Everyone with oil temp issues

Originally Posted by Robert_Nash

I don't think that's what is being implied. This is what I've gathered from all this discussion and looking into it myslef...

From sources I've read and people I've talked with (and there has been quite a variety at this point), the flashpoint of an oil is a measure of how readily the oil actually breaks down from heat...the higher the flashpoint the more heat the oil can take before it starts to breakdown (Synthetics have a higher and in some cases a much, much higher flashpoint than non-synthetics).

All oils break down and heat is a major factor in that but the higher the flashpoint, the longer the oil life and the higher the temperatures it can tollerate before it breaks down. Or another way you can look at is that flashpoint indicates how long the oil can do the job of protecting the engine before it becomes unable to do so and the higher the heat; the more frequently you should change your oil.

However, it is also true that the viscosity of the oil changes (thins) as oil increases in temperature so, all other things being equal (and they rarely ever are); the higher your engine oil temperature is, the less "protection" the oiled engine parts have because the viscosity gives a thinner and thinner layer of protection as the heat increases. This would be different from how long the oil can do its job but rather how well it can do its job at any given temperature.

What I've yet to see anybody translate is how much or how little all this actually affects the life of an engine. If the 3.7 engine oil consistently runs at 240 degrees; how much sooner, on average will the engine fail than if it was consistently running at 220 or 200 or 180?

I think we can all agree that, 180 or 200 is "better" for engine life than 240 but that doesn't tell us how much better...at the consistent 220 mark, will the engine die at 210,000 miles instead of 220,000 or will it die at 155,000 instead of 220,000?

The bearings may well break down and fail "sooner" with high temps than not but how soon and will anyone own their 370 long enough to even find out??? I don't know the answer; if anyone actually does they should speak up!!!

Originally Posted by TheWeatherman

Here's another statement... So you have the "eco-friendly" bearing. So why wouldn't the limp mode be at 255? Ufff.

Originally Posted by semtex

Because although the bearings start to weaken at 260, they don't actually start disintegrating until 300. It's all in Kojima's article. Ufff.

When does limp-mode kick in? 280? So Nissan evidently decided put the limp mode threshold at 20 degrees before the disintegration temp, probably as a bit of a buffer.

But I don't want any weakening of the bearings at all if it can be avoided. If there was a way we could set our own limp-mode threshold temps (like how we can adjust our shift light), I'd set mine at 255.

Originally Posted by TheWeatherman

Well then by a cooler then. Uff.

Originally Posted by semtex

I already did. Uff.

To bed with this already, huh? Whatever. I for one am installing an oil cooler just to play it safe.

Originally Posted by TheWeatherman

Okay. The "Nazi" will step back. The "Nazi" will say it once more. Track it, put on a cooler. That's right from the engineers at Nissan right to my phone.

Originally Posted by semtex

Alright, I'm going to step back too. If I offended you with the 'Nazi' remark, I apologize. This isn't worth getting into a pissing contest over. But I want ask you one thing. Do you really consider Nissan engineers to be impartial in this? I mean, what else are they going to tell you? If their employer made a bad call and under-equipped a car, are they going to openly tell people 'yeah, we screwed up on this one'? I'm thinking no. Could be wrong, but my gut says no. Like I said in an earlier post, for me personally, this is really just about peace of mind at this point. I have no problem stating (and have already stated) that there is no hard evidence that 260 degrees will actually cause any long-term reliability issues. If someone asks me why I have an oil cooler, I am not going to tell them that it's necessary to prevent damage to the engine, I am going to tell them that it's just for peace of mind, can't hurt, etc. I think you and I are actually much closer to being on the same page than you might realize. Again, I apologize if you took offense at my previous post.

Originally Posted by TheWeatherman

You just said above you didn't have on you cooler, but are deciding to put it on. To me that's not having one on your car.