Forced Induction no one to talk to
 

I am a new owner who bought a 2010 370z with a GTM TT from a seller who new absolutely nothing about the car. I have a few questions that I was hoping to get a few answers.

Questions:

Oil temp runs at around 240 once it stablizes. Is that normal ?

There is a spacer on the oil pan. I guessing because more oil is needed for cooling on a TT ?

How many quarts does this engine take with the added spacer.

Do I need an oil temp cooler ? ( I don't drive with a led foot all the time)

I assuming the bumper has to come off to clean or replace the K&M filters ?

An OS Giken LSD was installed. When changing lanes or turning a sharp corner from a stop or slightly rolling I have felt what feels like a little slipage possibly coming from the LSD. Not sure what it is, but do not know if this is normal ?

Anyone one know a good tuner between Bellevue and Everett in Washington State ? The car was tuned last in June at R&H garage in Seattle but there dyno computer has crashed since then and lost the records. Don't think I want to take it there.

I plan on getting this car tuned because every other day or so it will start knocking lightly out of the blue. If I stop and turn the engine off, wait a minute and restart, the issue resolves until the car decides to do it again. Nothing that I do catylizes the event. Most of the instance were just driving 65 down the freeway and all of a sudden the issue start. Had a friend read the code and he said it was a misfire code.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

You should have researched a lot more before buyin the car.

Oil temp is kinda high but that is expected on these cars, especially with a turbo on it. You will need an oil cooler to keep it down.

Think it's 7-8 quarts needed but jus check when ur refilling.

The most troubling part is the constant knock ur hearing. This is why you should have researched before buying. I'm not sure what tuners are close to ur area but make sure you find a good one and take it there and have em check it out. Hopefully it's not something serious. Good luck OP

The fact that the previous owner was clueless is VERY troubling, but you already bought the car.

On top of what was already said, pray the motor doesn't spontaneously shoot chunks out of your bottom end, and if you can't see the intake filters in the engine bay, you'll have to remove your bumper to get them *unless you're incredibly flexible.*

Oh and yes the oil spacer is to provide more oil to help with cooling and prevent oil starvation on very hard corning, only seen one case where that caused a failure though.

First thing you do is find out which GTM kit you have that will tell you were the filters are.

Next take a sample of your oil and send it to Blackstone for analysis that will help with telling you the condition of your engine.

3rd or last find a good tuner and get it on the dyno to see what power it is putting down and if it is crazy high you can dial it back which will help with engine life.

In for a disaster

Get an oil cooler. you're running a little hot. Yep, bumper has to come off.

Also, if I were you I'd go get a compression and leakdown test in addition to the oil analysis suggested above. It wouldn't be a bad idea to go get it tuned on a dyno or shoot Sam@GTM a data log and see what he thinks.

:facepalm:

Your random misfire could be a number of things.

1. It could be that the engine is running to fat and spitting way to much fuel. This will also burn up your cats, if the car has still has them. Keeping them on a FI car isn't a good idea. You will eventually burn them up.

2. It could be a bad plug or ignition coil. These will cause your car misfire and could be the reason you hear a knocking sound.

3. It could be dirty oil. This will cause your timing valve to get stuck open. When that happens, hope you have a 10mm, a rag, a small screw driver and about 30 minutes on the side of the road to fix. FI cars will burn through the oil faster and dirty it up quicker since it's doing double duty. I was changing mine about every 2000 miles.

These things I know from past experiences and they are all simple fixes. If the knock isn't any of these things then it could be that last owner ran the sh*t out of the car, knew it was about to blow up and sold it off before he had to pay to fix it.

Good Luck!

Also what size injectors are in the car? What type of plugs are in the car? If the past owner doesn't know these things, now is the time to learn how to work on your car. Learn, learn, learn. These engines are easy to work on...just don't lose anything. Minus the demon bolts:tup:

My money is on that the original owner knew the motor was going and passed it off as playing stupid. Who spends all the money on an FI kit and not know anything about it? Gtm kit, clutch and no oil cooler?? Hmmmm sounds like the oil was cooked n f'd the motor up.
Who spends money on FI n not know anything bout what there buying? I could be wrong tho as OP bought a TT car that he knew nuttin about.

I learned quickly. When the problems are rolling in most people will back away from it. I'm just glad the next owner of my old Z won't have these problems.:bowrofl: Man dare I ask how much you paid for the car?

Turning off the codes is easy if you have the Cipher program....Easy to hide codes.

