So in preparation to change my transfer box oil I purchased the alleged specific category of oil, Castrol BOT 26 FMB1 to find on the rear of the label its actually just SAE 75W-90, API GL4............my other issue is it has a date stamp on it which I presume is the manufacturing date of 2004...............its 9 years old.

Do garages really us this BOT 26 if you ask for a transfer box oil change or do they do what I suspect and use normal SAE 75W-90...............anyone had experience of this and should I worry the oil is possibly 9 years old

Probably the latter but if it was me i'd take it back and say you want one thats newer than your car! FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

oil has been in the ground for billions of years so i dont think 9 years will make much difference...

seriously , check there's no water in it but if its sealed it should be ok.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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True but when its got other stuff in it if its sat on a shelf for a long period of time it will separate out..

Bit like buying a 9yr old tin of beans... would you really.... FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

Thanks gents. I’ve written back to the place i purchased from to ask if they know how old it is............awaiting their reply........I’m also checking the code format that I believe is the date stamp to be sure it is the date.........it reads..........12/2004 L..............it does kind of read like it was manufactured in December 2004 or the 12th week of 2004.............does anyone have a bottle to check if this rings true to compare it to my theory

well went with the oil as it looked, smelt and tasted fine.....................................easy to do with a laser 5001 oil gun, the oil that came out of the transfer box was really black and horrible. I measured the volume that came out and even with allowing for some left in the box it was some 200ml down on the expected amount which is not good, i can only assume its becoase the oil had broken down so much due to my 107k on the clock so well worth the simple oil change..................