Originally Posted by Chan Chee Hoe (Post 129117)

Everybody is concerned about the oil temperture,lets says "if" our cars don't come with a oil temperture gauge,will this be an issue.?I have driven alot of cars without oil temperture gauge,so even i trash the cars,i don't know their oil temperture.!

Originally Posted by Nissan USA

The 370Z has an engine protection system that reduces peak engine speeds when the oil temperature exceeds recommended levels in order to protect against possible engine damage. Aggressive driving of the 370Z on a race track at sustained high engine speeds can cause increases in oil temperature and may activate this engine protection system. To avoid activation of this engine protection system and these reduced peak engine speeds, Nissan recommends an oil cooler be fitted to the 370Z before driving it on a race track. A Nissan Motorsports accessory oil cooler kit is available for customer purchase through authorized Nissan dealerships for race track use. The part number is 21300-SS370.

An oil cooler is not necessary for normal operation of the vehicle on public roads. The addition of an oil cooler would have raised the price of the car and potentially moved it out of the reach of some customers. Value has been a core principle of the Z car since the original 240Z and we choose to uphold this core principle by not adding additional costs that are unnecessary for normal use. For those individuals who choose to drive their vehicle on a race track, the oil cooler is available as an aftersales item.

The oil cooler is a Nissan Motorsports item and as such is sold without warranty, express or implied, unless expressly prohibited by law in which case the warranty provided is the minimum required by law. The installation of the Nissan Motorsports oil cooler does not, by itself, “void” the vehicle warranty. However any damage caused by the installation or use of this part is expressly excluded under the terms of the Nissan New Vehicle Limited warranty.

Originally Posted by theDreamer (Post 129163)

Ak, with that response, can we lock the thread and sticky that response?

Originally Posted by chubbs (Post 130149)

No, please don't lock the thread - it's the most important concern to have surfaced so far and there may still be further developments. This thread is the main area for discussion and it should remain open for new additions.

For example, I cannot understand this phrase from the Nissan statement - "...The addition of an oil cooler would have raised the price of the car and potentially moved it out of the reach of some customers..."

That is blatantly rubbish - It would probably cost Nissan $300 max to have fitted an oil cooler to the cars. If they passed that cost onto customers in the basic price of the car nobody would have noticed, but everyone would have said, "Woooo fantastic, it's got an oil cooler!"

The real reason for the ****-up is threefold -
1. they're obsessed with keeping the cost of the car down to the bare minimum
2. they're obsessed with keeping the weight of the car down to the bare minimum
3. they didn't realise the oil overheating issue was going to get as big as it has - and now they are toughing it out.

There are too many examples on this forum of people getting oil overheating on the public highway for it not to be an issue.

Originally Posted by chubbs (Post 130149)

............For example, I cannot understand this phrase from the Nissan statement - "...The addition of an oil cooler would have raised the price of the car and potentially moved it out of the reach of some customers..."

That is blatantly rubbish - It would probably cost Nissan $300 max to have fitted an oil cooler to the cars. If they passed that cost onto customers in the basic price of the car nobody would have noticed....

Originally Posted by chubbs (Post 130149)

............

There are too many examples on this forum of people getting oil overheating on the public highway for it not to be an issue.

Originally Posted by wstar (Post 130214)

It's not just parts cost, it's testing cost, and warranty costs. There's no getting around the fact that a pair of flexible hoses carrying the most vital fluid in your car is less reliable than keeping it all in the block. There's also no getting around the fact that if they added it at the factory, it would have to be warrantied just like the rest of the car. They would have had to engineer brackets and fittings and sheaths and whatnot to try to bring the reliability up to par with the rest of the car, and done extensive long-term-wear simulation, etc. I have no idea how to work out what that costs in the long term in a car price. Let's say it ended up being $1000 or $1500 (not unreasonable, considering they're selling an unwarrantied and less-engineered addon cooler for $700).

Car prices are cutthroat these days, and a grand here or there on the mfg side of things isn't chump change. This is before all the percentages for various markups and taxes too.