This was a big reason I ended up not buying one. I was getting uneasy from the first couple reviews and reading that the car and driver car had oil and diff coolers installed. Knowing that someday I wanted to go to a driver's school, I was thinking this was going to be a problem for me and for people that were going to track the car. I was also worried about what installing an aftermarket oil cooler would do to my warranty.

It seems from reading through this post it's even effecting people who just go out for a spirited drive. Come July and August I think there maybe a lot of unhappy owners.

Other than this issue though, I absolutely fell in love with the car.

Really? and you are sure about this via what solid factual information?

People are reaching 250+ on daily "spirited" driving in 75 degree weather in a span of 5 whopping minutes. In the west coast, ambient temp reaches above 100 easy in the summer and couple that to prolonged stop and go socal traffic. How are you so sure about your statement? People are having worries and it's barely spring.

I was regularly getting it to 260 today on 2 minute auto-X runs, once returned to idle the temperature would drop. Ambient temperature was 45 degrees. 10-15 minute cool down between runs.

here's a couple that are available if you register in AZ !

also available:

FAWKHOT

At 10:30am I took a drive from Sylmar to the 405 to 118. Got off on Topanga to PCH to Kanan RD to Mulhalland and back to Topanga . My oil temp read 225 in the canyon roads and it didn't go any higher than 225 temp. The outside was 78 degees.

how was your driving characteristic? sylmar 405, 118 are all wide open fwys with no traffic at that time on a weekend. Did you push the car thru the canyons or just cruise?

I pushed alittle saw alot of CHP I'm it's not really HOT yet but I'll still look at my oil temp I got Auto but I was using the paddle shift in Fed I was driving stop and go on the South 60 I had the car for 1 week and my oil temp read 230.

From Cincy to Columbus and back today I saw a solid 200 at 75 mph with an ambient temp of 73 F. My 335i would be at about 230 F for the same drive.

:bowrofl:

I went out for a pretty hard drive this morning (see http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-p...ing-drive.html) and my oil temp never went above 240. And I was driving WOT for a good bit too. Within a couple of days of bringing my car home, I put a bottle of Redline Water Wetter in my radiator. Part of me wonders if that's helping my oil temps at all. I have no baseline to compare it against though, seeing how I put it in so early. Maybe some of you guys who have been seeing oil temp problems could try it and see if you notice any difference? It's supposed to reduce coolant temps by as much as 30 degrees. It comes in a 12oz bottle and is available at any AutoZone. What I do is wait for the car to cool down, then pour it directly into the radiator. You'll want to use a battery acid filler (or siphon) to suck up 12 oz of the coolant that's already in the radiator first before pouring in the Water Wetter.

I figure it's worth a shot, and I'd be interested to see if it makes a difference for anyone.

Red Line Oil: Coolants and Others

I've thought about using Evans.

They had this same problem with the BMW N54 engines the first year. Now all of them come with an external oil cooler mounted in the passenger side fender compartment. BMW did retrofit many 2007 335i's with the cooler on a complaint by complaint basis if I recall.

^^ agreed. BMW after service and Nissan after service however isn't the same. We'll see how this unravels....should be very interesting.

Has anyone considered adding a product such as Red Lines ZDDP oil additive? It's a zinc/phos additive for wear. Newer oils including synthetics are lowering the levels of zinc/phos for improved length of life for the cats.

If you can find the manufactures stated levels for the above you will notice that they are less than in the past. Mobil 1's new racing oils have higher levels than their over the counter varieties. I believe Red Line has also maintained higher levels in their oil.

This won't solve the temperature issue but it would seem to add a bit of a safety factor for the engine at higher temps.

I received this reply from Nissan:

Thank you for taking the time to contact Nissan North America, Inc. and allowing us the opportunity to be of assistance. Thank you very much for your concern, this matter is currently under review at this time. For further information please refer to page 2-7 from your owner?s manual.

I think this is a good sign.

That's what they said shortly after the hurricane came ashore. It was the eye

I like how Nissan consumer affairs tells me they don't make nismo oil coolers for the 370z and are not available. Meanwhile, another test car is equipped with it. No matter I'm sure my stillen one will be much better.

2009 Nissan 370Z Full Test and Video on Inside Line

I was almost sold until I saw this thread...waiting also

I've found that my temps are actually pretty reasonable after breaking in the car. Temps are around 220 and lower sometimes.

