Oil Cooler whine?
 

Is this normal? I am getting a slight whine after I got an oil cooler installed by Nissan.

Here is an audio recording of the whine but its not super easy to tell in the recording (used my iphone):

http://box.houkouonchi.jp/20110824%20124034.m4a

This whine doesn't bother me *that* much if it is normal just was unexpected. Otherwise I am really happy about the decrease in oil temps though. It was hot on my drive back (almost 100F) and the temps stopped raising at noticeable speed once it got up to about 170F. It didn't get up to 180F until almost 10 minutes on the freeway and got up at around 185 F (and topped off) by the time I got home (23 miles into the drive).

I can definitely live with the whine if that's normal.

Here is a snapshot from my iphone @ around 6 miles into the trip (mostly on the freeway):

http://box.houkouonchi.jp/oil_cooler_temps.jpg

Before when it was about this hot out I would see oil temps in the 235-240 range.

Which cooler did you get?

Not sure on the whine, but I'd get a thermocoupler

It is the one nissan makes (nismo). Part number:

21300-ss370

An oil cooler install should not induce a whine. I would worry about this if it truly is associated with the installation (it started afterward). Loose fitting??? I would have them double-check everything.

Thanks for that! So it sounds like this is semi-normal. If its not damaging the car I don't know if its worth the trouble of fixing it right now. Maybe I will try to get it fixed on my next oil change.

Mind if I ask what you paid for the factory cooler installed?

With tax, and cost of the oil change (to install) with the ester oil it came out to around $1150 out the door.

On the way into work tonight (cooler out) I didn't go over 168 F while I was on the freeway for 40 miles.

So changes were:

Hot day:

235-240 -> 185

Cold/normal day:

220 -> 168

Mountain road:
265 (turned off engine) -> ?

Also I seemed to get ~1 MPG better than usual got 28.5 MPG instead of around 27-27.5.

I am thinking on Sunday I will take it out to Glendora Mountain Road and see how it handles things this time.

Wow, again, get a thermo coupler. Running at 168 is awful for your engine.


Also, your engine shut down at 265?

Sounds like he shut it down because he got a bit paranoid. If he just cruised in a higher gear for a couple of minutes it would have come back down in no time.

Chris is correct I shut down because I didn't want to push the engine hard when it was running that hot.

Please educate me why running at 168 is so awful for the engine. I find it odd its awful when I am getting better gas mileage. I got 27.2 MPG on my way home today when I am usually in the 25-26 range (I pretty much never see over 26.5), so definitely getting a noticeable increase in MPG.

It seems to me that the Nissan oil cooler kit comes with a thermostatic sandwich plate. I am almost sure of it.

Mine also whining like hell , are you running thermostatic adapter sandwich ?

No, the Nismo oil cooler does not come with a thermostatic plate, however, you can buy one and add it to the kit w/o issue.

Take a look at oil performance vs temperature.

Why would you shut the engine down at 265?

I'm pretty sure it doesn't.
Nissan Motorsports Oil Cooler Kit

Red and FL -- I assumed it came with thermo plate due to its price. Thanks for clarifying.

Haha- the joys of nismo. :stirthepot:

:iagree:

Get some 3M tape and cover the oil temp gauge, you will be much happier....

For the 20th time, there is no direct correlation between oil temp and engine power. You might heatsoak the bay and raise the IAT and therefore lower timing. I looked into the VVTC system, oil temp sensor doesnt seem to tie into it unless it does something mechanical

You love saying that. I don't care whether it's a direct or indirect factor... It still pulls timing

If you sit at the drag strip maybe, there is enough fresh air to cool the car back down once you are at speed.

When I was running in the 260 range the car definitely felt like it had reduced power. On my way into work today I got 28.6 MPG so it seems like I am pretty consistently getting better fuel efficiency since the oil temps are running lower. They aren't running quite as low as the previous day though. They hover in the 170s now (don't go under 170)

High oil temp=thinner oil=less friction=higher fuel efficiency. There is a reason why a lot of car uses 0w20 and 5w20 oil now (they are as thin as urine)

It's all in your head and there are many variables to fuel mileage. I can get 1.5mpg extra by pumping my tire pressure to 45. THere are studies made all over with the Prius guys.

