Counterfeit Red Line oil

I think that it has little to do with the oil itself and everything to do with the degradation of the bottle and seals.

 

The current Redline 5W40 conforms to the API SN specification which I believe came into existence in 2010. Do the bottles you have not show as conforming to SN on the label?

 

Why was the service place not willing to supply the oil you spec'd/wanted? Since no shop/garage will stand behind "customer supplied parts", if god forbid something were to happen with the engine does this give them some sort of "out"?

 

There was a thread on here a few years ago where someone talked to an oil company employee about oil and also got similar advice in regard to old oil. They said not to use oil after a year, I think. I was surprised, also thinking it was five million years old, what's a couple more years? Apparently some part of it (additives?) changes over time.

 

Seems that old oil is less like old wine and more like old milk.

 

Additives can settle out, they only stay in suspension so long. They sit in a sludge at the bottom and do not pour out. Lots of important stuff stays in the bottle.

 

Unless Redline has changed their labelling I don't remember ever seeing the "SJ" or SN" or any other API acronyms.

 

My current 1 gallon bottles say all that and more on the label on the back.

 

Dino oil is how old, a hundred million or more, and someone is worried about this?

 

What happens if you shake it? Would that help?

 

If you're using pure crude oil it's not a consideration. Once refined its another story.

 

Not really. We once had a product that did that pretty quickly and once out of solution it is very difficult. The real problem is no one looks or expects it and just pours what is liquid in, tossing the bottle with a great deal of the important stuff stuck to the bottom. People don't get it, oil is not oil, it is a chemical compound and just like salad dressing it has a shelf life.

 

Amazon itself is great, but they don't police their individual sellers almost at all -- even when there are serious issues. I bought 2 Mr. Clean AutoDry systems (spotless wash) from Amazon seller "Sam store221". Each package was supposed to include the gun, the filters, and the soap. Both boxes included only the gun (which is almost valueless) and were missing the filters and soap (which are expensive on eBay because they are NLA).

After seeing that the important parts of both packages were removed, I looked at the reviews of that seller and saw that they did the same thing on two other sales of that product. It's obvious that this was not an accident, they obviously remove 2 of the 3 items from the boxes, sell those sets on Amazon as new, and then almost certainly sell the stuff they removed on eBay or elsewhere. Since it was a very well documented, and not even remotely subtle case of fraud, you would think that Amazon would remove that seller immediately, but they are still listed as an active seller. Amazon was quick to refund my money, but they don't really do anything (apparently) to remove what are clearly very shady sellers.

 

On the BobIsTheOilGuy website, this same question was asked and Valvoline said "shake the container before use to blend any additives that may have settled."

Valvoline.com > FAQs > Motor Oil Car FAQs > General Motor Oil

 

Doesn't work.



Probably why Valvoline no longer holds the market position they once did.

 

What do you expect from a Hoerr? Maybe you'll get good value, but you'll still get screwed.

 

...so, what is the recommended, reliable source for Redline now? (i've used Amazon in the past....)

 

www.summitracing.com

 

The Chinese were faking grade 8 (and so forth) aviation bolts 20 years ago.
Lives depend on this stuff.
There is a special place in Hell for these people.

 

Amazon used to be great but as you point out they are now merely a conduit for any number of shady sellers with ancient, stolen or counterfeit product. I wouldn't buy anything with a sell by date from them. Ebay is the same, they began with private sellers and I'm sure there was a small percentage of unsavory types, but now the bulk of their sellers are wholesalers and the risk of a surprise is significantly greater. Frankly I see myself going bricks and mortar more often nowadays, despite the extra cost.

 

Salad dressing has a shelf life?!! Oh noooo!!