I think people should list what's on their odometer in their posts. I'm at 3100mi.

Ditto. I was worried more about temps earlier on, given how the needle was reacting to even brief spurts of spirited driving. But as the engine is wearing in, I think it's starting to run cooler. Temps around here have gone up if anything during that time, and my max oil temps have gone down.

I'm sure your upgrades have helped too being that they're much less restrictive and your getting actual cold air into the engine. Has to account for something. It's good to hear though.

My stillen oil cooler comes in friday and I have a track day later in the week. I will let everyone know how it goes.

Very true. I also added Water Wetter to my coolant.

i managed to hit almost 240 on a 92F day here in florida, 3,000mi.

Then i tired the AC trick, and it brought the temp back down to 210.

so when in doubt just turn the ac on.

The AC trick? Turning on your AC should make the car run hotter if anything. Did you mean you turned on the heater full blast with the windows rolled down?

There's already a couple of oil threads and lots of heated (but friendly) debate on the subject. I'm going Motul 300V on my next change, and at least one other person had talked about it too (semtex?):

Oil Change

Nissan Ester Oil

I did a post about this before.
My so-in- law had a Saturn, that out of the blue, would over heat. Turn on the A/C and the temp would go down!

Seems counter-intuitive, but if it works...

The A/C condenser is definitely going to dump more heat in the area of your radiator. The only thing I can image that's at work here, is perhaps when the car is "overheated" only 1 of the two fans is running up front, and the other one only turns on when the A/C is turned on.

Thanks Dad I'll be sure to try that next time I'm on the race track. lol jk

That's a good possibility!

Yep. I've got 3 cans of Motul at the ready when it's time for my next oil change. I'm also the guy who suggested Water Wetter earlier in this thread. Glad it's apparently helping. I added Water Wetter in the day after I bought my car and haven't seen my oil temp go past 240. Mind you, I haven't tracked it either, but I have driven it quite hard for extended periods.

My car doesn't seem to get over 220 even with spirited driving. It's about 75 degrees out here, guess I got lucky.

Water is the best liquid thermal conductor - period. The other stuff is just to prevent the water from eating your engine parts and prevent it freezing like you said.

Our cars come with a 50/50 mix so they aren't as efficient as they could be. Improving the thermal conductivity of the coolant by altering the ratio should have a definite improvement on the ability for the coolant to absorb heat from the oil, hence lowering oil temperatures. It's not enough for the track but it might be enough for the SoCal people to survive summer.

My understanding is that our oil is water-cooled on this car. Hence, if you improve your water-cooling ability, you by extension improve the oil cooling. As for your list of concerns, have you done any research into this particular product to substantiate them? Because if you have, please do tell. Water Wetter is made by Red Line. Here's a link to their Water Wetter page. There's a product data sheet link at the bottom too. It lists all these chemicals that I'm sure will make more sense to you than me. ;)

Red Line Oil: Coolants and Others

Water Wetter is a super favorite among the sportbike crowd.

The water wetter works, but it should ideally be added during a flush when you add pure distilled water with the appropriate amount of wetter.

Yeah I'm worried about going straight water+wetter on a street car though, especially this one, just for corrosion and boiling point reasons. For now I just sucked out 12 fl oz of the existing mix and replaced it with the wetter. I'd like to drain and refill later before we get into the worst of the summer, but I'm thinking I'll still keep some coolant in there. Maybe 70/30 distilled/coolant + another bottle of wetter.

I don't want to rain on the parade, but I do want to offer a warning. Nissan has an ever increasing rate of warranty denials. I don't think it is outside the realm of possibility that Nissan would deny a warranty claim, for drivetrain components, if the coolant mixture had been altered. I'm not saying it will happen, or is happening, just that it might happen.

Re: the thermostat, our stock thermostat begins to open at 170F, reaching full flow at 195F, and doesn't close completely until it gets back down to 160F. I monitored my coolant temp via OBD-II when I was doing my Intake Air Temp testing on the Stillen Gen 3 stuff (since the dummy gauge is no help), and once the car got up to a stable temperature, the coolant never got back under 194 (and was usually in the low 200's). I don't think water wetter's going to change much with our themostats.

This PDF from Redline Water Wetter Tech Info gives their full technical spiel on why this stuff works. It makes a lot of sense, and a lot of people swear by it.