Lubricant label date code translator

• Mobil: 3 characters manufacturing location · 2-digit year · month letter · 2-digit day of fill · 1 character plant filling indicator. Month letters A Jan, B Feb, C Mar, D Apr, E May, F Jun, G Jul, H Aug, J Sep, K Oct, L Nov, M Dec (no I). 11012B09A = location 110, filled 9 Feb 2012, indicator A. Shelf life: five years in the original sealed container under proper storage; a “use by” date on the label overrides it.
• Petro-Canada Lubricants (packed at Lubeplex, Mississauga; “LX” = Lubeplex): bottles, jugs and cases YYMMDDLX (160305LX = 5 Mar 2016); pails YYYY-MM-DDLX; kegs, drums and IBCs YYYY/MM/DDLX; grease tubes MM/DD/YYYYLX; grease cartons and cases YYYY/MM/DD. Shelf life starts at the fill date (1 to 5 years by product).
• CITGO / Mystik trace code: 4 or 5 digit batch number · plant letter (usually O or C, the blend plant) · 4-digit date = 3-digit day of the year then the last digit of the year. 12345O0453 = batch 12345, plant O, day 045 of a year ending in 3. With only one year digit, LubeSuite takes the most recent year that is not in the future (2023 in 2026); confirm with CITGO if the container could be older than 10 years. Shelf life 1 to 5 years by product type.
• Not published: Chevron (labels carry a fill date and batch number), Shell, FUCHS and Castrol do not publish a key to their codes that we could verify. Castrol’s plant-letter + year + day-of-year pattern appears only in forum posts quoting customer-service emails, so it is not decoded as Castrol; the Other mode lists it among the possible readings. For these brands the page shows the maker’s published shelf-life guidance and the possible readings, and you should confirm the date with the maker.
• TotalEnergies: packs show a batch number, then a date and time, e.g. 80030746 23/11/23 06:49. The date is read as DD/MM/YY (or DD/MM/YYYY) manufacture date. This layout is observed on packs; TotalEnergies has not published it, so other readings of the same digits are listed too. Shelf life: 5 years in dry, covered storage, 3 years for moisture-sensitive products such as EALs (TotalEnergies Lubmarine); for engine oil TotalEnergies says properties are best within 2 years.
• Shell: country prefix letters (I Italy, D Germany, E Spain, T Turkey, F France, O Oman) are reported in unofficial sources only and are shown as unconfirmed hints. Embedded dates such as 22APR10 are picked up by the possible-readings matcher.
• Other / unknown: lists every plausible reading of common patterns (YYDDD, YDDD, DDDY and YYYYDDD day-of-year; month-letter YY·M·DD; YYMMDD, DDMMYY, MMDDYY, YYYYMMDD; YYYY-MM-DD, DD/MM/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY with any of - / . or space; DDMMMYY and DDMMMYYYY such as 22APR10) within the last 25 years. These are possible interpretations only.
• Age is counted from the fill date to today’s date on this device. Past shelf life does not mean the oil is bad: the makers recommend a lab check against the product specification before use.

Sources: Mobil code format: Mobil label key sheet (not published on a public Mobil web page) · Mobil shelf life recommendations (PDF) · Petro-Canada Lubricants handbook: shelf life & fill dates · CITGO CIT-5178 Lubricant Storage and Handling and Shelf Life Guidelines (in the CITGO Pocket Guide, PDF) · Chevron general shelf life bulletin (PDF) · FUCHS Lubricants UK: Shelf-life of FUCHS products (PDF) · Shell Aviation: AeroShell re-test periods (PDF) · TotalEnergies Lubmarine: how long can lubricants be stored · TotalEnergies: does motor oil expire?

Always check the label for a printed “use by” date first; it is the maker’s official shelf life for that container.