Don,

 

    Lubricants do have a “Best Before” date,  stamped right on their containers, especially the AeroShell (recommended by AP), which has to be reliable for aircraft use – thus the prefix. I assume the AP “grease blend” might be a repackaging, for the very tiny amounts we would normally need.

   

    AeroShell-33 (?) is rated for 4 years by the Transport authority. After that the lubricating oil has separated too much from the heavier grease base, making it too thick for safely operating landing gears. This would also be true for its ... untouched, unused, climate controlled “Shelf Life”, and would require disposal, by orders of the TSB.

 

    Read that somewhere on the SHELL OIL website, or might have been explained to me at the counter,  by the Airline Service Supplies company where I bought my CDN $20 calking tube size of it. I asked why the sales clerk insisted on marking my grease tube with the BATCH DATE  from the large carton they bought for aircraft supply. Safe, ecological Disposal,  can be a bear and certainly a hassle if I were to follow the Transportation Safety Board regulations, since I only used maybe a teaspoon from all that quantity of grease in that container.

 

Joe Z.