ok, I am hitting 240+ oil temps daily now. Who do I call to report this? Local dealer, regional person?

I would recommend two things.

First, contact Nissan North America and report the problem to them. That's how you get the regional person for your area. Don't mention any track experiences, just focus on times where you overheat while driving on the road.

Second, take the car to the dealer and have them do a ride along with you on a hot day. Show them the temp issue and ask them to report it directly to the regional quality control department so they will be made aware through a second avenue.

Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
17-1, Ginza 6-chome, Chuo-ku
Tokyo 104-8023, Japan

United States Nissan Customer Affairs:
email: nnaconsumeraffairs@nissan-usa.com
telephone: (800) 647-7261

Nissan Motor Company Global Website

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) It is very important that you file!!!

Also, and must be specific to your State (example given): Motor Vehicle Warranty and Lemon Law

I hit 280 today with hard driving on my 7AT. i kept on driving hard but never passed over 280 and also the car didn't go into limp mode so what do you think guys? is it considered overheating? outside temp was 70 degress at night time so air was a little bit colder.

Are you running synthetic oil? If not, you should as prolonged temperatures of 280 start to reduce your engine's oil lubrication properties.

Can you please fill us in on what you deem "hard driving."

I am running on my factory oil which i think hopefully is nissan ester oil. i added a 1/2 quart the other day. by hard driving i mean my rev was sustaining between 4500 to 7200. i then raced a neon srt when i passed him. i stayed around 3rd and 4th gear because i want my temp to go up as high as it can

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Again....the focus here is overheating during fairly routine street driving, not street or track racing. Many of us have experienced the bumper-to-bumper traffic overheating which is truly the engineering issue at hand.

If you tell Nissan you drove around at high RPMs to intentionally overheat the car, they'll probably ask where you chose to leave your warranty along the way.

Hey guys I drove yesterday from Valencia to Irvine wih bad traffic at times and also accelerating to 7200 rpm at times also when the road is clear. I was observing my oil temp because as I said it went up to 280 the other night. This time with not much aggressive driving it stayed at 220 all the time even with the bumper to bumper traffic. Valencia to irvine is about 90 miles one way. I posting this not to contradict the other guys experience but also to let you be aware of the behavior of some other cars. Thanks

What were the ambient air temperatures during this most recent drive and the night when you hit 280? It's important to know what was different between one drive and the other.

The night when I hit 280 was around 79 to 80 degrees. Yesterday it was 88 when i left the house then drop to 75 going to Irvine

Hmmm, were you driving the same way during each trip? I've mainly found that 80+F temps combined with spirited driving and intermittent gridlock traffic get my oil temps rising the most. Assuming your driving style was identical, I'd certainly expect your temps to go higher during the day than at night due to road heating...the air entering the engine bay may be much hotter than 80F if the asphalt has been baking.

I dirve the same way. My foot has lead but that night I really push the car because I was experementing on how high the temp will go as what I have been reading on this forum and also I want to induce the so called Limp Mode but it didn't.

So spearfish how am i suppose to tell my dealer when my car only goies high with very hard driving and still does not go to limp mode and temp drop to 260 after 280?

I'm not sure what to say. Just describe the scenario and see what their take is. It seems that Nissan is most concerned at the moment with people hitting 260+F while sitting in traffic intermixed with just a few spirited revs up the RPM range (eg getting on the highway then sitting in traffic). You'll have a harder 'sell' if you tell them you were driving around like a wild man and made the car overheat...this starts to fall under the tracking category.

I can tell you that the day I had the most temp problems it was about 78F outside. I had intermixed times where I could rev to 5k in 2nd and maybe third but then would come to a slow crawl again for 15-20 min. After an hour trying to get across the city like this, I was at 245F and could easily have made it go higher if I didn't stop revving beyond 3k with gear changes.

Slightly off topic, but when does the 2010 model come out / specs get released? I'm eager to find out what changes they make if any re this issue.

september.

Is the September response based on any actual nissan source or is it just conjecture or hearsay?

The latter. That is usually the case for manufacturers.

