I wanted to give everyone a quick heads up on my experience with the mishimoto thermostatic oil sandwich plate.
I purchased it through Amazon on July 16 and installed it two weekends ago. I used Mistimoto fittings and their plate adaptor (20mm) to attach the plate while I was installing an oil cooler. (DIY version with a tru cool cooler and stainless lines)
This past Saturday I was on the interstate when disaster struck. I started seeing smoke billowing from the rear of my car. After bringing the car to a safe stop I discovered that the oil level is so low it isn't on the stick.
I called my gf to get a ride back to my house and returned to the car with tools and discovered that the oring in the thermostat cap blew out. (See below pictures)
Being a Saturday afternoon in a small town I could not find a suitable replacement. There are also no specs listed on their site for it so I ended up towing the car to a shop till I can get the correct parts and have the engine evaluated.
Today I have learned that both underbody aero panels have soaked in oil ($127.50 a piece at my Nissan dealer). The spray also got into my front right wheel and has soaked into my brake pads and I lost 5-6 quarts of oil from the engine.
I attempted to call Mishimoto's toll free number and my carrier informed me the call could not be completed. I then emailed their customer service asking for someone to call me as I cannot get through. I received a reply asking what the problem was but no one called. I sent these same pictures to them and after a day of back and forth they are sending me a replacement o ring. The emails carried on so long they weren't able to ship today so now I'm looking at Wednesday before the parts arrive and probably end of the week to get the car back. I called the direct number and tried to talk to the person I was emailing and left them a message and they would not call me back.
I work at an automotive manufacturer and I bright the remains of the oring in for a look by our quality department. They believe that it was improperly installed at the factory which cut the o ring.
For $130 part, I feel this is unacceptable. Perhaps I am wrong but I almost lost (may have) an engine over a simple o ring.
I guess the point of this rant is to serve as warning to anyone thinking of using this part.