I suspect not... I've had all that stuff off since day 1, hasn't seemed to help

My Oil Cooler DIY now in the Tech section..

http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...ttsa-pics.html

You are right. Still hit 240 degrees just going down the freeway.

I've been hitting 260 pretty often when driving here. I called my dealership and they told me that was normal..geez :shakes head:

well if 'normal' means that it is the norm, then guess they're right... doesn't mean it is acceptable...

As a posted on the other thread i was driving yesterday in heavy traffic for about 90 miles with jack rabbit acceleration when traffic clears up at times and my car stayed at 220 all the way. The other night was different when I was going around town with my gear just between 2nd and 3rd with rpm's over 5k all the time in which my temp went up to 280 but with a very very hard driving though.

no surprise there. heat buildup follows fuel calorie consumption, and the engine consumes the greatest calories/sec at peak horsepower, which is of course at higher rpms... if you operate at peak HP long enough, you WILL overheat the oil cooling system and set off limp mode

"Originally Posted by gpa7pk
Taking the suggestion from this thread I called Nissan customer affairs at 1.800.647.7261 this Tuesday. I talked with Jennifer Irwin, extension 41622, and voiced my concern about the high oil temperature issue. I also told her I was thinking about cancelling my 370Z order due in July because of the very hot summers we get in Texas. She open up file #6479687. I got a call back from her this morning. According to her supervisor, Nissan is aware of the problem and that their engineering is currently working on an oil cooler kit that is to be available in two to three weeks. Of course doubting this I asked if she was sure and she said that it was a fact and she had been authorized to tell me about the kit.

We shall see....."

So, what's the verdict on this? Has anyone had a definitive response from Nissan yet? I know another member was meeting with a midwest rep named Bill, I believe, who was supposed to get to the bottom of this. The comment above was dated 04/30/09, and referenced 2 weeks. It is now 05/17/09. This is starting to remind me of the dreaded 2006 oil consumption issue. I want a swift assessment and resolution from Nissan, not a stick your head in the sand and only address those that persist position. Summer heat is upon us!

John

I’ve read through the posts thus far and have come to a few conclusions. First, I question that there is an ‘issue’ with oil temperature. The Owner’s Manual, page 2-7, states that if the oil temp reaches 280F, slow the engine down to reduce the temp of the oil. The Nissan engineers must feel confident that the engine oil temps below 280F are safe for the engine to operate when using the recommended oil, API SM and not driving the car in ‘off road’ mode e.g. pushing the car to its limits on the track. Warranty does not cover your engine for off road use as most of you are aware. The warranty will cover you if your engine fails under ‘normal’ use provided you didn’t keep driving while the oil temp was above 280F. So, where does this figure of 280F come from? No doubt through extensive testing of the engine under conditions that none of us will experience in ‘normal’ use. What are the specs for API SM oil and how is that determined? SWRI is a company I did some brief reading about and found that it has a standard for testing oils and I assume for determining the standards for API approved oil specs. Without going into too much detail, one of the tests they performed using API SM oil was running a GM 3.8L engine for 100 hours with an oil temp kept at a constant temp of 300F. What does this tell me? To me, it says that the Nissan engineers know what they are doing. They know the engine will operate satisfactorily for the spikes in oil temp up to 280F under ‘normal’ driving conditions. Above that, they have incorporated a limp mode to reduce engine speed to protect the engine’s integrity. Will failures happen at oil temps below 280F? Most certainly but perhaps only a very, very few. Will it be due to the oil or its temp? Who knows? Not every component manufactured in a mass produced engine will be 100% perfect 100% of the time. If you don’t trust the Nissan engineers in stating that anything below 280F is a safe temp using the recommended oil and choose to believe that even 260F is an unsafe temp, then you might also be suspect of the engineers who designed the next bridge you cross. I don’t second guess mechanical engineers or any other engineer who holds a professional designation if I am not a professional mechanical engineer myself. I will still be buying my 370Z this week and will have fun driving it. If the oil temp consistently reaches 280F as stated in the manual vice 260F, I will have an ‘issue’ but not until that happens. Any mechanical engineers in this forum willing to come forward and challenge the 280F oil temp as determined by the Nissan engineers and state that 260F is indeed an issue?

