Expiration date on anti-sieze. Really?

[Crowbarman55]

I was just thinking. If I put anti-seize on a bolt and tighten it down, say on a suspension component or whatever from a new jar. Will the anti-seize go bad on that bolt after the expiration date?
Todd

 

[Wrench97]

No it dries up and stays on the bolt, but if it dries up in the bottle you can't apply it to the bolt..............................

 

[John McA]

I have a jar of Dad's old anti-seize that was messy for years before I was born.
I guess its bad now. But, it is not dried up. And it is still messy.
Good Luck,
John McA

 

[Sumboodie]

There is something in there that can evaporate. I had a jar of the stuff go all pasty and waxy on me after several years and using 80% of it. Mostly my fault for not screwing the lid on all the way every time.

The expiration date is likely for fields where it's very important that the glops and goos you're using perform as designed, like aviation and assorted industries.

In a home shop, use it as long as you want. Stir it up every so often, keep the lid tight, and you can probably feel free to use up every scrap of it through 2030 or so.

Same. I put a bit of solvent from the parts washer in it and that fixed it.

 

[Sumboodie]

Oil expires too. Chevron says 5 years from pack date.

I've used engine oil a few years ago that was in cardboard cans. I'd guess mid 80s at the newest.

 

[4xdog]

No it dries up and stays on the bolt, but if it dries up in the bottle you can't apply it to the bolt..............................

I've found a shot of WD-40 is the best thing ever to return hardening anti-seize to a workable consistency. There aren't many things for which I recommend WD-40...

 

[Nutria]

I think the date is just there for people who would like to eat it . . . and, knowing Anti-Sieze, anyone who eats it will never get it out of their system.

 

[KansasArt]

i have a old can from work, the oil seems to have evaporated and it was super thick and pasty, i added a bit of oil and it brought it back to life and seems to work well. maybe i should get some more recently expired cans !

Ok, we gotta know. What kind of oil? Dino or synthetic? And the wt too please!

 

[Squankum]

This isn't England! This is 'MERICA! When did all of you people start saying "expiry"?

 

[four.cycle]

"expiry" is the correct word for that.

 

[Ton ton]

I have a bottle of dried out anti- sieze.

 

[laser3kw]

The "newer" stuff seems to dry out quicker than the old. I reconstitute it by adding a little oil and stirring.

I totalled the Opel in 1981. (Rolled it three times.)

was that three different times or one time with three rotations?

 

[Black300zx]

Like most things today, the expiration date is probably a C.Y.A move. Costs them nothing to put a date on the bottle, and likely will come in handy for their legal team when someone inevitably has an issue with how their product performs.

 

[Wrench97]

Like most things today, the expiration date is probably a C.Y.A move. Costs them nothing to put a date on the bottle, and likely will come in handy for their legal team when someone inevitably has an issue with how their product performs.

After 6 months or so it starts to taste funny................................

 

[RPH]

Iso rules. We had to track everything we used from loctite to oils to quench. Can’t be caught with out of date containers. Take it home or throw it out but get a fresh dated one. Panic just before the audit sets in.

 

[nadogail]

I have seen expired products tested and after being proven satisfactory been given revised shelf life dates

 

[joel_400]

I think the date is just there for people who would like to eat it . . . and, knowing Anti-Sieze, anyone who eats it will never get it out of their system.

I would imagine those that eat it are the ones who ate Elmers glue and paste back in their younger days...maybe that's got them a bit bound up...Anti sieze may be the hot ticket for loosening them up! Hahaha
Joel

 

[Squankum]

I would imagine those that eat it are the ones who ate Elmers glue and paste back in their younger days...maybe that's got them a bit bound up...Anti sieze may be the hot ticket for loosening them up! Hahaha
Joel

 

[4xdog]

I have seen expired products tested and after being proven satisfactory been given revised shelf life dates

I worked for many years, and still consult with, a company supplying ingredients to food & beverage and various industrial markets. It was quite common for us to receive samples for retesting of products nearing the end of their stated shelf life from customers for extension of their best-if-used-by date.

 

[rooster59]

Just stir it up all nice, good as new.

 

[Squankum]

Since we're talking Loctite, which is owned by Henkels, we're talking about the Germans. We're supposed to throw out our Loctite thread locker tubes every year, too!

 

[dagoat_1]

Mike-The SDS claims it might not be a complete list of ingredients, just the hazardous ones. That said, they list nickel (of course), aluminum, graphite (well, it IS anti-seize), and mineral oil. Maybe the mineral oil evaporates? Hard to imagine it going bad, in the same sense as a jar of mayonnaise.

Blk88GT-I'll go you one better. I have a bottle that dates to sometime in the mid 1980s and it still seems OK, if maybe a bit thicker than it was then.

I've added a bit of oil to the ones that seemed to be drying out.

 

[dagoat_1]

After 6 months or so it starts to taste funny................................

That's what Mayo is for...

 

[Sweetcorn]

Water comes with an expiration date.

It's like a million years old and once you put it in a bottle it only lasts another year or two?

