No oil cooler??? YIKES! Even my RX-8 had dual oil coolers. now I know what my first after-market addition is going to be.

BTW, how good (accurate, functional) are the gauges in our cars? :eekdance:

The oil temp gauge is good.

:iagree:oil temp gauge is good.

The water temp gauge is hard to read at a glance - just a single lit led in a row of 16 or so. You can add a scanguage if you like keeping track of stuff :)


http://www.the370z.com/members/schru...cangaugeii.jpg

I recommend the AE Performance oil cooler. It's a bit more cost-wise, but it actually works as promised and has some excellent key features.

As stated above, the oil temp gauge works well. It's easily read and has enough hashes to be more granular with the temperature readings. The others - all suck. WTF is up with the water temp gauge? That is the most useless POS ever. And I do miss having an oil pressure gauge...temps are nice, but if there is no pressure....ummmmmmmmmmmm.

I really wish we had an oil pressure gauge.

They both use oil???

Sorry I know that I am a noob, but there are some serious myths here about oil and lubrication. As an example I have run regular dino oil in engines tha run at 85% duty cycle all day and night for the equivqlent of 40,000Km's. The reason to change oil every 4-5000 miles is that from a cost benefit perspective it is cheaper than taking regular samples to extend the interval.

Using a high quality filter we all under normal conditions could likely run the oil itself 10's of thousands of mile by only changing the filter, but that would require detailed understanding of the oil properties at any given time, hence cheaper just to chnage the oil.

Sustained viscosity breakdown is typically not caused by heat, that is genrally isolated to the event, but rather it is caused by an external contaminant be it coolant, moisture or by-products of combustion leaking past the rings(normal).

The most significant reason to have your vehicle serviced is to have the filter changed, at all costs the filter must not be allowed to become sufficiently plugged as to go into by-pass. The damage done with no filtration is near instant and is certainly irreversable.

When do you want to change your oil is upto you, synthetic oil changes should not be significantly longer than dino oils, because at the end of the day they have a finite capacity to carry contaminants and I have not seen a study that says they are measurable different.

I could probably ramble all day but will stop there.

all i know is my 97 plymouth neon absolutly loves running some good ole shell oil for 12,000+ miles between changes. The z gets a change every 3,000

You are more well versed in this subject than most in this forum.

Our navy ships have a centrifuge for filtering the oil. If I remember correctly (since retired), the oil is filtered down to pass particles less than 5 microns. The oil is not changed because of the excellent filtration from the centrifuges. Plus, it's just not practical to change the oil when at sea. Oil Temperatures are monitored using thermocouples at all journal bearings. So, like you correctly stated, if you can filter the oil down to an acceptable level, e.g. 5 microns, there is really no need to ever change it. Oil pumped into the journal bearings provides hydrodynamic lubrication resulting in no metal to metal contact between the rotating journal and the babbitt material of the bearing. The greatest bearing wear occurs at startup when there is little lubrication and the oil temperature is at ambient let alone hot! And when the oil is being pumped through the journal bearings, any small particles from engine wear normally pass right through and get filtered or the small particles will embed in the babbitt material which is designed to have a softer material than the hardened journal. In either case, it is expected that no damage will result. Now when components get bent or go out of round, it's not the fault of the oil but rather exceeding the parameters of the engine design e.g. subjecting the engine to excessive loading outside of the engines design parameters.

Someone asked what this had to do with the Z? The principles are the same only on a much, much smaller scale. The oil is filtered down to 30 microns I believe. Still small enough to pass through the journal clearance or embed in the bearing. Exceed the 3.7L engine parameters e.g. overloading and your looking for abnormal wear and hence, premature failure. Keeping your oil clean is more important than oil temperatures running for example a steady 220F and intermittent temperatures in excess of 260F. I'm not the least bit worried with the lub oil system on my Z. Tracking though takes on a whole new meaning.

Oh, almost forget. Stormcrow, the Canadians were in Afghanistan long before the US showed up. So I guess it's the US aiding Canada. Admittedly, you have the bigger guns.

Quote:
Originally Posted by stormcrow http://www.the370z.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
Two words - viscosity breakdown. No references needed.


No, he's a douchebag.

get a uoa done, you might find that this is over kill. From what i understand if you want to change that often, a non-synthetic oil will do you just as well.

Get a UOA done, see if the viscocity has dropped by much, see if the TBN numbers ok. You might find you can go for a while longer, and if you can you'll earn the UOA cost back pretty quickly, if not you have the satisfaction of knowing your suspicions were correct =) you win both ways.

Seeing that you're basically using the best oil out there i reckon you'd find that your oils doing fine after 4k... though i don't know your driving style or the areas you drive your z.

I think a lot of the arguements here could be solved with a couple of UOA's...