IDZRVIT:

As you noted, 280 is the line you're not supposed to cross, even according to the service manual. We're not complaining about being able to reach 260 at all, we're complaining about how relatively easy it is to reach 260, and how it obviously keeps on rising well past that if pushed. If flogging this car on the track or street resulted in temps that barely spiked to 260 but never went over, there would be no issue (although some would want to run a cooler anyways just to keep the oil colder, more on that later).

But as it stands, it's clear that track conditions will push a stock car smack into 300F and limp mode, and even aggressive street driving can walk right past the 260 mark if you let it, which means 280 will happen if you're not paying attention and/or driving in hotter weather (or on a mountain road, etc).

Even given the 280F standard of the service manual, the car's oil temp performance is at best subpar, and shouldn't be on a car that's advertised heavily to and supposedly built for enthusiasts, and touted at Nissan press events where they track the car and try to convince everyone that it's trackable.

Back on the point of temps though, just because keeping it under 280 keeps you within Nissan's acceptable range and keeps your warranty fine, that doesn't mean it's optimal for the engine. As oil temps go up, regardless of engine design the oil itself suffers. The hotter the car gets, the shorter your drain intervals need to be, and the less effectively the oil will be able to do its job. From the perspective of maximizing the health and longevity of your engine, 'anything under 280 is fine' isn't really acceptable. The math works out fine for Nissan, as very few drivers will do it enough to break the engine before the warranty runs out, and the few that do can probably be denied for one reason or another, but that doesn't make it ok for us from an individual perspective.

Edit: in case anyone's wondering whether I have a split personality... I do this with everything in life. It's not uncommon for me to argue both sides of a debate back and forth :)

IDZRVIT:

With respect, you are placing far too much faith in Nissan's willingness to own up if there is a problem with their VQ engines.

For example, owners of several MY06 350z's will know very well that Nissan only acknowledged that there was an oil consumption problem if the oil was virtually falling through the bottom of the sump. Apparently losing 1 entire quart of oil per 1,000 miles was acceptable, when most Z's use no oil at all. You needed to be using a massive 2 quarts per 1k miles for them to take any notice. Unfortunately for some poor owners the oil ran out before they noticed, bang went the engine and Nissan just said, "You should have checked the oil, sir."

I've accepted that here IS an overheating problem with the 370z, as have most people.

If you distrust Nissan, why buy their product?

IDZRVIT:

Please note that Nissan's warranty period is for 5 years or 60,000 miles for powetrain issues (and that is a limited warranty at that). Most of the folks here are concerned about high temps leading to engine longevity issues.

Does anyone on this list want to foot the cost of a full rebuild at 100,000 miles or less because the oil gets to damn hot? Highly doubtful.

Timing belts, spark plugs and oil changes are maintenance. Engine rebuilds are not...and that's why I won't buy a 370Z until a factory certified oil cooler is made available at a reasonable cost...

spmcpa

Will it last to 100,000
 

Nissan is only interested in making the engine last to the end of the warranty period. Then they are off the hook. Many here and myself included want to keep the car longer then the "limited" warranty. The comment about the oil consumption issue of the '06 is a valid point. No, I do not trust the engineers just bacause they work for Nissan. They are building a product to come in below a certain price and must make concessions. I don't want one of these concessions to be my engine which may be out of warranty by the time the high oil temps finally kill it. Nissan has advertised this car as a sports car and show it running hard. They need to step up and protect the engine with a cooler.

Just as a point of reference, other cars in the class (or similar class) do not have this problem. You can take a base model Corvette and flog it at the track all day and the oil temp will never go over 230. Similarly an RX-8 or STi will run without issue in the same conditions.

The hypocrisy is that the car can't handle what it is marketed as. Nissan knew this which is why the press cars were fitted with oil coolers, I bet the production protoype's were as well. Somewhere in Nissan an engineering bean counter (probably against their better judgment) cut the part to meet a budget as they calculated that 90% of the people were never going to experience a problem. I think they shot themselves in the foot as the problem is now affecting sales, ironically most of the buyers that are holding off would never experience a problem but they read about it and get scared.