil...

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I saw a story tonight on that topic. They were talking about Dollar General store brand oil. It plainly said on the back that it was not for engines built after 1988. Why would anyone buy Dollar store oil to put in a good motor anyway?

Just attended an oil/filter class this week and they talked about the new oil minimums and the markings. Basically what new oil standards were and how to identify it on the labels. Wish I had paid more attention now.

Dollar General got hit with a class action lawsuit recently about some of the oil they sell. They sell some of their Dollar General oil that is marked for older cars. I guess people are buying this for their new cars and that's where the problems begin. Anyway, DG does sell name-brand oil on their shelves, as well as obsolete oil that shouldn't be put in any internal combustion engine. If an oil has an "SN" rating, it's probably a very good oil for your engine. (Unless you need Dexos oil, a way for GM to make more money on oil royalties) If you look at some other no-name oil that DG sells, it should say on the back that it shouldn't be used in modern engines. So why are people buying this oil? I have no idea. It's not fit for an air compressor and it should stay on the shelf.
By-the-way, DG occasionally does have good deals on oil. About twice a year they have a BOGO on their "Peak" branded oil where it's under $2/quart. Peak is SN rated and can be used with confidence.
Oh, yea. A lot of other dollar stores are also selling obsolete oil. If you are familiar with oil and if you read your owner's manual, you should have no problem knowing what oil can and can not be used in your car. A few class-action lawyers are just trying to earn their keep with their lawsuits.

The real cheap DG oil in 30W says on the bottle not to be used in an engine built after 1930. It is rated SA, or something like that. I buy it for bar oil in the chain saw, but would never run it in an engine I cared about. The problem arises because oil is oil to their target customer base.

I remember my dad saying in the 1930s when people didn't have money for engine oil they used to catch the drained oil and let it sit for a period of time, strain it and re-use it.

Pair-a-dice,
You are right, Why would anyone buy Dollar store oil to put in a good motor anyway if there engine
were not burning oil in the first place?

That reminds me that some years back I used to live near a cheap no-brand gas station that had converted one of their gas pumps to sell re-refined oil at something like 99 cents a gallon. The vehicles that used to pull up to that pump so that their owners could fill five-gallon cans with the stuff were, as you might imagine, amusing in a semi-scary way.

I buy engine oils that are only manufactured by a major oil company. The API service label needs to be the latest manufactured.

People that buy D.S.oil don't change their oil,just add when oil lite or check engine lite comes on!

Anybody else remember Gulf "Saphire" oil?
Came in an orange and white 2 gallon can. Real cheap.
Lots of guys that had bad oil burners used it.
Worked pretty good in the summer....in the winter it flowed like
molasses. This was back in the 50s and early 60s. Those old engines were a lot more forgiving then.