Why did he get hit with negative rep?

Just curious, can this high oil temperature issue be corrected by switching over to synthetic oil?

pls read

http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...mp-issues.html
http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...4-19-09-a.html
http://www.the370z.com/intake-exhaus...es-plenty.html
http://www.the370z.com/track-autocro...eally-bad.html

For street use probably yes but for performance use no way.

A question for AK...

Would it be an idea to harness 'owner power' by starting a 'Petition Thread' on the forum, where anyone on the forum who is concerned about the oil temp issue could 'sign up' ? Then, after a given period of time (2-3 weeks?) the online 'signatures' could be collated & sent to Nissan by someone in authority here (AK???).

I'm sure that all of us - owners and potential owners alike - want to put pressure on Nissan to correct what is clearly a serious issue. Nissan are obviously aware of it, but they seem to be sitting on their thumbs a bit. In my opinion they need to be spurred into action on this issue, to prevent damage to engine internals.


My suggested title line for the proposed petition goes like this (duh - now I've got to think of one!!!)...

To Nissan Motor Company,
We, the undersigned owners and potential owners of Nissan 370Z's are extremely concerned that the new 370Z's engine oil is prone to serious overheating.
Several new owners have already experienced serious issues associated with this problem since the car's launch a few months ago. We feel that Nissan needs to do four things...

1. Announce an immediate recall on all 370Z's, to enable existing owners to have an oil cooler fitted at Nissan dealerships.

2. Fit an oil cooler to all 370Z's that have not yet been delivered to their new owners.

3. Reimburse any 370Z owner who has already fitted an oil cooler, to cover the cost of this installation ...or offer to replace the oil cooler with one recommended by Nissan.

4. Solve the 'overheating oil' problem, so that new owners do not suffer it.

If you (Nissan) respond positively and speedily to this petition, you will ensure loyalty from your existing customers and also secure many more new sales of what is in many other respects a superb sports car (apart perhaps from the emerging synchro issue!!!!!) <<<<<< I might not add the bit in brackets!


So, what does everyone think? Is it a good idea? Is the wording right and - most importantly - what does AK think of it? I shall pm him, to make sure he sees this post asap.

Personally, I think that forums like this have a 'duty' to champion issues for their community.

Chubbs

Three powerful little words:

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

My brother-in-law is an attorney. I'm going to speak with him about the issue and see if someone at their firm can take it on.

:happydance::happydance::happydance:

I had a 2006 oil burner. I hope this isn't "deja vu all over again", as Yogi would say :icon14:

John

I picked up my 370z Friday night in Phoenix. (82 degrees) -I then drove approx 200mi home, averaging 70-80mph and varying RPMs etc. I never saw temp get past 220degrees

Car now has 291mi on it. After reading this thread, I took the car out and warmed it up. (60 degrees) Then I drove it hard for about 20min, including a few short bursts into 5000-6000rpm range. It still seems to cap out at 220degrees.

Am I just not driving it to the point of soliciting higher temps? My particular car appears to be a newer car (VIN number 5xxx). Could Nissan have fixed/changed something? Calibrated the sensor, etc? Am I just lucky?

Living in Arizona, this is going to be a concern to me. I would like to replicate the problem if my car has it. If it doesn't, I will start focusing on other upgrades/improvements.

If it does... I will demand the dealer fix it, or return my car.

We had an 80 degree day yesterday at the auto-x, was hitting 260 on the oil temp after every single run. Between runs it would cool down to between 230-240.

The conditions for overheating weren't met. In my personal experience the car only overheated at the track. However the weather prior to me installing the oil cooler was only up to 60 degrees as a high. Today it was almost 90 and when I was sitting in traffic my oil temp rose to 220, once I started driving it quickly cooled down to 180. Also at the track now the car does NOT overheat. It was able to handle full back to back sessions. I think the cold air intake helps also.

My concern is for owners that live in hot & humid climates and frequently get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic when commuting.

"Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 90 (20 members and 70 guests)"
Seems a lot of people are interested in this issue.

"My concern is for owners that live in hot & humid climates and frequently get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic when commuting."

This would be me. May through September it can be 90+ degrees with 90+ humidity. I predict in bumper to bumper traffic it breaks 280......... this will not be a "track only" issue IMO.

John

it you do a web search this issue is cropping up elsewhere as potential buyers are considering the 370Z. It's becoming a hot topic!

hehe, pun intended

Here's my view on it. Just like in medicine, the most important step in healthcare (and the cheapest solution) is preventive care. You take care of the problems before they become problems and the final bill you have to pay is a fraction of the one you have to pay when you ignore these problems. Would be nice if this applied right? Oh well...

Nissan, as the multinational multi-billion dollar company that they are, should be well aware of this fact by now. They have smart people working in their company and trust me when I tell you guys that they already had their analysts go through the data of what it will cost them.

In my personal view, Nissan isn't going to do anything for us and we are SOL.

