There is a long story behind this acquisition (AK knows it) but I have the best of wives, and believe me if this issue becomes a problem—this car is gone. Life is too short to jockey around with stopgap fixes when there are sooooo many other choices available.

There are always lot's of choices but I've had problems with cars with price points far above what the Z costs - different vehicles from different manufcturers and/or that cost tens of thousands more are no guarantee of perfection; either long or short-term.

The Porsche Boxster engine problems (requiring brand new engine after relatively low miles) comes to mind for one example; a current edition of which starts at around $47K for the base or $57K for the "S". I consider Porsche to be one of the best manufacturers in the world but even they "aint perfect". :)

I understand where you are coming from. We are simply at the stage in life where time is more important to us. This morning we had a serious discussion about the car, and the fact that she does not trust it where she was going to be driving it and the distance from home—it now has one strike against it. I guarantee if she were to take it and it defaults to the limp-home mode from overheating (and I know the stretch where it is most likely to happen) then she will never drive it again. Summer is coming and the last thing I want to do is listen to a Service Advisor/Manager feeding me crap if there is a factory issue. I will simply encourage everyone that encounters it to file a complaint with the NHTSA to push the issue into a government mandated recall, and sell our Z.

And Porsche replaced every one of those engines. No repairs they pulled the engine and replaced it. Engines were also 'good willed' for some of the out of warranty ones.

I've yet to see a Porsche that can't make 5 laps on a track. However, I have seen a 335i that can't make 5 either.

And that is something I plan to do as should everyone with an oil temp issue.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

The problem I think you're referring to with the boxster was limited to 99 and some 00 production runs when they switched factories, and even then only effected the engines where sleeving was done on the blocks... porsche continues to address those problems even beyond warranty... beyond that, they had well known problems with rear main seals but again porsche doesn't turn any of these away... nissan on the other hand, while it seems to have a normal amount of entry into service quality issues, seems less inclined to address those issues

It seems our Z's are overheating in normal use and conditions - not just for us track junkies - and nissan needs to fix it... period

I was driving home yesterday from center city Philadelphia and was lucky enough to sit in 3 hours worth of traffic going into south Jersey. The car was pretty much doing stop and go all the way home and never got the revs passed 3k. I finally reached the Walt Whitman bridge and I noticed my check engine light is on and I look at the oil temp gauge and its reading 270ish. I pulled over and turned the heater on and let it sit for 10 mins to cool and got the oil temp to drop below 260 and a min later the check engine light turned off.

Took it to the dealer today and they changed out the oil and checked the engine over and said the engine seems to be fine but were unsure why my temps jumped so high.

We all know why. :shakes head:

I've sent my email to Nissan and I'll be calling on Monday when they are open again. My local dealer was dumbfounded when I told them about the oil cooler absence and the overheating issue. Looks like we all need to speak up a lot more to get this out there. Tracking and overheating is unacceptable on it's own, but overheating while sitting in traffic means we'll all be enacting the Lemon Law in a month or two.

An oil cooler needs moving air to work, right? So, even with oil coolers, if we're stuck in heavy traffic, aren't we screwed?

From reading the Porsche forums (which I'd say are as reliable as this one :) ), Porsche seemed to do a "quite/unofficial"; at least early on (I'll admit I haven't kept up with it all for three or four years) recall in that they waited until an engine failure; refused to cover it under warranty then covered if the owner complained enough (EDIT: If you look at the forums, this problem seemed to continue as far as '02/'03).

What brought it to mind was that I was just talking about the Boxster with a prof of engineering at Georgia Tech a few weeks ago while I was in Atlanta and someone drove up in a new GT2.

If Porsche eventually covered (under warranty) all the engine failures then bravo for them but it still seems they loath to admit there was a problem for quite a long time.

Very disappointing to see this is affecting more people. Since it will be over 100 degrees in the next couple weeks here, I am very concerned about this.

Has anybody bothered to count exactly how many have claimed a problem and where (tracking or normal driving)?

It would be interesting to know don't you thnk?

Well not as bad, sitting in traffic the engine isn't working as hard and heating up the oil, and having the oil run outside the engine through the cooler, even if no air is being forced through it, will still lower the temps some.

john

Also, the cooler will increase the oil capacity thus increasing the amount of oil being heated and cooled....lower temps overall.

casual driving, 70 mph, 6MT Just a normal drive home from work.

Robert,

I had a rear main seal fail on my 996. The dealer replaced it. I had another issue with it and it was replaced. At that time they told me if it failed again I would get a new engine. This was at about 38000 mi. It did not fail again.

I know you sell Nissans for a living but I think it's time you give it a break. People are having issues on this forum and I can't imagine there aren't others not on this forum with the same problems. Remember this car was launched in the Winter. Summer is on it's way. Sell em while they're not hot. :stirthepot:

This sucks.....evident from a few non-track junkies that spoke up, it seems like the car simply overheats from extensive exposure to traffic in warm temps....this should be very interesting....

Mr. Nash,
You keep making negative comments about Porsche. I don't get it. What's that have to do with Z's overheating. They build a FANTASTIC car. I have had several, have one now, and plan to buy more.

I started this post and the subject is "Everyone with oil temp issues." This clearly doesn't pertain to you. I don't know maybe it's the bra on your car that keeps it extra cool while you push it to the limit on tail of the dragon pushing those buttons to shift.

I have to agree.. while I'm always willing to entertain a contrarian - to a point - it really clicked with me when Alan pointed out that Nash is a Nissan sales rep... yuck

one notch above used car salesmen. Why do get the feeling he got axed from a Porsche dealer? Guess It's hard to sell 911's when your 90.

^^haha this thread has everything. drama, comedy, action, and sci fi.

Important
 

Nice job Technosquare,

I've decided on a similar hose type, 910, in a 10AN size. This stuff is pricey, $17.30/ft., but the quality is top notch: It can make a bend 2 - 3 times tighter than the same AN size in regular SS braided. It is also much easier to put the fittings on this type hose. No Kul Tools needed.

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/Images/C/3490-PLUS.jpg

I'm not a Nissan sells rep nor do I work for a dealership nor do I receive any compensation from the sale of Nissan/Infiniti vehicles.

My point with using Porsche (and I could have chosen virtually any marquee at almost any price point) is that no one builds perfect cars nor always handles issues perfectly and immediately.

Porsche is a great company and builds great cars and I've never said nor would I ever say. However, with the Boxster issue particularly fresh in my mind (for reasons I had already explained above) is was an example of a car company that most high-performance aficionados respect but one who had a significant problem and, at lest early on, was reticent to address.

My only point was that nobody is perfect and nobody does it right all the time...there is no need to be offended on Porsche's behalf.

With that said, considering the turn of this thread, I am done with it and I think done with the forum as well; no offense directed toward anyone.

Robert,

If you are not affiliated with Nissan then I apologize for making that statement. But you sure try to push their product.

The point here is that Nissan certainly appears to have known they had an issue and launched the car with their collective fingers crossed.

On the Boxsters, I don't recall anyone in my area being put off about a quick resolution. Customers were taken care of and customers came back as repeat customers. The question is what will Nissan do?

Along with the issue on the 996 I had a seal fail in the oil cooler console on my 88 944 Turbo S. The car was nearly a year out of warranty and Porsche picked up the bill. They only asked that I go ahead and do the service which was due at the time. That was an expensive repair as it necessitated the removal of the oil pan, new rod bearings, oil pump, water pump, complete flush and a lot of gaskets.

Oh, and they gave me a 911 to drive while it was in for repair. I didn't have to rent a Sentra as another member did when his 370Z gearbox went south.

Just found what I thought linked you to sales. It appears that possibly you supply parts/services to Nissan?

This does sound like you have an incentive judging by how you worded the above.

<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Great info. Thx SoCal! +rep

I didn't say I am not "connected" to Nissan nor have I tried to hide my connection. However, I would hope that most people would understand why I don't advertise it

What I said is that I am not a "sales rep" or work for a dealership (or have anything to do with the retail of Nissan products) nor do I receive compensation from the sale of Nissan/Infiniti vehicles.

There is nothing "secret" about the Nissan VPP discussed in the other thread and virtually all manufacturers have such a program - if anyone wants to know the details about Nissan's program I suggest they simply read the thread.

Robert, why don't you just spell out what your connection is? The VPP program is not in itself a connection, as companies widely make their employee purchase plans available to employees of other companies. As an employee of IBM, I have access to the VPP program from Nissan as well as those of other companies (like Ford, for instance). I can also have access to Apple's employee program. That doesn't mean I'm connected with Apple.

Robert, please just move on. This thread is becoming diluted and steering away from serving its purpose. Let's stay on topic peeps.

Alright guys, here's my experience. My Z is a typical daily driver and rarely race (street or track), but once in awhile I'll get a tad spirited as long as I keep in control for the sake of safety for everyone on the road. You don't need to drive fast to have run, right?

Anyhow, I've monitored the oil temp gauge during my usual commute. Initially it would hover at 180 deg. Once I get spirited with SyncroRev (still keeping revs below 4k regardless of how much trottle), the temps would over around 200 deg. The manual states 280 deg. is the absolute max.

Outside temp is 77 deg. with lots of wind (20+ mph).

I can only imagine what summer would be like, but that's my typical commute with freeway driving no more than 65mph.

Overall, conservative driving (paranoia) with 50% throttle to 4k rpm at times and lots of SynchroRev fun.

Technosquare did not write the article for 370z.com, I did. Why the oil gets hot is my opinion and a posible theory on why the VQ37VHR has high oil temps. Technosqaure just makes the kit and we tested it to see if it works.

If you don't do track days or other sorts of motorsports and run good synthetic oil and change it frequently, then you should not have problems. No need to get excessivly paranoid.

Most track driven cars should have an engine oil cooler. If you participate in motorsports then get the cooler for sure. If you don't, then don't worry so much.

260 degrees is where the properties of the bearings in the engine start to degrade, remember these are soft metals with low melting and softening points. Now there is quite a bit of reserve built into engines so 260 degrees under street driving condtions won't harm the engine. On the track there is a posibility. 280 degrees as the maximum safe temperature on the street is quite reasonable.

If your 370Z has an aftermarket turbo, you are hot lapping and your oil hits 260, time to stop. Same if you are loaded up with performance parts with your rev limit set higher. If your are hot lapping in a stock car and your temp hits 260, time to slow down and cool the oil. If you are in traffic on a hot day, the load on your engine is light and you can drive ok.

The VQ37VHR is not the only Nissan engine to run high oil temps. The RB26 and the SR20 do as well and those engines have pretty good reps.

Definite rep points for an excellent article, and I have corrected my post. :tup: The issue would not be of concern if others who are driving in everyday situations were not overheating (see prior posts), but they are. You live in SoCal, and you know what traffic is like on our freeways...need I say more? Also, I always run synthetics just because of their higher heat related breakdown point, but Nissan is pandering their ester oil that I understand is not synthetic.

And from your article:

smartbomb, do you know if Technosquare's kit actually in production and for sale yet? Or is it just a prototype at this point?

As for oil I heard Eneos works well. Would you recommend an oil with a heavier weight?

There is an engineering reason for the ester oil. An ester is a synthetic, its is a heavy alcohol and not derived from crude.

The VQ37VHR uses a DLC (diamond like coating) coated cam follower, at least the version in the G37 does and I am reasonably sure the 370Z version of the engine has DLC coating as well. The Nissan patented version of DLC coating has an affinity to esters, meaning it attracts the esters to its surface on a molecular level making it even slipperier. DLC coating are used a lot for high end motorsports and Nissan has been using them for several years on cam buckets. The new Nissan DLC is uniquely hydrophilic in its attraction to esters.

So the special Nissan oil actually helps the valvetrain work smoother and quieter. I have head reports that if you put crappy oil in a VQ37VHR, the VVEL system get noisy and clatters but anyone putting crappy oil in this motor should be shot! There was a discussion on our forum about this that an Infiniti master tech referred to but I am not spamming for our forum out of respect here.

So I don't believe that you absolutely have to run the $300 factory Nissan oil change but strongly believe you need to run an ester based synthetic or at least a good synthetic. This is not new to the high performance car market, the Z06 and the EVO have filler caps that say synthetic oil only.

Not to spam but if you guys have technical questions, I am on my forum every day and here only when someone brings a topic I might be able to help on to my attention. I will gladly do my best to help answer questions on either place.

It is avalible now as far as I know.

I run motul 300V on all of my high performance street and race cars. It is an ester based oil. I have had good luck with it. My race engines go about two seasons between teardowns which is pretty unheard of.

For the wife's car and our regular stock cars I run Mobile one.

For the 370Z I would run light oil for regular street driving but 15w50 for track use or spirited driving. Its sort of a trade off, the additives that make for a wide viscosity range also tend to cause sludging and break down sooner.

I think a Z needs 3000 mile service intervals.

Its interesting the 330 turbo BMW's had no cooler when they were launched but had to add one when customers started to experience high oil temps.

Thank you, very informative :tup:

The 335i's with the sport package had the cooler. It was the non-sport that got the cooler added later. BTW, even with the stock cooler you could still get it into limp mode. Saw one do it last weekend in 65-70 ambient temp.

I just launched a survey for us to collect data on oil overheating... please fill it out whether you've had the issue or not... not exactly a scientific sampling method, but better than nothing ! :)

http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...html#post63092

Also, just noticed that our OP got hit with some negative rep over this thread... don't know about you guys, but I appreciate Musashi posting on this controversial topic, some I'm going to + him back up !!