I got by far the WORST UOA results with Nissan Ester junk/crap/garbage. I used it on my first two oil changes (I change my oil every 3,000 miles). Its viscosity dos not hold up over time.

I mean, it depends on what you're running. My uoa's have looked awesome even with 280 degree temps. But a lot of g37 guys have had oil breakdown issues on some synths even at 240.

While the oil issue is often overblown, it's worth paying attention to what you put in, and getting UOA's done regularly on a car like this.

Agree. Still, for most people I don't think there is anything to worry about. A simple electrical tape would take your mind off of it and you won't think twice about it.

Education is better than ignorance. Taping over it is pointless. It's better to understand what your car is doing and why. And it will help you interpret UOA results.

I once had a UOA on my inner thigh. The doctor drained it, so I've felt a lot better since then.

This exemplar ignorance post brought to you by shadoherps. Still in demand, baby, yeah!

http://sophrosyne.radical.r30.net/wp.../Ignorance.jpg

http://www.mdjunction.com/components...ot_to_know.jpg

I love the the kilo/mile one. I hope it's real.

I'm still LOL'ing at you all. We got the Z06's up to about 270* thrashing 'em at Spring Mountain this week and it handled it just fine. 100* ambient temperature, hours on the track, the cars are run 12-14 thousand miles and then sold with a disclosure. They have NEVER had ONE SINGLE engine failure at Spring Mountain. They run 5-30 Mobil 1 just like what comes in the cars.

I HIGHLY doubt Nissan's engines are much more susceptible to breaking down at high temperature than GM's small-block V8 pushrod engines.

You all need to just get over it until you actually break something. I posted a thread a few weeks ago about it and this board was so butthurt about the concept that NOONE HAS EVER broken a 370Z engine because of oil temps that the thread was deleted as I don't see it anymore. Jesus. All most of you want to do is whine and that totally proved it. You are never going to listen to reason, logic, or look at the evidence. You just want to run your cockholsters about what you THINK is a problem. Just sell the car. Your whining even made it into Consumer Reports and now the 370Z has a nice big black circle for power-train reliability or cooling or some such, lol.

UNLESS you are hitting limp mode on the track and it is hampering your ability to enjoy the car, it is not ONE BIT of an issue except for what you are turning it into.

All that aside, does Nissan have an engine-oil life monitor? It won't steer you wrong if you stick with OEM oil and have a good air-filter that is PROPERLY sealed in the air-box (many oil-life monitors don't monitor contaminants, although I believe Mercedes does). If not, I would indeed suggest what others are saying with the UAO's and you might decide to change the oil earlier than otherwise if you do beat on it in the heat. That is just good common sense and PM for your tools.

Sorry for being a bit rough in this post, but this oil-temp thing, I have come to learn, is completely ridiculous unless it is holding you back on the track. Whining about 220* oil temps during daily driving? Really?

I was seriously raging at this post until I got to the bottom part, which I've bolded. I agree, 220 ain't gonna hurt your engines, 370z owners. Limp mode doesn't even kick in until, what 260-270? Pro tip: if you're up around 250, as I've been before, shift to higher gears and stop killing it. Obviously, this bit of advice doesn't help you on a track, but if you're serious about tracking, get an oil cooler and brake ducts.

270 is not bad, but the Z06 has a dry sump with a ton of oil and an oil cooler. The stock C6 does not have an oil cooler, and will regularly see temps well beyond 300F on track. Push it really hard for 25 minutes and you can hit overheat limp mode (from water temp not oil), but at least it gets that far. I've seen several LS engines come apart from track abuse, most typical failure is spun rod bearings but I've seen catastrophic failures as well. Bottom line is if you track, make sure you have adequate cooling, that is if your car wasn't already track ready like the Z06 *cough* Nismo.

That 273* was a warm-up lap and 1 hot-lap on the 2.2 mile course. It was 101* ambient according to the vehicle display by the the A/C (which is on the whole time in all the cars, day after day, mile after mile.)

Bearing material is bearing material and synthetic oil is synthetic oil, by and large.

220-240* oil temps from driving your car spiritedly or in traffic are nothing to whine about. I fully agree/understand the complaints from those hitting limp mode at the track, but people who just randomly pick a temperature to start bitching at...wtf?

Car & Driver & oil Temp
 

I read that C & D article and was also disappointed with the results. But, being pragmatic, It seems unlikely I will ever suffer brake fade or high oil temp with the low-key driving style of my wife and I.

Having said that, it still disturbs me that my 2000 Ranger truck with a 4.0L engine has, not only an oil cooler, it also has a transmission fluid cooler. This is no sophisticated, high-end vehicle; it cost way less than half the price of a Z. Tell me again why Nissan can't afford to include an oil cooler?

Ranger

Just a guess, but they are using the lack of an oil-cooler as a breaker switch for other systems on the car, figuring that it will hit limp mode before other things are worn out from track-use/spirited driving. I'm not basing that on anything substantial, just a guess.

I mostly agree, but I think the oil temps definitely merit paying more attention to UOA's. I've seen a lot of guys that hit 240s in normal highway driving....which means I'd start to get concerned with spirited driving.

While it is true that modern oils are good up to higher temps, they still aren't intended to be run long term at high temps. Oil gets changed after a day at the track....more than 3000 miles on 240-260* oil may not be the best call-- which is why getting UOA's done regularly is really important on a car like the Z. My first one on the Ester oil showed that it was broken down after about 1200 miles (when I did my first change). I've run GC since, and it's been great...except one oil change where I ran Ester again....and again, broken down in under 2000 miles. So while most people are blowing certain concerns out of proportions, there is also an element of concern for how the oil is actually holding up. There's a lot of hand-waving and claims that "modern oil is fine to 300*"-- but it is more complex than that, and requires actually paying attention to the way the oil is holding up.

BTW, no oil life indicator on the 370z.

most likely the case.

I'm pretty sure it's not too uncommon for cars to run oil temps around 220-230 under normal operation. Heck, the VW VR6 did all the time.

My C6 Z51 had a factory oil cooler. It runs 205F cruising, temp was around 240-280 at the track, depending on how much revs you use. Also do fast guys really run flat out 25 minutes straight, not even a lap of cooling down? Jesus, I thought only rookies do that.

We all did cool-down laps, but 12-14K miles of TRACK use on these cars...NEVER an engine failure...

Nissan used to use a trimetal formula in their bearings. They dropped lead (for environmental reasons) and later discovered that you can get excess wear if run for extended periods over 300 dregrees. That's why they use 280 as a cut off.

I believe it. It's not good to run it too high for a long period of time and it sucks to hit limp mode, but people are joking to themselves if they think an occasional trip to the 250+ zone is going to kill the motor on the spot. It's so stupid. It's actually more stupid than the guys complaining how the car is not track ready when they don't even go on the track.

99% of people themselves are not track ready. I learned that first hand when I saw how much more my Z06 had to offer than what I could do with it, even after 2 full days of instruction, I was running the car to maybe 50% of its potential. All the smears on the walls also indicated that others SHOULD have run the car at 50% of its potential. All the smears belonged to club-members (not students). One of which, was a very nice ZR1 blue.

Not one student could keep up with the instructors at Spring Mountain in a ZR1...while they drove stock Camaro SS's on PS2 tires, lol.

Yes the Z51 has a cooler, base does not.

The cool down lap comes after you get the checker flag :) Even with a cool down lap here or there the heat build up just becomes too much to dissipate in a single lap, we do it but it is only momentary relief. The cars probably get pushed the hardest when you start red misting trying to catch someone in front of you as you start focusing exclusively on driving and forget to look at gauges.

I just picked up this magazine today.. I think that the Z did very well with basically the brakes and the oil temp being their biggest complaint.

Whaaaaaatever

An oil cooler and different pads and I do just fine at the track.

:iagree:

I do not mind losing this test to an EVO, it is fourth place that is tough to believe.

I was just at Jim Russell race school where they use stock EVO's with professional drivers. I stuck to them like glue on the paddock. On the track they were max'ed out and I was still with them. I do have an oil cooler which I can't imagine being without and well worth the expense.

Here is a recap: http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...chool-day.html

Good stuff, Mt. Tam. :tup:

Maybe you just don't know how to drive? :ugh2:
RWD cars are much different from AWD cars. For AWD, the computer basically drives the car and controls understeer and oversteer as needed. You just point the steering wheel where you wanna go and the car does the rest. RWD cars are more driver focused. The driver has to modulate throttle, brake, and steering wheel in order to direct the car in the corner and control under or oversteer.

Hey I am looking to get a Z, is this oil temp issue a year specific or can just happen to any Z?

But Nissan never claimed the Z is a "track ready" car. Maybe the Nismo is marketed a bit as "track oriented" or "track focused", but Nissan never claimed the Z is ready for hardcore track duty. It's a sports car, not a race car.

Regarding the brakes, the majority of even "sports" cars would need at least pad and fluid upgrade for track use. I'm sure EVO brakes aren't the greatest either. The fact is that 95% of all Z owners just like other sports car owners will buy the car to cruise the roads. The most perfomance oriented drive they'll do is maybe a run down a mountain road on a weekend. For them a street pad is ideal. If Nissan puts aggressive track pads as standard they will whine about dust, noise, and excessive wear on the rotors.

As for oil temp, yes it would have been good if Nissan offered a cooler. Maybe not standard on a base model, but at least as part of the sport package or even on the Nismo Z. But again, just as it was mentioned, most Z buyers are NOT hardcore track rats.There just isn't a demand for upgrades like that. Heck, here in Ontario, from what I've seen and heard, there are probably only 2 or 3 guys other than myself in the entire province that track their car, and even they aren't regular.

