Another Vegas Run and Oil Temps scared me
 

Made another run to Vegas, this time with my 14 year old daughter in tow.. A special trip to take her to see Justin Bieber in concert. Oh, joy! (NOT!)

It was 114-121 degrees on my drive through Baker area (at least that is what the temp gauge said) and I watched the oil temps climb up higher than I've ever seen them. I couldn't remember what I'd read on here about the proper oil temps and I even tried to get to the forum on my phone, but got frustrated with trying to search on my small phone..lol..so I called Nissan. I don't think I've ever seen the oil temp gauge go over 220 ever but it was at 260 when I was driving to Vegas and I wasn't going that fast (cruising about 75ish most of the way). Since it was just my daughter and I, out in the middle of nowhere, I decided to pull over and called my Nissan dealer (first guy I talked to in service wasn't familiar with the car, so he had to go ask another technician) and they said that "those #'s didn't freak them out." but I sat there for awhile and let it cool down and then went on again. It eventually crawled back down to 190 after we got going downhill across state line but then crawled back up again.

I've tried searching on this forum about what my oil temps should be or what would be considered "high", I can't find it (or I'm an idiot at using search). My husband said Nissan should have been able to tell me but the guy just didn't seem very helpful over the phone. I had just never seen the gauge go that high.

I know I've read on here about the oil temp issues but always just assumed that was on the track. Would just normal driving in extreme heat also cause high temps? And maybe 260 isn't high? I don't know..the gauge only goes to 300 so I was getting worried!

P.S. Please feel free to move this if I'm putting my question in the wrong area, AK.

sounds incredibly high! did you check the oil and coolant levels? maybe you are low on one or both? what did the water temp gauge say? i know it's not very accurate but did it read high too?

Coolant temps were fine/normal. That's what was weird to me. I don't normally watch the oil gauge all that much because it's not like I drive the thing very fast. Coolant/temp gauge was a few dots below the middle, as usual. The oil temp gauge was almost always over 220 the entire trip..and up to just one line below 260. Even on my trip home, today..the oil temps read over 220 nearly the whole way home until I got closer to Valencia and the temps air temp dipped down to the 80's.

Car drove fine, didn't act up or differently. I just noticed the gauge. And I too thought 240-260 was high but wasn't sure. Husband checked my oil and coolant before I left. The service guy told me that at the high air temps the "oil breaks down".

Honestly, I know nothing about oil, and my husband was 100's of miles away. And if I'm still being honest, he doesn't know much about this car. LOL.

Would you mind highlighting this road stretch on a Google map? This is the very reason my wife will not drive our 370Z on a long trip into the high, heated elevations. She does not trust it in weather with high heat.

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For being in high ambient temp that's normal, I would have suggested if you didn't have it on? Was to turn the AC on that would help bring down the temp, 260 in ambient temps over or near 100 is expected, it won't go into limp mode until it reaches 280. I hope you have an Oil Cooler installed for the next trip. That will bring down the temps by at least 20 degrees. I'm sorry to hear of what happened, and that nissan wasn't any help.

I will see if I can get my daughter to help me out with the google map thing. But I was about 20 minutes past Baker on the 15. And the only time they went below 220 after that was when I was going downhill, going across state line.

I am going to take it in to Nissan this week to get the oil changed, it's about 2500 miles since my last oil change but wanted to get it changed after this and talk to them at service.

I actually don't blame your wife. As I was sitting there in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE..with my 14 year old daughter, in the blazing heat, hoping I wasn't going to blow up my car...I can understand why she'd be afraid. We were fine..but still. Frustrating. I was definitely NOT pushing the car in any way--I had my daughter with me!

A/C was on the whole time. I guess I will have to have my husband look into an oil cooler. I was hyper-vigilant about waiting to see if it went into limp mode, which it did not. It really drove just fine, it's just after I noticed the oil gauge temp, I never could enjoy the drive--I was always watching gauges.

Thanks for the info!

Here was the temp outside. My coolant temp gauge read normal. (I never thought to take a picture of the oil gauge).

Ambient was high.

http://www.the370z.com/attachments/n...4_677673_n.jpg

When the oil temp issue first arose I explained on this forum that my motivations for being concerned about this issue were not the motivations that others share—your case is the exact case in point for my motivation. My wife just read this thread and she is mad as hell. Personally, I believe she has every right to be as I believe Nissan is hedging its bet on a very small calculated probability that this will happen which Nissan deems acceptable.

P.S. I have considered signing my wife up here as a premium member, but I am sure after a few posts AK would kick her off the forum. (She doesn't have a problem, "telling it like it is.")

I honestly never gave the oil temp issue much thought--just a "Hmm..well, I never track it so..."

Now, I understand. But I also know I don't drive to Vegas all the time either, in high heat. But still..Some people actually LIVE in places like this and that would scare me.

I still love my car. But I don't think I'll drive it through Baker again in 100+ degree temps. I'll time my trips to not be in the heat of the day. But sure wish I didn't have to worry about that with a new car :icon14:

Yeah that's pretty hot..early morning or evening trips would def be better...justin beiber haha!

I know...Sean Kingston opened for him, I at least semi-enjoyed that. What can I say--I love my daughter..lol.

I should probably rephrase this. He was helpful (and very polite), but I just didn't feel like he/anyone could give me an answer as to what the oil temp should be in those ambient temps (114-121). Honestly, at first he didn't even think the Z had an oil temp gauge. LOL!