Drove to the top of MT. BALDY in Ca. yesterday, never once got the car over 5000 rpm. Outside temp was about 90 degrees at the bottom and 80 degrees at the top. It's about a 15 mile climb to the top. about 3 miles into the climb my car get to 265-275. Now, Im pretty sure the car didn't go into Limp Mode, but there is no question there was a lot of power loss due too the heat. More then a few times downshifting to second or first and coming around a corner the car was really hesitant. I would give it throttle and it almost felt like traction control had kicked in. There was a big delay until the power came on, and when it did it felt weak. Keep in mind that I did not rev above 5000 rpm, was just driving up the mountain like if my grandma was in the car. I had the Traction Control turned off as to make sure that wasn't effecting the car. I'm pretty certain that if I had drove more sporty (kind of what you should be able to do in a SPORTS CAR) it would have shut down. I had to pull over to let some girl in a VW Bug pass me, b/c I was afraid to push it LOL :-) Pretty lame for a $40K sports car.

Ok, so on a side note. I took the long way down. GMR (Glendora Mountain Ridge Road) about 24 miles. This time I did a few spirited driving sessions, but still nothing extreme. The car ran in the 230-250 temp range and I didn't notice any power loss :-) Then again I would get on it for a couple a minutes and then back off, etc. There wasn't a time where I would be on it hard for more then a few minutes as to let the car and my temp to go back down :-)

This is totally unrelated but I have to say that was one of the best drives (down the mountain) that I've had in a long time. 24 miles and I only past 1 car, 2 motorcycle and 2 cyclist, otherwise the road was pretty much deserted. This was Sunday afternoon about 4pm, probably the best time to go. The car stuck like glue once the tires heated up, the HOTCHKIS swaybars made a huge difference in control and feel. It was a great ride, I will have to try and get some other 370z drivers up there on a late Sunday afternoon. GMR meet :tup:

This is very unfortunate, I might have to hold up my purchase of a 370z as it gets to around 95-105 here in Fairfield CA. I was already convinced that this is the car i wanted most likely I won't be buying a 370z till nissan fix this issue.

Well I read the whole thread and is vey interesting, I did noticed my car normal driving easily gets to 220 - 230 too fast. Maybe for Nissan thats normal as long the car doesnt shutdown, but in my opinion it shouldnt hit that temp, just normal driving, I dont know how the car will respond when here in FL, gets into the 90's degree even 100's

I will call Nissan, Corporate as well and get more feedback. If I get a case number or someone has a case number, please post it here so we can all refer to the same case #.

About the new model in September, if they install an Oil Cooler in the 2010 model, it means that Nissan admited the problem which means they have to fix our car with the same solution cause it will become a RECALL.

ALso, is there any member here that speak Japanese, maybe that person can hit Japan at the same time.

Manny,
I remember reading that people using the same case # will be UNDER-reported as far as problems/concerns. There is a reason why there are case numbers. As long as you refer to it and DON'T use the same case # as someone else, then the data at Nissan Corporate will accurately reflect the number of problems/cases that currently exist.

Just trying to prevent a thousand different people with problems looking like a few hundred in the computer data system.

Well I deal with a lot of BS from diff companies, Dell, Dealers, Banks, Customers, etc and I kinda know my way of talking. The reason I mentioned the case, is because I know when I call, the first thing they r gona tell me is, take it to the dealer and when I request to take it to the big guys, they r gona say, "we never heard of such a problem and we dont have record of anyone else complaining, if not Nissan would done something already"

Thats when I need the case #, so I can tell them "really, well check all these cases and you tell me if this hasnt been reported"

I need 2 b prepare for all the round around they are gona give me for sure.

I've thought about it, but my knowledge of Japanese honorific is kind of...rusty. I do know a lot of people who still live out in Japan though, maybe I can get them to edit for me XD

Anybody want to help me out with a draft?

I do have japanese frnds as well, but they r not in the car enthusiast, so I cannot make them call Nissan on my behalf it will b a hassle for them. But it will be good, who knows maybe Nissan Japan, know and fixed the problem and the US are just doing it on purpose removing parts to sale it separate and make more money. IDK these days you cant trust big companies. =(

New 370z...
 

Thanks for the info..Glad I held off on buying a 370z..(although still cant find the combo I want)..I will buy once NISSAN fixes this oil cooling problem.

Rich
ny

OK I Called Nissan, I have to take the car to the dealer, thats the first step which I knew. But I reported the problem. My Reference# is 6496979. I will be collecting and printing information from this site, Edmund and everything you guys collected already, because I know that when I get to the dealer I have to prove it and it will be hard. You know how cars behave infront of mechanics. I'l keep you post it.

I have posted an interesting update in the sticky section on the oil temperature "issue." It's kind of a biggie after talking to Nissan. They made some very good points.