My oil temps run around 200-220 this time of year up here on my g. I have an oil cooler though, 240 is pretty hot especially for winter. Probably want an oil cooler by summer. I can access my filters by taking off the corner under panel ofvthe wheel well. I am sure the z is different, but may be worth a look. I called around locally, and no one was familiar with uprev locally, closest reputable one was in portland. Iiltech in bellevue said they could work with it, but i have heard some bad reviews of thier service. Did the uprev cable come with the car? If so, hook it up, take some logs and send it sam at gtm. He should be able to tell if anything major is out of line. In had my tt tuned at thier shop in socal, and it runs perfect up here all year.

I bought the car from a young couple who only had it for 6 months. They only put about 1500 miles on it and couldn't afford it anymore. divorce yada yaday... Wife worked at a Toyota dealer where it was traded in by the original owner and installer of all the equipment. The young couple bought it before it went up for sale at the dealer. The couple really only knew it had a twin turbo. They know nothing about cars. I doubt if a Toyota dealer would take a trade without checking the car out or selling it to one of their employees and giving them a 3 year warranty. You never know though. This car was VQstrykers car on this forum. I only figured this out while researching 370's on the internet. It's odd that Stryker would spend all the money and do all that work then trade it in, but I have heard of odder things. Stuff happens. You can still look up his profile and all about the car on this forum. It's a 2010 base with less than 19000 miles. I paid a few thousand over retail book for the car and it does not have a scratch on it. I felt sorry for the kids because the had a hunk to pay off after I bought it. A few grand for all the mods, TT, 3" exhaust -not cats, 650hp clutch, LSD Diff, gauges and install, was worth it. If I have to put a little money into it to fix what is wrong, it's not going to be a big deal.
Anyway I have an appointment at Zsports in Everett who have been Dyno tuning for 20 years and who the owner raced cars for Nissan. I'm not too worried about the issues and appreciate your ideas and suggestions so far. I will be taking some of your suggestions to the next level. Thanks

Greedy, I did not get the uprev cable. That is one thing on my list and probably the cipher software. I think an oil cooler is probably a must. However, why doesn't GTM highly recommend or add one to their turn key kit ? Tower74, the kits have the 600cc injectors that come with the standard GTM stage II kit. Don't know what plugs are in there but I would imagine that they may have been replace in June of 2012. No cats. AFR seems to be running at the appropriate ranges. 1st thing I thought might be a plug or coil. Zsport should be able to figure out that one. Baer383. Thanks for the oil tip, I just order the sample kit. Car is at 9.5psi, dyno 433 in June 2012 with wheels slipping. Thanks Elperuano for the oil response.

If they were replaced there is a good chance they threw some cheap asz plugs in the car, not know that it needs high end plugs. Still the random misfire is something to worry about. If this is your only car I would only use when you have to drive it. You could compound the problem. Good to you found the former owner. Good luck

I just went through some of his posts....It appears he may of parted some of it out. Do you have the gauges???

No. He did not install all the gauges. I have the Boost gauge, AFR, and HKS evc 6. He sold all the other gauges as far as I can tell.

Liney, I hope that everything turns out alright for you. Sounds like u did some research so I can't fault u there. Make sure to get that oil cooler asap. Worst case scenario, motor is shot and you can build the motor and go for some serious boost!

Sounds like others have all chimed in with some good info.. Have you tried contacting Sam yet to see if he knows anything about the car?Hopefully he can help! Good luck :tup:

Might want to take it to Intec/Lawrence down in Kent, he tunes a lot of VQ's in the PNW. He might also know who the original owner is/was or his guys might.

He tuned my GTM 1.5 SC VQHR and helped me understand a lot of things when I was just starting out.

Good luck.

If you are unsure of the condition of the motor, do a compression test. Check or even replace the spark plugs.

If possible, check the fuel injectors.

Is the engine knocking or do you hear signs of rod knocking?

Yes, you definitely need an oil cooler since the day the turbo kit was installed.

With an oil pan spacer, expect to have at least 5 qts of oil added. Check the dip stick. Oil level should be between the H and L mark when engine is cold.

the spacer adds 5 quarts?!?!?! No way.. DID YOU MEAN 0.5 QUARTS?

On my G I had the 19 row oil cooler with oil pan spacer. I only had to fill 6 and 1/4 qt. just remember that not all the oil drains out during your fluid change unless you remove the cooler each time.

I am thinking he meant 5 qts total.. however I think weiboy is right at about 6 and 1/4

My JWT oil pan spacer said it increases the capacity by 1 litre (quart).

Sorry, brain fart. 5 quarts in my mind was with the big oil cooler. I don't even have a spacer.

My car is in the shop now. So far there is a dead Oxygen sensor and the throttle bodies were not in sink. Maybe a few other now serious issues. I'll probably find out tomorrow. Since everyone has said to get at oil cooler, I will be looking into that. I tried to find some pictures on this forum where you install the oil cooler when the car already has the intercooler in the front, but have not been able to. Where do you put it ? I don't race the car, so wonder what size & brand folks are installing. Also, since I just bought the car, & have not change the oil yet, what oil are people using. I Was at Costco today and saw they had 3 blends of Mobil 1. 5/30, 10/30 and I can't remember the other. Thoughts ?

Generally they put em in the front sides of the intercooler. Make sure you get one if u decide to continue with this project.
The brand of oil is up to you to decide. You'll hear all kinda of opinion and people swearing by this and that. Ask ur tuner for his advice and preference since he'll be the one taking car of ur car.
I personally use Castrol full synthetic 5w-30

It sits behind the FMIC in front of the radiator, opposite side of the power steering cooler.

Yea, before you do much more work on the car get stuff checked and fixed.

Good to hear it's a simple fix. When I had my turbo I always used Royal Purple ( 5w-30 ). I costs about $60 for 5 quarts but I felt it was worth it. Yet again it's what YOU fell will work the best for you.

Original Thread Update & closing
 

I wanted to update this thread because It's irritating when you get a story going and it is nevery finished. Seems to happen a lot on these forums. I finally go my car fixed after weeks of frustration. There were a lot of speculation from members regarding what might be the issue, but no one hit it on the head. Originally I did not have the uprev cable when I bought the car. I took the car to a tuner, (not Uprev) who spent a lot of time scratching his head, but could not get into the tune because they were not uprev certified. There are only 2 such tuners in WA. The local guy fixed a few minor things for me but most of their time was labor chasing things that did not make sense. After replacing an 02 sensor fixing some wires and an oil leak, they said they couldn't do any more for me because they could not get into the tune. So I stopped driving the car in fear of damaging it. I did eventually get the original uprev cable from the original owner and was excited to get the car back down to the shop. Once I did I was told that the cable was not married to the car and that they could still not get into the tune ? Dang ! They said, as far as they could tell, the tune on the ECU was the standard Z tune. So I make an appointment with the last shop that tuned the car in Seattle. The tuner figures out that someone flashed the ECU back to stock, because his tune or any other tune was not there. When I bought the car, the previous owner had taken the car to Nissan for an ABS issue. Nissan must have update the ECU and wiped out the tune. The Tuner is Seattle still had the Previous Tune on his computer, so he reflashed the ECU back to the last Dyno. He gave me the ROM file and sold me another license. I drove away in a half hour and the car runs like a charm !!!! Story ended....... The tuner said that dealers flash ECU's all the time without thinking to tuned cars. I thought how stupid can they be ? Apparently pretty stupid. Anyway, I'm happy now and on my way to the next project. While the car was layed up I install all new stereo equipment. Looking for an oil cooler now. GTM 34 row is pretty expensive. I'll probably do a little research to see if I can find a quallity oil cooler at a lower price. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

On the oil cooler suggestion, you can piece one together if you want also, there are a couple DIY on the forum.
Look at Z1 also, they have a couple, the main issue is going to be mounting location & lines.

Hopefully runnin a boosted car on a stock tune didnt do much damage.
How much boost are u running?
Glad u got the car on the road again!

How did it even run on the stock tune with larger than stock injectors?

So first of all I did not drive the car much while we were trying to figure out what was going on. I didn't want to cause any damage if the intermittent detonation, pinging or what ever you want to call it was real. The pinging would only happen on the freeway after about 15-20 minutes of driving at 2500 rpm. It would not come on any other time. (low constant RPM) The pinging would just all of a sudden start. I quit driving in 6th gear and kept the RPM up to 3000 in 5th where the pinging would never start no matter how long I drove. I also rarely boosted the FI. If pinging started, I would pull over immediately, turn the car off then restart. The pinging would stop and I would continue on. The uprev tuner said that there are other issues that may have sounded like detonation but not "real detonation". So I don't know if damage was done or not. I'm guessing the reflash to stock happened a week before I bought the car. The car was not being driven at the time so, I think the issue started with me. Other than the pinging, the idle was rough and irratic, the throttle was not real smooth. It seemed as though the boost gage sequence was not as smooth. The car did get up and go if you wanted it to.

That makes complete since now. When I was tearing my turbo system out of my old car I had something close to what you just described. The problem was I forgot to change out the injectors and was running a stock tune with 600cc injectors. Car idled fine but at about 3000rpm it would sputter and just bounce the tack. Good to here it was something easy.