Think about it...the Z is only a small fraction of their business and of that small fraction...only a smaller fraction actually run into this problem because we track the car. Now which one is cheaper....to a) recall the cars/offer oil coolers at the dealer. or b) deal with the few folks who are going to get pissed and maybe blow up their cars from heat. The answer is pretty damn simple. Some people on the internet aren't very bright so I'll spell it out for you; It is cheaper for Nissan to ignore the problem than to take care of us with oil coolers.

Chances are NOBODYS car is going to blow up from heat on the street. If it happens, it will happen on the track, where it won't be covered by Nissan warranty anyway.

So folks... the only reason Nissan would ever do anything is because they have an ounce of moral fiber or because they care in the slightest bit for their customers. The one decent thing they could do is not be stupid against people with oil coolers, because if they do, then the natives will be restless and this will become very very public information for future Nissan 370Z buyers.

Sadly, the odds don't look good for us.

Nissan will unless owners start filing a complaint with the NHTSA. I suspect Nissan will try to get away with it at first, as the others do, by issuing a service bulletin, which basically means service departments will only do something if they see fit. A recall forces Nissan's hand.

"Nissan, as the multinational multi-billion dollar company that they are, should be well aware of this fact by now."

Not only are they aware of it, but as a veteran of the 2006 oil consumption cars, I will say from experience that they are more than likely monitoring this site. I can also say from experience, that short of threatening legal action, you will probably see no offer to correct this for existing owners coming from Nissan. Their attitude with the oil consumption was no recall, and only after repeated threats and actions from Z owners did they issue a TSB on the subject. It took an attorney, threat of legal action, or going through the BBB/Lemon Law for buyback to get them to act. Sad thing is, this is a solveable issue ........ everyone here that has put an aftermarket oil cooler on their car states the temps become reasonable.

John

It will take more than hiring a lawyer and threatening legal action. More than alerting the NHTSA or the EPA. Anyone remember the tire-eating early 350Zs? Even the mainstream car magazines talked about it, but they never fixed it for those first- and second-year owners. And it tanked the resale value of those cars.

I was a 240SX customer nineteen years ago. 240SXs wouldn't pass emissions tests in non-attainment areas (read: major cities). Nissan acknowledged a product defect, but wouldn't fix it and wouldn't make it right. They said they couldn't! (They did offer to cheat the inspection system, though.) I had a lawyer and contacted the EPA and spent three years trying to get Nissan to make things right. They never did. I moved to an attainment area where no emissions inspections were needed.

All that to say . . . don't expect a fix. If it's a problem, buy and install an oil cooler. That's cheaper than a lawyer. Or -- buy a different car. Or -- move to a colder climate.

All I ask from Nissan is for them not to void the warranty of the people who installed coolers and made the car SAFER. I hope they are reading this forum and I hope they understand how idiotic it is to make a sports car that overheats when you use it.

What they SHOULD do if anything at all, is make a kit available from the dealership at an additional cost...that would add some much needed revenue from enthusiasts and would keep us enthusiasts happy. It could be a GREAT exercise in PR if they make this upgrade discounted/free for 2009 Model owners. That would show they are doing something for their customers in these tough economic times....while at the same time lowering their future service costs when motors start to pop, and not to mention FIX this stupid stupid technical shortcoming. They claim decades of motorsports pedigree, yet they can't design a car without problems even after MANY generations of Z's. I mean come on guys, how many more Z's before you stop messing up stupid details? Its pathetic.

^Very well said, RCZ!

I guess most are hoping that they would do like BMW did with the 335, and make a kit available under warranty to fix the issue. As most have speculated, we doubt Nissan will go this route. I agree with RCZ, a kit made available by Nissan that we can purchase at cost, that doesn't void the warranty would be an alternative. It would also be in their best interest as stated, as it would reduce the potential of warranty claims down the road. Let's hope something is forthcoming before the summer heat gets here.

"They claim decades of motorsports pedigree, yet they can't design a car without problems even after MANY generations of Z's"
This is either a lack of proper testing, which I find hard to believe, or a case of the bean counters forcing "no oil cooler" to cut costs. I can see the engineers arguing with the accountants over this, and the execs taking the "profit margin" approach............. "let the ones that drive spirited foot the bill for an external cooler"

John

(1) File a class action lawsuit, lemon law may apply!

(2) Do an on line, member(s) signed complaint(may have to be notarized)mail it to Nissan in Tennessee.

Since I live in Tampa, FL and have only had my 6spd MT 370z for 6 days now, I can say that on this past Saturday, April 25th, my oil temp got up to 245 degrees. The ambient temp for that day was 83 degrees and humidity around 45 percent (though it felt a lot hotter than that when outside in the sun). When I was going across the Skyway Bridge (read steep angle for about 3 miles up and 3 miles back down), I was revving at about 4.5k is when I noticed my my oil temp shot up from 220 to about 245. Now that I am aware of this issue, I will continue to monitor and give updated reports. As usual, thank you everyone for posting useful information!

