It may be better to buy a gallon when you need it( Walmart is air conditioned),the reason I say that is because you live in NE FLA .  I lived in Jacksonville for a couple of years myself,  and unless you have a basement or other area at home that doesn't see drastic temperature swings you won't be able to store the oil long term. 100F in summer and 40F in winter and the daily swings ,  will ruin the oil before your able to use it all.

Shelf life is about 5 years - it is best to store it where it doesn't get really hot.....I don't know if cold hurts it.

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/what-is-the-shelf-life-of-motor-oil

Jog  from what I 've read,  temperature swings that break down the oil.If I store it in my basement it will stay at a fairly level temperature of around 55-60F  all year around ,but if stored in my garage the swing can be 90 to as cold as -25F seasonally , and today the high here was 90F but right now 1:28 am it's 57F  . These  swings are said to brake down the oil .I can't think of where I read this ,but It seems right ,I believe it's recommended that you change oil in a car at least twice a year regardless of mileage, so it may have some basis in fact.

It's been stored in the earth for thousands of years.  That's good shelf life.

I don't get it, but I'll go with it.

I have used oil that has been stored for 10 years or longer, and was happy to get it. Think of all the temp. changes every time the engine is started.  There could be something to this, but I'm too thick headed to accept it. I know I could be wrong. Can't let go of my metal, push through the top, oil can opener.

hotrod wrote on 09/01/18 at 09:54:59:


It is very likely that the degradation/shelf life recommendation of 5 years is a bit conservative.....and necessary for 100% performance of the oil.  Perhaps at 10 years the oil still performs at 95% of the original rating - who knows for sure.

I have also used oil that was 10 years old and it worked fine for use in our daily driver car....which had over 272,000 miles on it and was still running strong.  When the local Meijer store had a half-price close out on the gallon jugs of Castrol Syntec that my wife's car used - I bought all they had, and it was enough oil that I never had to buy another gallon for the rest of the time she owned the car.