I recently purchased a bottle of the 107 oil from an online seller. Upon delivery I noticed that the new 107 oil I received was considerably darker than previous bottles I had. Below is a picture of the new on the left and the older one I had been using. Has anyone had the same experience and should I be concerned about its quality?
Thank you,
Ron
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I looked at my bottles and they look like your original.
The darker looks thicker. Did you compare viscosity? Bottles of "light" are more transparent.
I've seen different shades of model train oils from the same brand name. I don't see it to be a problem.
Ron
I have a bottle of Labelle #108 that, at this point, is probably 10+ years old. It seems to me it has turned color in that time (its now the color of weak coffee). Labelle sez its a 'light' oil, suitable for small engines, like HO and smaller. A few years ago, I bought a bottle of XL light at my local hobby shop, in part because I was concerned about the Labelle discoloring and whether that was an indication of some polymerization of the oil. I think that XL light has discolored also - sorta tea colored (I don't have a 'before and after' picture to compare - just an aging memory). One thing I did notice just holding the two bottles up is that the Labelle is definitely more 'viscose' - just based on the behavior of the air bubble at the top of each bottle. Again, I don't have a 'new to old' comparison to go by. The Labelle has been consigned to my woodworking shop, where I use it to lube bearings on router bits, etc.
Recently I inherited a large bottle of sewing machine oil from my wife, who now has (an expensive) sewing machine that doesn't require lubrication (about which I am skeptical...). That oil is as colorless as water and its supposed to be 'non-staining'. By eye, it seems to have the same low viscosity as the XL light mentioned above. My guess is that this sewing machine oil is at least the same age as the XL light. So I wonder how well some of these oils age - and whether a change in color is simply a change in color or might indicate that there is some polymerization going on.
BTW, there is an advantage of your wife/SO owning an expensive sewing machine (or loom, or ...) -- I have some catching up to do 
...
The darker looks like my Labelle 102 heavy oil. Just saying.
I use a colorless synthetic oil safe for food processing. A liter that’s going to last me forever. I’ve been using it for at least 15 years now and no issues. No squeaks, nothing is wearing out. I oil all axels and moving parts when I get a new item and seldom have to re-oil. This oil doesn’t seem to dry up.
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