Check with a guy with an oil pressure gauge and see his reading at a particular RPM at 160 vs 210, the pressure drop would probably give you a better indication of how well the oil is flowing and therefore show you if your engine is running okay.

For the most part, oil's job is to lubricate your engine, leave the cooling part to coolant/water.....

Running the dragon the car notably pulled timing above 250.

By thermocouple im sure that you mean the mocal sandwich plate adapter correct? Nissan said 168 isn't bad, but again it depends on what oil you are running. I have the same whine coming out from my car and I've done endless researching on this subject. Z1 said that it is "somewhat normal" in one of their other threads. HOWEVER, I have also read that it has to do with the oil lines rubbing on the chassis giving off a resonating frequency. I am going to Nissan today to have them wrap it to see if it makes a difference. The tech there that installed is a gt-r certified mechanic and also worked at a speed shop here in cali so i know he'll hook it up

Which dealer is that? I see your in riverside so really close to me. Actually I go to the riverside dealership (performance nissan).

Funny enough they said one other guy was waiting for the oil cooler too (I was waiting longer at 3+ months). Is it the same dealership? LOL.

I did talk to the guys there and they said that they couldn't wrap the lines to get rid of the noise as it would void the warranty or some crap. =( That was a bit lame but the sound doesn't bug me THAT much so I will live.

It is not difficult to wrap them yourself. When I installed my oil cooler, I bought about 4 feet of heater hose that has the same ID as the oil cooler lines' OD. I slit the hose length-wise and cut it into sections. I wrapped and zip tied the hose pieces everywhere the oil cooler lines touched anything -- maybe 3 places total.

I did not do it to elimiate noises, but to prevent any chafing of the lines against other parts.

Food for thought.

I've seen a couple of threads on oil coolers causing whining noises, the car whines a lot without one. Even after you turn the car off with the clutch in it whines, and then you let the clutch out and it stops. I had the hood off of the car for repainting and it was really noticeable, this was just before I installed an oil cooler (Z1) this week, no change in sound afterwards. YMMV but I think it's the way it is.

IMO it's best just to order a oil cooler kit from Z1 and get the heat shrink sheath's with the kit. If you already have a kit just order the sheath from them and install. You will have to remove at least one end of the lines on both. Both well worth for a couple of reasons. I still would install heater hose in the more vulnerable spots. Which for me was around the crash beam and the frame in the engine bay near the sway bar. Which is not seen in the pics below.

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...ndLines010.jpghttp://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...ndLines011.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...ndLines016.jpghttp://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...ndLines020.jpg

^^^ Nice.

All I spent was like $25

I go to Raceway Nissan. So did the wrapping cure your problem with the whineing sound as far as the wrap that you used? I took it to them today and it got rid of about 20% of the noise. So Im guessing maybe the rest is from the cooler having now rubber grommets for the pusling problem. I remember when I was in the navy and worked in the engineroom we could tell if a rubber boot went out on the platform for the engines, it'd give off a little sound. Z1 does have reasonable prices but I got mine from Nissan North america through their consumer affairs line. I haven't heard any success from anyone on here as far as getting rid of the noise problem, its frustrating that it is there in place of hot oil temps. I guess I'll just get a loud a$$ exhaust to dround out the whine?:icon18: yeah buddy!!!!

I really want to hear this whining everyone talks about in person. I've never had anything of such. Just the cases I've heard here. Wonder why most don't have but some do?

I have Z1 kit with wrapping hoses but still whinning , i am thinking to remove the thermostatic adapter sandwich and try the non adapter one maybe it will solve this issue.

damn and i was hoping the other way around. I have non thermostatic and it whines. we are screwed :shakes head: lol. I live in riverside, ca if anyone wants to meet up and see this maybe we can figure it out i dunno. more than willin to show up:driving: