I think many of us are close to or have reached that conclusion.

Conclusion reached here. If you're going to race this summer, Nissan will have a cooler available for ya!

im past break in and i just came from a 2 hour canyon run with 3 gt-r's
i started the run @1850mi
switching at 3rd and 4th between 4-6k rpm with some redlines during straight aways in the canyons
mind you im running low gears high rpms so i wont get left behind by the gt-rs
the whole time i was watching my oild temp
good news is it never went past 235
and majority of the time it was at 200

What was the outside air temp please?

John

oh yeah base on the cars outside temp gauge it was about 70-75F maybe that could have been a factor

Thanks. I seem to be averaging about the same temps you posted in spirited driving, when the outside air is in the 70 to 75 range. I am at about 1700 miles now, so close to your mileage. This past week we had some unusually cool weather for this time of year, and the temps were in the above ranges. A week earlier, we hit 90, and in that outside temp range I hit 260, and stayed there for about 20 minutes or so. Right after I hit 260, I encountered some rush hour bumper to bumper traffic, and couldn't cruise and force some decent air through the car. It will be interesting to see how the car responds to more 90 degree weather. I am not convinced that past break-in, in 90+ outside temps, that I won't run hot.......... and down here, it is nothing late summer to hit 100 degress for days in a row, with high humidity to boot. Time will tell................

John

yeah im also in the part of so cali where we get 100+ weather
so we shall see how she does when summer actually kicks in

Just another thing to keep in mind...

I was playing with the AC fan being on and off while standing in front of the car. With the AC fan off, the car/radiator fans don't seem to move much air through the grille. However, when you turn on the AC (compressor on or fan only), the velocity of air pulled through the grille increases tremendously. It's actually quite a powerful airflow...vacuum cleaner-like. Knowing this, I keep the fan blowing in the car if I'm ever sitting still on a hot day. Even having the AC working seems to keep the oil temps cooler than having everything turned off completely. I've considered taking out the grille plates on the outside of the fangs to increase the grille area for even better airflow.

mmm..This is good news..

Any Las Vegas or Nevada drivers here..?? Would be nice to hear from you.

Needless to say..I know when my Audi gets hot(or others in the past) I turn on the heat in the car. Gets the fans going. I know a bit masochistic but it works..lol

Rich
ny

I don't know about temps cooling after breakin i nailed 260 today pretty easy on a 10 mile highway jaunt...85 degree weather...2100 miles on my car.

Yeah, I'm interested too. Here in Vegas we get tripple digit temps for several months in a row. Some days it's over 115+ here. I'm just waiting to see how others respond as it gets hotter or how Nissan resolves the issue so I can buy my 370z. I've been holding off for a month now waiting to see how this plays out

This weekend, it looked like I hit 280 on a tight-corner hill climb up Mt. Hamilton. I was pushing the car hard but not full-tilt. Temp was 70 degrees. I had 1100 mi. at the time. In sections with higher speeds (better cooling), I haven't seen over 260.

I'm getting the cooler as soon as I can afford it. If Nissan does a reasonable price on theirs, and if it isn't undersized, I'll probably go that route.

Maybe true, but the G37 has been having these issues since it came out and Nissan ignored it.

I wonder what the conditions for warraty denial with a cooler were? There must be other mitagating factors, such as documented track driving or racing which might void the warranty I would think. It would be a bad legal case, Nissan Motorsports, a department within Nissan North America's marketing department sells a cooler, I belive these coolers are being installed on press cars and even given to Edmonds.com where they write about it. If my warranty was denied solely for having an oil cooler I would bring this up, plus mention the magnerson-moss warranty law.

As far as Nissan doing something about it, Nissan won't unless there is a trend in the warranty rate for engines damaged by excess temperature. Nissan wataches these things like a hawk. However once the trend is noticed, Nissan will study the data and ask field people to collect more data so they can come to a logical and undeniable conclusion of what the root cause of the engine failure is. For all of this investigation to happen takes time. For instance it took Nissan over a year to recognize the problem, collect data, and engineer a solution for the serious and costly oil burning issues that various engines had a few years ago. I don't think oil temps are going to cause much engine failure in the 370Z because limp mode will protect the engine from its owner. Limp mode is an inconveniance to the owner and creates bad buzz on the internet but it saves the engine. There is plenty of bad will going around on the internet about oil temps but that probably won't make a business case enough to add an expensive oil cooler to a car marketed to a cost sensitive customer that is selling poorly.

As far as an oil cooler overcooling the oil, it is bad for the oil to be under 170-180 degrees a lot, not so much for lubrication issues but the water vapor entrapped in the oil won't vaporize and will be homogented in the oil. This combines with some of the stuff in exhaust by-products found in blowby and creates acids which are bad for bearings and other things.

The oils additive package neutralizes these for a while until they become depleted. Thats why short-hop stop and go driving is considered severe duty and has an acellerated oil change interval in most owners manuals.

We have observed in california in our mild climate that the minimal oil temp is 170-180 with a cooler. Other people in cooler climates will probably get lower temps and a thermostat might be a good idea. Mocal makes a thermostat that is easily adapted to exsisting oil coolers.

Or change your oil frequently.

Revs are an issue with oil temp as well. If the engine is pushed towards the redline two things happen, more windage and churning of the oil in the crankcase, this produces heat and more oil being pumped to the top of the motor, less in the sump so a small quantitiy of oil being pumped through the engine over and over. This cause the oil to gain heat. There can be as much as 3 quarts of oil not in the pan due to this at high RPM under some conditions. So at 6000 rpm you might have ok temps but at over 7000 no.

Thats why guys that are autocrossing in short spurt are seeing high oil temps.