And don't EVOs, at least in MR trim, have their own overheating and limp mode issues with the double clutch gearbox?

At the end of the day, even with the oil and brake issues, a stock z can still pull off very fast and competitive 2 or 3 laps before needing to cool down. If you talk about a full 20-30 min session, that's a different ball game, and only a race-car-with-a-license-plate such as a viper acr or gt3rs can pull that off without aftermarket upgrades.

all years. but it's really only if you do track days. On the road, it's extremely rare and you only get it on very hot days while driving very aggressively and bouncing off the redline for a lot of time. Really, 99% of all limp mode incidents are encountered on the track. BTW do u have a gtr?

I believe the culprit is the vvel. The swinging arm mechanism has lots of friction and generates a lot of heat.

I'll admit, im not the best driver on the track. I took the Z on the track 3 times and i only been to the track once with the evo. So in no way am I pro. That being said, you take the AWD vs. RWD and the systems out of the picture, you got 2 cars, pretty much the same price but the Z being a V6 sports car, going against each other. Which car can hold up better on the track? iiunno anything about the MR having issues with the tranny because I own a GSR. However if it is having issues its just as much ******** as the 370z having oil temps. But stock for stock at my local track i can keep the rpms alot higher and have more power coming out of the turns then i could in the Z do to heating issues. Also i can brake a hell of alot harder/faster in the Evo as well.

I'm not going to seat here and beat a dead horse...think thats been done already. Like i said, if you want a nice weekend car or a car to mod...sure the 370z is a nice car. But for what i needed it for, the 370z was garbage. Having 2 seats sucked ***, couldnt carry my military kit at all (had to do 4 trips to the base to get my gear to my unit for deployment), stock wise it was useless on the track and the VDC system was garbage. Not to mention the car was a damn hit and run magnent.

The Evo on the other hand can hold all my military kit, has 4 doors and can seat 5 people, it has no issues on the track and the S-AWD is amazing. Even when i turn it off the car still reacts in a well behaved manner. Also i like having something not everyone has. As each month goes by i see more and more 370z. I rarely see Evo's on the street unless we are all meeting up or going to the track.

Ah ok don't think my Z would be seeing the track a lot when I get it although in NY we get those 100 degrees summer days. What is limp mode? Is the car able to still drive? To answer your question my older brother has a GTR and he's going to probably trade in for a 12' soon, I personally have a 2010 Maxima right now.

I agree with the article overall. One of the reasons I just sold my high mileage Z was because of the brake fade and the engine going in to limp mode during spirited weekend drives or during prolonged high speed use. Driving from Vegas to Texas I hit limp mode multiple times and had to slow down and let the car cool down. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to buy another Z but this time I'll put an oil cooler on the car within the first week. The only other problem that I've had with the Z that they didn't cover was the clutch fluid overheating and the pedal sticking to the floor. I even switched over to MOTUL fluid but on a few of my weekend drives I'd have the pedal stick to the floor.

Too small. I have the 34 row cooler, and oil temp is never a problem, even with sustained track use. I've done as much as 1/2 hour sessions of hard lapping without a problem.

I have owned 2 Evo's ... an 06 RS and an 08 GSR. Both were a blast to drive... but the money is in the drivetrain, the handling and the brakes.. inside the car is a complete POS! It's cheap plastic just makes you angry looking at it and hearing all of the rattles.

You should have known when you bought a 2 door sports coupe it wasn't going to carry much, so that "garbage" was your own fault, so don't bash the car based on that. While the Evo X is an excellent car and I would never knock it as far as performance goes, but to call the Z "garbage" based on your VERY limited driving ability and going to a track a few times. There are multiple guys here that do serious track driving and have no problem getting around a lot of Evo's and STI's the aftermarket for Mitsu and Subaru is what makes the difference.. handling wise however it is shown that this car had a faster lap time, had better skidpad grip, highest G load, and it's got better 1/4 times.

Garbage? A bit of a stupid statement IMO.

in limp mode the car basically cuts off spark to the engine at 5000 rpm, so you cant rev past that. you can still drive the car normally, you just have to upshift sooner. so basically 5000 rpm becomes the new redline.

So basically in a nutshell, what you're saying is... your driving skills suck. You needed an all wheel drive car with a million restrictive safety doodaas to keep you safe in a car because rwd takes too much skill to drive that you don't have! Turbos are 10k or better and you really can't afford that either? So between your low budget and lack of driving skills. The EVO was your best choice. Is that what you were trying to say?????
And a good choice at that. After you learn how to drive in your beginners tuner car. Redrive a Z. An evo will at least get you where you need to be. The evo is well made for such a situation though quality is shoddy. More advanced drivers with a little extra cash for mods will choose a Z.
There's no such thing as a garbage Z. Only garbage drivers that can't control them.