I know they're not perfect as they only look at dissolved metals, but things like oil breakdown, and second guessing if the oil needs replacing or not would be cleared but somewhat.

If running at 220F is going to f up your oil, then the UOA will show viscosity dropping and other wear factors... If it's not great =) Stop getting into heated battles without data... name calling doesn't make anyone right and complete jerks can be jerks and be factually correct at the same time. They're not inter-dependent traits...

Wait. ester is supposed to be changed at less than 4000 miles. I almost have 10.000 miles.

Dealership said to change it every 10.000 guess they said **** off to nissan's ester oil

The Nissan Voodoo oil is very expensive, i know for a fact that my dealership does not use the ester oil for z's as well. That's why i'm taking my own in for the service.

I took my Z in for a first service at 3200 miles and the service manager said they use, "regular old Shell 5-30--that's they way they come to us from Japan." I don't know if he is correct or ignorant, but I had to request Esther oil (I just did it for a security blanket). It changed the service fee from $39 to $89. I am taking Red Line in to use in subsequent changes.

Do you have any concerns they won't use the oil you give them?

wow man you messed up and please post your VIN so we can put it in the database, :tiphat:

There's a MOBIL 1 formula that lets you go for 10,000k between oil changes. I'm a bit more conservative, so I only stretch it to 7,500k. I only put between 4,500 to 7,000k a year in my Z, anyway.

Without knowing your driving habits I would be concerned about this. If you are running such low mileage becasue you are doing alot of short hauls it is more important to change your oil frequently. It is while your engine is cold the the acid causing, by-products of combustion get into the oil causing break down.

if it just infrequent driving then it is less of a deal.

No problemo; I live 9.5k from work, so she gets fully warmed up, and I DON'T run into heavy traffic, 'cause I run against the huge traffic jam--thank God! Same in the evening, so I'm fine with the oil-change schedule I'm running. Greetings!

I just got a roadster-should I change the oil at 750 miles? The garage at the dealer said 3750 but if there are metal filings... ? help

So your dealer is an idiot, or you've signed up for "free" changes. severe duty change is 3750 and light duty is 7500 per the Nissan owners manual..:ugh2:

Why is this? I had a used Z3 a few years back and was told the maintenance light wouldn't come on for about 10,000 driving mostly in town. I never let it go long enough to see it light up. Before buying the 370z a couple weeks ago, I looked at a used SLK55 AMG and it said in the book the oil change interval was something like 12,000 or once a year. What's the magic difference with German engines that allows them to go twice as long between changes as Japanese engines?

don't worry about it, some people overreact. the 370z motor is no different than any other motor. it will be fine doing standard oil changes.

I would like to see some hard data on this. Though I doubt there is any.

The GT-R technician at my dealership said that nissan says about 12.000-13.000 miles but he advised to me to do it at 6000 since I quote "you cant be a cheapass on oil changes"

Should be carved in stone. Anyone cheaping out on oil changes is a fool who will be parted with his money eventually over saving $50 in the short term. :shakes head:

i am going to defer to the manual....:driving:

I refuse to change my oil. My car runs perfectly fine without any fancy oil changes!

There are two significant differences between your european cars and most others. While this is a generalization one or both have been true to me all the time


1) europeans typically use a higher quality filter in the oil systems

2) European cars tend t have larger oil capacities. both of these will allow extended oil drain intervals

Not that 3,750 ~ 7,500 miles ??

Now hitting 100K miles around, I have used only Nissan Ester oil. Can you tell me where the manual says Nissan Ester changed at every 3,750 ?

The 370z oil change interval has been shortened in recent years. The service and maintenance guide provided with the 3013 370z owners manual specifies 3750 mile oil change interval.

3013 ??!! OMG now I see the time-traveler !! (just kidding never mind :D)

Then 7500miles maintenance no more said by the user's manual? Mine is on 2010.

PYB for the win!

Funny there is even a thread on this. You drive a car that brand new depending on model can exceed 40k and where you wanna save money is on a oil change that is less then 100 bucks? HAHAH. Thats like spending the dollars and saving the pennies. Take your cheap *** and get a oil change at least when the manual states you should.

LOL! :icon17: Yeah, Reminds me ov all the CHEEEP D00sherz I work w/roll'n $80K+ Euro "performance" sedans, then go and put Wal*MarX oil and cHineez knock off parts on it, to maintain it! LuLz! :icon17:
"It's just the image" or "Image is Perception" they say...:shakes head:

I know how i drive,,,2500 mile oil changes for me-using 5/30 mobil 1 synthetic & K&N HP-1010 oil filter.

Yea funny I'm the same way sitting at the dealer now ,2700 miles later and feel like I did it late , lol . I don't think I've ever even went to 3k in 40 years ! But I'm crazy :)

I use Walmart oil in the Z - 5 quarts of Mobil 1 cost me $23.88 just the other day :twocents: