Oil Temp Survey
 

The purpose of this thread is to collect data on oil overheating, how widespread the issue is, and contributing factors... I would ask that you limit your comments to ways to improve survey... Please use Musashi's thread for general discussion... Responses are confidential. I'm not affiliated with Nissan or the auto industry... just looking for answers... So, here's the survey
zsurvey <--CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY

And here's the data - you can check it yourself at any time
zsurvey <--CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS

Thanks !

PS Here are some links you may find helpful on this issue
General discussion thread on this topic c/o Musashi... http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...mp-issues.html
Edmunds article discussing their oil cooler install... http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...4-19-09-a.html
RCZ thread on Stillen kit... http://www.the370z.com/intake-exhaus...es-plenty.html
My oil overheating experience in this car... http://www.the370z.com/track-autocro...eally-bad.html

Thanks for throwing this together, Travis.

Good idea. Filled it out.

we should try and spread this around to as many 370z comunities as we can to get more support.

Note: added a final question after the first 5 responses were in... I do not plan to make any additional changes... if you were among the first five and didn't see this question, feel free to just write in as response to this thread. -Travis

"WHAT WOULD YOU PREFER NISSAN DO TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE? PLEASE SELECT ALL SOLUTIONS THAT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE TO YOU.

1. 1-- No action required
2. 2-- Nissan dealer installed, factory specified oil cooler
3. 3-- Nissan letter stating they will honor warranties for cars with aftermarket oil coolers
4. 4-- 3 + $500 credit towards purchase of aftermarket oil cooler kit
5. 5-- Other"

Cool, I took the survey. I would like that $500 check :)

honor warranty and a check for $500 :D

The only problem with a check for $500 is that it doesn't cover installation charges. Not everyone can install an oil cooler, and the aftermarket kits run ~$400. Don't get me wrong though, I'd take the $500 towards getting it purchased and installed...

I want to be sure that Nissan doesn't try to cancel my warranty because I took care of what Nissan failed to do!

I chose honor warranty + $500 because I already purchased mine from Stillen. Nissan sells Stillen products at the dealership so I don't see why it would be a problem to honor our existing warranty.

I believe Nismo is the ONLY brand that retains existing Nissan warranty.

This makes sense, you guys have a lighter car because they forgot to include the oil cooler. :nutswinger:

wow... can you say fanboy statement!

i did the servey, On a 90degree day it was almost at 260 just plain highway driving at 65mph driving grandma style.

Thanks to everyone that has taken the survey so far ! as a reminder, you can always check the results by clicking on the survey link in the OP...

Here are results broken down by transmission and how the vehicle has been used... lots of high temps being reported

http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u.../oilsurvey.png

Pretty sad stuff. It looks like with these numbers, nissan has to eventually do something about it.

Go away you!

Hopefully either Nissan will put one in for those who haven't installed one yet and refund the ones who have. We shall see....

Preliminary Comparison Analysis
 

Attached are some graphs to compare the driving habits and overheating severity with regard to transmission types.

Spearfish !! You're awesome ! +1 coming your way... would like to see some comparison of severity vs ambient temp and severity vs driving style... maybe a scatter chart for each ???

"4" + they install it for you for free.

Nissan should just buy us all Stillen units if they don't already have a sucessful design...but..they had one on the press cars.

Thanks bro. Here's the extra two that you asked for. Tried some scatter charts but they don't work well as the data points are too discrete.

There didn't appear to be many surprises actually. Those who drive on the track or all out on the road had more severe overheating. Sporty driving had a few overheats but the majority were either 'just running hot' or had no issues. (I'm assuming here that 'running hot' is <260F as the survey participant should have selected the next category of >260 otherwise). Conservative drivers again had a larger percentage with no issues.

With regard to ambient temperature, no one listed that they only drive in <70F weather. In the 70-90F range, there is a mix of severity. Above 100F, noone noted normal driving temps (but there are very few in that cohort).

Thanks Travis for putting this together in one place, it will make my life easy for the d-day

This is a great survey, thanks for posting it up, rep points coming your way :tup:

Thanks ! Appreciate the recognition that this was a fair bit of work :) Also, I just posted this on the other thread, but here are the results again...
-------------------------------------------------

So, big thanks to all 73 of you that took our oil overheating survey... here are the results... some observations:

- owners with automatic transmissions are 85% more likely to say "all is good"
- owners that track their car are 2.5x as likely to experience temps over 260F, and 8x as likely to hit limp mode
- yet still, we registered almost 1 in 10 hitting limp mode only on the street, and 1 in 3 only on the street reporting temps above 260F

In case you're wondering what "average disposition to nissan" means... that was the question where we asked: "TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT: Nissan has failed to properly engineer this vehicle and it does not meet my expectations due to the oil overheating issue. Nissan should take immediate action to correct the situation."

'5' means "strongly agree"... a '1' means strongly disagree... this is the average score for each group

http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...psurveyn73.gif

AND!!!! Nissan still have not even fixed my alignment issue. steering wheel is to the right a bit.

i want a free oil cooler from nissan directly.

How to repair it....
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E-Mail I sent to Nissan North America
 

I sent this e-mail today. We will see what happens

To whom it may concern,

I own a 2010 NISMO 370z, and have noticed the oil temperature constantly running 200+ in this car, and climbing to 220 regularly. I generally warm the car up in my driveway for at least 10 minutes before driving it in order to take it easy on a new engine. I don't race the car and drive it at safe speeds, mostly on the interstate. I generally drive about 90 miles a day. The car is about to hit 2000 miles on the odometer.