I get a kick out of seeing it on salt, too.

 

[Meursault74]

Agreed -- it makes no sense, @Buddy Fey. Use your own judgement.

I recall a time in my industrial lab where our safety people, trying to do the right thing, insisted on expiration dates on all chemicals on our shelves. I think they might have been willing to go up to five years on some items. My argument that sodium chloride wouldn't expire until the end of the world didn't sway them.

Our safety people say we can't have items in our first aid kit that are expired. Fair enough. I have some iodine solution in glass ampules from the early 70's. They don't have a UPC bar code let alone an expiration date. You know what? They're ok with them because they technically do not have an expiration date. I wouldn't use them, but I keep them as a joke about the rules.

For chemicals in general, they're really only picky about peroxide formers with regard to age/expiry.

For cGMP regulations, once they expire, their tracking tag is removed and then they're used for research only just fine. Laws of man vs laws of nature.

 

[Meursault74]

I have seen expired products tested and after being proven satisfactory been given revised shelf life dates

That's the reality. You only prove that it still meets all criteria required. You rarely search for the time that it actually doesn't meet the criteria. Pick a reasonable interval of time, conduct all the tests.............. They pass. So a day later is when we set the expiration time.

Some materials, if expensive, hard to come by etc, can warrant a revalidation. If it's cheap and readily available there is no point to do so.
This all has to do with regulations. If someone sells or uses an expired material and falls under some regulatory authority, they may get a violation filed against them. If you use it yourself at home, likely nothing will happen.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Now that my supply has all expired, I’ll buy new and redo all the fasteners that I have used anti-seize on.

 

[drmarkr]

Mike-The SDS claims it might not be a complete list of ingredients, just the hazardous ones. That said, they list nickel (of course), aluminum, graphite (well, it IS anti-seize), and mineral oil. Maybe the mineral oil evaporates? Hard to imagine it going bad, in the same sense as a jar of mayonnaise.

Blk88GT-I'll go you one better. I have a bottle that dates to sometime in the mid 1980s and it still seems OK, if maybe a bit thicker than it was then.

Buddy Fey? SCCA Buddy Fey?

 

[PlanB]

Iso rules. We had to track everything we used from loctite to oils to quench. Can’t be caught with out of date containers. Take it home or throw it out but get a fresh dated one. Panic just before the audit sets in.

Yep. Part of an ISO program is having expiration dates on products.

 

[Plombob]

I recently posted the same question in the Anti-seize thread.

Learning more about anti seize products

Not to add fuel to this fire, but some vehicle manufacturers do explicitly tell you to put anti-seize on the wheel hub to wheel centerbore interface. Here is an example. Castrol Optimoly TA is just silver anti-seize. Cleaning and lubricating the wheel hub is necessary and not doing so can...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[whateg01]

Yep. Part of an ISO program is having expiration dates on products.

ISO: It doesn't matter if you are doing it right, just as long as you are doing it wrong the same way every time!

 

[mogandave]

ISO: It doesn't matter if you are doing it right, just as long as you are doing it wrong the same way every time!

You have to love it. Customer contracts ISO "inspectors" to check their order before it ships. They come to the plant, make a bee-line for the office, check your documentation all day, and then take a picture of the product on the way out.

WTF

 

[RZ Guy]

I am in the decades old camp. Mine dried up quite a bit and the internet told me to mix in some ATF. Fixed for another decade or two.

 

[Uncle murph]

Mike-The SDS claims it might not be a complete list of ingredients, just the hazardous ones. That said, they list nickel (of course), aluminum, graphite (well, it IS anti-seize), and mineral oil. Maybe the mineral oil evaporates? Hard to imagine it going bad, in the same sense as a jar of mayonnaise.

Blk88GT-I'll go you one better. I have a bottle that dates to sometime in the mid 1980s and it still seems OK, if maybe a bit thicker than it was then.

Same here ,my container is actually cracked and falling apart,doesn’t seem to affect the contents.

 

[ybnormal]

The state of New Jersey had a law requiring all food products, including water, must have an expiration date no more than two years from date of manufacture. The law no longer requires expiration dates on water, but manufacturers have kept putting expiration dates on water. I know that some bottled water tastes nasty when it gets old if it has gotten hot.

probably the lifetime of the bottle, probly starts to degrade after a couple years especially if sitting in sunlight

 

[ybnormal]

Agreed -- it makes no sense, @Buddy Fey. Use your own judgement.

I recall a time in my industrial lab where our safety people, trying to do the right thing, insisted on expiration dates on all chemicals on our shelves. I think they might have been willing to go up to five years on some items. My argument that sodium chloride wouldn't expire until the end of the world didn't sway them.

easy fix for the salt, slap one of the Expires by: labels below on it

Expires by: Never
Expires by: Heat Death of the Universe
Expires by: Infinity, just like stupidity (in other words, it doesn't)

 

[junkyardwarrior]

it gets kinda congealed. I have a bottle of it at work that's older'n the hills and it's like lumpy, hard, kinda congealed. Still works just harder to get it outta the bottle.