Oil temps: 335 comparitive observation.

juld0zer

I need to get a windows laptop or netbook to do some extended datalogging to see what exactly happens when the lag hits.
It does feel like the timing is being pulled because the sensation is the same as when i used to get extreme heatsoak.

I am running 5w40 oil at the moment. Here in Australia, Nissan sells their own oil and i've used it for most of the time i've had my car (about 3 oil changes). I've used Castrol Edge 5w30 (with titanium fluid strength tech - we don't have any other Castrol Edge on the retail shelves here) and i noticed the oil temps were generally cooler by 6*c compared to the Nissan oil.
My most recent change i used Nulon 5w40 and it actually takes effort to get the oil temps up to 90 and beyond. Oil temps are cooler than with Castrol Edge. Most of you guys haven't heard of Nulon before as it's an Australian brand but i'm unsure if they export it.

I dont have any datalogs to prove a difference but i was getting hesitation around 3500-4000rpm (felt unwilling to go beyond unless the pedal was pressed further). Now i get a seamless pull all the way to redline. It felt like the CVTC system wasnt getting enough oil pressure with the Nissan oil so it wasn't functioning properly. Below 3500rpm the car ran fine. I'm very happy with the Nulon oil. I might try their Euro formula 5w30 to see if running the correct viscosity oil will still keep it happy. It does amaze me that Nissan specs 5w30 worldwide. I feel for all those folks who live in the hotter regions of the world like the UAE etc.

Thanks for all your replies guys Really appreciate your input! I wonder if there is any function in Uprev to disable the oil temp related lag......

Jordo!

One other thing to consider: There is actually a coating on the valves that appears to work especially well with Ester based oils -- strictly from a mechanical standpoint, we've seen no clear evidence of better power or less wear using non-ester oils, though the system does tend to be a good bit more chattery with non-ester oils. Arguably, less chatter could be indicative of better lubrication (allegedly the coating reduces friction by being more slippery at the molecular level when lubed with Ester based oil).

All of this is a bit controversial, hotly debated, etc., but if nothing else, the system is clearly tuned to err on the side of self-preservation, so little things like that might manifest in small hiccups like that here and there.

Beyond that -- the OEM throttle maps are notorious for being rather laggy -- check out the smooth throttle for uprev thread for discussion on this issue.

As a final note, I ran a (0 weight) Castrol oil at one point and thought temps tended to run a bit cooler -- buuut much more chattery and some evidence of extra engine wear in UOA's relative to what I found using Redline 5W30 (an Ester blend, BTW), which what I have switched to and stuck with (see further the "Oil Nerd's thread").

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juld0zer

I've read heaps about the DLC and it's relationship with ester based oils. It must be a Nissan USA thing to mandate ester oil for the earlier model 370z (up until 2010 model iirc). In Australia, you will get a wtf response from the guy at the parts counter if you asked to buy Nissan ester oil. The stuff doesnt exist here. We have no idea which company makes the genuine oils but based on the bottle design i concluded it most resembled a Shell Helix oil bottle. There doesn't seem to be much noise being made here about noisy valvetrains in cars filled with non-ester based oil, even in the 09 models - but i might be wrong and just not read much about them on the Aussie forums. The TSB that Nissan USA issued about a software update to hush the valvetrain does not exist here.

Dealers here use whatever oil is most profitable and suitable for most models. I have an unused bottle of the Aussie Nissan oil which i might send for a virgin oil analysis for curiosity's sake. I do agree that less noise and less heat would indicate less friction. Less noise could also indicate a thicker oil film acting as a cushion. Some virgin oil samples did show a high moly content in the Nissan ester oil.

It's interesting that you got worse wear using an 0w30 vs 5w30 because there's heaps of positive results from folks running Mobil 1 0w40 in their G37 and 370z so the viscosity itself probably isnt the determining factor but the unique chemistry of each brand that makes the difference. Then there's debate about Brand A 5w30 being lighter/heavier than Brand B 5w30. But just like oil every other oil debate, let's not turn this into one of those threads.

I just did the smooth throttle table last night. The car does seem more peppy from 2000rpm upwards. i did have a bizarre issue tonight just then where i got almost zero throttle response in 1st and 2nd gear as i pulled into a parking lot. The issue didnt reappear on the drive home.

Jordo!

I was pretty surprised as well, but even taking normal wear into account, the 0W30 just didn't seem to fare as well as the Redline -- but all of your points are certainly well taken, and,of course, I can only speak on the results I was getting.

The ester-oil chatter suppression thing seems to be common tho'; not sure what exactly was changed in the VVEL tune for the TSB or how effective it was, but I think even later model VQ37HR's tend to be a little noisier with non-ester oil (someone else may chime in here -- maybe I'm overstating the effect).

Anyway, as to ideal 370Z engine lubing, the fate of that particular motor remains unknown; I wrecked that 370 and just stuck with Redline when I got the new one

There's a couple of different versions of that map in the thread to play with, and a lot of it is personal feel, so you might want to tweak it more.

Not sure whether those maps interact with target AFR's and fuel trims, but they probably do (assuming correction on tip-in), so some of that might have been the ECU gradually adjusting to the changes you made too -- the data log should help clarify.

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