I am a member of several 370z forums and "oil overheating" is a constant thread amongst all the forums I participate in. My main worry is that in the summer months, when the ambient temperature starts to get into the 90s and I end up stuck in traffic my car may overheat completely.

Is Nissan planning to address the issue of oil overheats in the 370Z automobiles? Judging by what I've been reading on several forums, this issue was identified in the 2009 370z models as well.

If I don't see some sort of resolution on this, I will likely trade in my car for the Mazda Speed6 or a Mistubishi Lancer-- both cars I like. In fact, had I known this is an unresolved issue that's been going on for a long while I wouldn't have bought the car in the first place. Nobody at the dealer even mentioned it when I bought my 370z. I wonder why?

Respectfully,

PJ,

I found this here on the site under general discussion. I don't think Nissan will resolve that issue, since the response is very well attorney addressed lol.

"Originally Posted by Nissan USA
The 370Z has an engine protection system that reduces peak engine speeds when the oil temperature exceeds recommended levels in order to protect against possible engine damage. Aggressive driving of the 370Z on a race track at sustained high engine speeds can cause increases in oil temperature and may activate this engine protection system. To avoid activation of this engine protection system and these reduced peak engine speeds, Nissan recommends an oil cooler be fitted to the 370Z before driving it on a race track. A Nissan Motorsports accessory oil cooler kit is available for customer purchase through authorized Nissan dealerships for race track use. The part number is 21300-SS370.

An oil cooler is not necessary for normal operation of the vehicle on public roads. The addition of an oil cooler would have raised the price of the car and potentially moved it out of the reach of some customers. Value has been a core principle of the Z car since the original 240Z and we choose to uphold this core principle by not adding additional costs that are unnecessary for normal use. For those individuals who choose to drive their vehicle on a race track, the oil cooler is available as an aftersales item.

The oil cooler is a Nissan Motorsports item and as such is sold without warranty, express or implied, unless expressly prohibited by law in which case the warranty provided is the minimum required by law. The installation of the Nissan Motorsports oil cooler does not, by itself, “void” the vehicle warranty. However any damage caused by the installation or use of this part is expressly excluded under the terms of the Nissan New Vehicle Limited warranty."

Because it hasn't been an issue unless you track your car! I've had my Z in stop-and-go traffic, as well as in different traffic conditions on the highway, with ambient temps well over 100 with no issues whatsoever.

Let's see here..........

You don't currently have an issue
You think you might because of what you've read on the internet
You want them to resolve this (nonexistent problem)
You threaten them if they don't

Unbelievable.

Go buy your Mitsubishi or Mazda. I'm sure their customer relations department will respond in a similar fashion to the issues you think you might have with those cars..

:shakes head:

:iagree: Seems that there is a new breed of car owner. If the car isn't perfect then there will be hell to pay. :welcome: to the real world of car ownership!!!

I dunno if i drive like a granny or just been lucky but on the highway in Australia i can't get my oil temp to go above 200F. This is 6th gear 100kph cruising for about 30 mins to and from work...

On non-highways i get about 210F. I've seen 220F before fanging the car a bit but very rare for me.

The above results are from original oil, jsut up to 4000km on the oddo and ambient temps ranging between 70F to 95F

No track/ skidpan or the like yet... so i'm still holding my breath...

:iagree: The sense of "Entitlement" around here astounds me....:shakes head:

I looked up the part # and just clicked on the first link, the item lists for $780 Its a 30K+ car I seriously doubt an additional 1K is a make or brake price point. Thats an extremely weak argument from nissan.

not that I care one way or the other I dont plan on tracking my car.

So you're suggesting that Nissan should have added around $800 to everyone's price for the car so that the few (relatively speaking) who track their cars won't complain about the oil cooler not being standard equipment from the factory? Incredible... You stated that you don't plan on tracking your car - are you willing to throw away $800 for something you don't need? If so, I'll PM you my address and you can mail me the $800 instead. :)

IMHO Nissan did exactly the right thing.

:iagree: :tup:

No but i think the person you responded to has a point. They made it seem as though it was going to add 5k to the price and stop Nissan from being competitive in the market... it was a 800 buck option for which case money saved on not installing the original unit would make it say 600? and they buy it in bulk so say 450? and take the sales margin on the resale to the customer so say 350-400 extra on the list price? It's a weak arguement by Nissan for a car which they market as a trackable car. I'd like to meet the person who made this decision and put him through pain between the time limp mode kicks in until the car pulls out of limp mode and see how he likes them apples.

Nissan to Honor the warranty sounds better! :tup:

If it was an option then cool. But that's not what Nissan was talking about, or the poster I quoted. Nissan's statement was explaining why they didn't make it standard equipment on a street car. Where does Nissan say that the 370Z is a trackable car straight from the factory? And trust me, based on what they're charging for just the parts it would have equated to a $700 or so upcharge on the price (especially since you have to also figure in installation labor at the factory), not $350-$400.

Again, IMHO it's not a weak argument and they did the right thing.

BTW - If your car is going into limp mode under normal driving conditions then you've got a legitimate warranty issue that Nissan has to correct. If that means they install an oil cooler for free, then that's what they should do. But how many people are having oil temp problems under normal driving conditions? Hardly any (maybe none), I bet...