HA! That has got to be the MOST ridiculous........yet the MOST real, true, unbiased, accurate thing ive read in a long time. Reading this reminded me of that one article about women being depreciating assets while men are the opposite. :happydance:

My Z's hitting a ceiling of 220 degrees under spirited driving with 68F outside.. I'm frightened to know what Summer's 100+ degree weather is going to do... /sigh.. better go on and order an oil cooler now.

RCZ, what's the highest temp you've seen your oil get to with the cooler on?

-Div

I have been pretty excited about my planned purchase of a 370Z, but I have to say that this issue is making me rethink my decision. It's not a "no" decision yet, but I'm getting close.

Think of the problematic design track record of the 350/370 series -- and think of Nissan's responses to those problems. I'm sure I'm missing one or two, but there have been: Tire eating front suspension. High oil consumption. Oil temperature issues.

And Nissan has been famous for its unresponsiveness to the customers' product problems. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

C'mon Nissan! You've got a GREAT product with GREAT design. Give it the pre-release testing and the post-release support that it deserves!

I've seen it hit nearly 220 in hot humid weather driving it hard in stop and go conditions where it doesn't have enough airflow to cool down. What I am trying to say is that the cooler is definitely doing its job and doing it well. I will be on the track on may 9th. I'll post my experiences the night of.

Highway it sits at 180 regardless of outside temp.

City traffic in hot weather it sits around 190-200

That's nice. Today it was reaching 230 on the highway and back roads with pretty mundane driving, temp was 75-80. Looking forward to your track report.

Guys, IMO the very best way to compel Nissan to act is to make this a public issue, with as much data as possible... If you have a friend in the press, please take an opportunity to remind them of what's going down. The media is a multiplying force... For every 1 guy on this board, there are 50+ that only get their info from C&D etc

Re remedies, I agree that a responsible action for Nissan that costs them very little, is to make a clear exception for aftermarket oil coolers and explicitly agree that these do not violate warranty. They could even endorse specific kits - Stillen, Technosquare, etc.

been lurking for a while. i was very interested in this car as an alternative to a vette. what with the economy and GMs problems i was looking for something cheaper. the hp difference was a slight issue.

now.. i live in the south, dixie you might say.. and it gets hot and humid here in the summer. sometimes i venture into the mountains for a day of road-tripping..

at this point i cant but hold off on any decision until folks start posting their summer driving experiences..

as to nissan doing something.. my guess is this is a big issue. until a cars are damaged. or a lot of cars visit the dealer due to going into limp mode over and over.

as to an aftermarket oil cooler.. this also makes me a bit nervous. if something does go wrong to your car and you have done an aftermarket mod to the oiling system, could you then have your claims rejected?

anyway.. if nothing else, this will make me put off deciding for several months.. where i might have purchased this spring...

Temp today in Tamp FL was between 90-91. Revved no higher than 4k, mostly cruising at 3.5k. Normal driving conditions, occasional traffic and the oil was at 220.

Honestly, I think my car has been getting better as it gets up in miles. I have no empirical data to prove this, but as I clock more miles on the car, it's getting harder for me to get the temps up as high as I did before. With the exception of the rainstorm the past couple of days, the temps around here have been getting hotter as well. I've also made some slight mods that could possible reduce engine heat a little, but nowhere near enough to make really noticeable difference.

It could be that some (but definitely not all) of the engine temp issue is related to waiting for the engine to break in fully. I'm around 3630 miles now, and I'm seeing lower peak oil temps lately than I did around 1K-ish.

Lets see....when my 370z gets old, im going to drive the crap out of it till it goes into limp mode, then im gonna take it to the dealer to get fixed. When they tell me its fixed, i will repeat the process. After the third time of them not being able to fix my overheating car, they have to give me a new one under lemon law. My car isnt supposed to overheat and go into limp mode. Therefore it is broken. Therefore they have to fix it. If they can't fix it I score a new one.

Im coming Nissan.

Edit: Hell, lets all do it. They might consider sending us some oil coolers then.

doesnt the lemon law apply only in the first 18 months or something after purchase?

^ Okay, so we should all do this once ever 12 months, whenever they release the next year's model! :rofl2:

The costs will start piling then. Im ok with a new Z ever few months.

In Massachusetts it is 12 months or 15000 miles. It's the same basic 3 strikes policy except you must give the manufacturer (not the dealer) one final repair attempt. In this case the final repair attempt would likely be an oil cooler as that would be considerably cheaper than the alternative.

What are you entering for vehicle type in that complaint website? They don't have a 370Z option.

a normal day of driving in stop and go traffic where i live I get no more than 220. If I take it to the mountains and throw it in manual mode and keep rpms up past 5k I will get to 260 range. When the car had less miles it would get to 280. It almost seems like the car is getting lower and lower temps. My mileage now is 2,000 miles. When it gets to 260 takes around 2 min to cool off. back to 230 or so. That being said, the temps still seem high. Wish they were lower.