I wanted someone to say, "That's a fine temp..don't worry." or "call a tow truck." It was sort of scary to have someone say "those temps dont freak me out" and then hope the car can make it the rest of the way to Vegas!

Those feelings are perfectly normal under those circumstances, and I'm glad you and daughter got back safe.

Yeah, I live in Vegas, and it's hot as hell right now. I don't have my Z yet but it's worrying enough that I'm thinking an oil cooler could possibly be a mandatory purchase to run the car smoothly out here without worry.

Now I'm wondering how much fitting costs... :confused:

I live in vegas and have had my Z for about a year now. Even right now that we are seeing temps between 115-120 my oil temp has never gone higher than 230-240. Typically while cruising it's right at 220 and even when stuck in traffic it sits at about 220-230. The only times I've seen it hit the 230-240 mark is when I've been on the fwy going about 75-80mph and then have to come to a near stop due to traffic and the damn 15fwy near the strip. Then it shoots up to about 240 for a few minutes and then calms back down to 220.

Even when I auto-x or drag race the temps are never higher than 240. Mind you those races are short (anywhere from 13sec to 70sec) but still. I'll even admit to a few hwy runs that lasted minutes and the temps never got above 240.

Lastly I've done the California to Vegas run when it's been in the triple digits; mind you it was only about 102-104. The car did great and never had high oil temps. I even did a few pulls against a C6 Vette on one of my trips back to Ca and again the temps never got higher than 240.

Not sure why the OP had problems but I would definetly check the oil level in the car. Also how fast where you going and in what gear when going up Baker hill. If going the speed limit and in the highest gear the rpms may have been a little too low causing you to lug the engine (essentially making it work harder). I know with my 6-speed manual that if going up a long incline at speed limit (65mph) the rpms make the car feel a little less comfortable than say if you had it in 5th. I could definitely see going up Baker hill with the a/c on at 114 degrees and only having the rpms at 2200-2500 causing the motor to work a little harder. I'll be honest, I typically do about 85-90mph going up that hill (as do most motorist driving that stretch of road) which has the rpms at a nice and healthy 3k+.

There are a lot of factors that come into play but what I can tell you is that living here I've never had a problem with my Z. I too was worried prior to buying it but so far no issues.

That's good comforting news, thanks! And TamZ it'd be good to know what was the cause of your high temps if you ever get to the bottom of it...

Saturday me and my friend were crusing at about 70mph. Both of our Zs oil temp was closed to 245 and the outside temp was about 104ºF.

However Nissan and some other people claims this is not a problem, however Nissan gives you the part # for the oil cooler. I'll let the warranty cover it if something happens.

Most cars don't have an oil temp gauge and now we know why. I bet most cars' oil temps get very high from time to time but because there is no gauge we are fat dumb and happy.

I predict Nissan pulls the oil temp gauge in future revisions. lol.

So how was the concert? Justin Bieber is AWESOME!!!

:shakes head:

:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2:

260! Holy Crap!

It was 105F here in NYC the other day, I was in heavy traffic in Da Bronx and my oil temp never went above 220. Of course that is almost sea level and with very high humidity.

Somebody's been drinking Unicorn Blood again. :shakes head:

Nissan put a throttle limiter in at 280 because they think you may get excessive bearing wear at 300. If Nissan thinks your car is fine at 260, I don't know that anyone here has the technical know how and access to Nissan data to really be able to refute that. Remember, the 280 limit is just a precaution, not an engine failure.

:rofl2:

I live in New Mexico and I've seen my oil temperature get up to 250 on a hot day.

I remember some people saying that the performance starts getting reduced (presumably by the ECU) starting at a certain temperature (before limp-mode), maybe something like 250 Degrees? Does anyone have any more info on this or if it is even true? They seemed to claim the performance reduction was gradual until finally hitting limp mode at 280.

I'm at Hurricane harbor today so can't answer each post but appreciate all the responses! As for gear it was in Auto mode so not really sure which exact gear. I also didn't notice any performance issues after 250.. but I kept it at 65 so maybe that would make it harder to notice.

Thank for all the replies. .I thought I might get razzed because maybe I was worrying for nothing. ;)

Well to be fair, we are only being nice since you are a chick. If you were a guy we would be tearing you to shreds. :rofl2:

I feel like I should pay you for a therapy session or something. Hehe

Fair enough..lol. I appreciate it nonetheless! ;)

It was every 14 year olds dream....this old lady, not so much. ;)

like was posted, it goes into limp mode at 280, so you are fine up to that point. Its not ideal, but it won't do any harm. When I had my superchared corvette, both my local performance shop and the head mechanic at Spring Mountain race school in Las Vegas said 285 was as hot as I wanted to see the oil in the LS2, and I think its a function of oil break down and not the particular engine.

before my oil cooler, I saw 260 in stop and go traffic here in atlanta at around 100 outside air temp.

Since thermal breakdown occurs over 240F, I'd wager that 260F is not a positive thing. Modshack posted a graph showing oil viscosity breakdown a few months back.

How does turning the AC on help bring down the temp? Turning on the heater can help bring down the temp, but turning on the AC puts more load on the engine and probably increases the temp.

^^i believe turning on the AC will kick on the condensor/aux fan and maybe cool a little more..

bieber fever!..haha

Yep, there was a thread (or five) about this a while ago.