Quote:
Originally Posted by SoCal 370Z
Definite rep points for an excellent article, and I have corrected my post.  The issue would not be of concern if others who are driving in everyday situations were not overheating (see prior posts), but they are. You live in SoCal, and you know what traffic is like on our freeways...need I say more? Also, I always run synthetics just because of their higher heat related breakdown point, but Nissan is pandering their ester oil that I understand is not synthetic.
And from your article: |
There is an engineering reason for the ester oil. An ester is a synthetic, its is a heavy alcohol and not derived from crude.
The VQ37VHR uses a DLC (diamond like coating) coated cam follower, at least the version in the G37 does and I am reasonably sure the 370Z version of the engine has DLC coating as well. The Nissan patented version of DLC coating has an affinity to esters, meaning it attracts the esters to its surface on a molecular level making it even slipperier. DLC coating are used a lot for high end motorsports and Nissan has been using them for several years on cam buckets. The new Nissan DLC is uniquely hydrophilic in its attraction to esters.
So the special Nissan oil actually helps the valvetrain work smoother and quieter. I have head reports that if you put crappy oil in a VQ37VHR, the VVEL system get noisy and clatters but anyone putting crappy oil in this motor should be shot! There was a discussion on our forum about this that an Infiniti master tech referred to but I am not spamming for our forum out of respect here.
So I don't believe that you absolutely have to run the $300 factory Nissan oil change but strongly believe you need to run an ester based synthetic or at least a good synthetic. This is not new to the high performance car market, the Z06 and the EVO have filler caps that say synthetic oil only.
Not to spam but if you guys have technical questions, I am on my forum every day and here only when someone brings a topic I might be able to help on to my attention. I will gladly do my best to help answer questions on either place.