High oil Temp... It finally happened to me
 

On cold days my oil temperature usually stays around 180-200F and on a hotter day it might be around 220. A couple times I have seen it get up near 240 but that was pretty rare.

Well today for the first time my oil temps got over 260F =( I didn't think it was going to happen to me as I thought the consensus was this usually only happens when driving on the track.

Well I decided to check out GMR (Glendora Mountain Road). It was my first time driving it and I wasn't really driving fast (rarely got above 45 MPH) but it was mainly uphil and I was mostly in second (and sometimes in third gear) with my RPM's averaging 4k-5k when I was in 2nd gear.

When I got about 15 miles into it I pulled over for 10-15 min to let the oil temps go back down (right where GMR splits off to Glendora Ridge Road).

I must say I am a bit disappointed. I guess if I ever want to drive on this road again without stopping I will likely need an oil cooler =(

I don't think it ever went into limp mode. I believe that happens at 280? I honestly did not want to let it get high enough to the point it would go in limp mode and I think its likely it would have gotten that high if I continued driving.

PS: I think driving on GMR got me the worst MPG I have ever gotten on my 370z. In the 15 miles that I had to stop I only got like 9.5 MPG lol. I reset MPG calculator right when I started on GMR.

Well, you can drive the road all you want. You just can't rev to 5k in second gear and leave it there the whole time. In retrospect, the oil cooler was an easy install and solves the problem completely.

Well I think common practice when driving on a curvy road like that is to keep the RPMs up high when going into the curves. To be honest I don't like how the car feels going though a curve at a decent speed where I can feel the g-force unless my RPM is over 4000 or so. I also don't like breaking in turns and this helps the car slow down by taking my foot off the gas instead of breaking.

I didn't just drive it in 2nd the whole time @ 5k RPM. I was constantly shifting between 2nd and 3rd gear. I usually downshifted to 2nd when going into the turns and upshifted once I was out of the curve and I rarely got it above 5k. I honestly didn't think I was driving it all that rough. If I wasn't worried about my camera dieing from all the G's because it has an HD I probably would have recorded a video.

I was at 4K-5K rpm when I did GMR. I was in 2nd or 3rd all the way to the end of the run. I have oil cooler and the temperature was max. at about 220. The oil cooler will keep the temperature down when running GMR in a hot day.

Definitely considering doing the oil cooler now. So you were also 2nd/3rd the entire time like me and similar RPMs. So as I mentioned earlier I would expect the way I was driving to be pretty 'normal' for driving on that road right? I wasn't driving crazy or anything (never went over the line or even really had the VDC activate) and it was actually pretty cool out as I went there at 9 AM (60s).

there may be another factor as well. How old is your oil. I found that the older the oil the faster the temp builds. If I have fresh oil my temps stay lower. I always use royal purple and and the royal purple filter but I went ahead and put a 34 row oil cooler on anyway just for planning on future mods and since then i do not break 210 even in stop and go traffic. You shouldnt have to go that big but I like it.

I am not exagerating, but my ex-Z would hit 260 in the summer time just climbing 405 fwy by Getty. On my side of town, I would hit high temps also around Mulholland Hwy/Decker Canyon Road without being super aggressive. My Z never liked aggressive or slow driving.

BTW, i never went into Limp Mode.

:) I just realized that I still have my oil cooler kit in the garage. Time for me to hit the 'for sale' section. :)

I believe my last oil change was around 2500 miles ago.

It's fun when you are in 4K+ on that road. I always down shift to slow down before entering the turn. Don't you love the SynchroRev Match?

That is to drive in 3rd and 4th gear at that RPM. If not you are going to go on limp mode because of the oil temp.

You will not make in driving like that on the Tail of the Dragon!

The first time I went into Malibu canyons, I was not really pushing the car and it was hitting 260 degrees in cool weather. I was never happy that I would hit 230 degrees just sitting in traffic, but once I got my 25 row oil cooler it was night and day.

No matter how hard I push the car (and I have pushed it close to 100%), I have yet to break 220 degrees. If I try that without one, it would be in limp mode. Keeping the oil temperatures at lower levels also increases throttle response and even power from my experience, and makes the car a whole lot more consistent and gives peace of mind that you can tackle anything without worry of oil temps.

+1 that Nissan should pay for half are upgraded oil coolers. Yea right.

Perhaps I should elaborate. The Z is known to have overheating issues without an oil cooler. So posting a story about driving over 5k rpm for sustained periods and then being amazed the oil temps shot up is just naive. Just get an oil cooler and then you can drive however you like.

Get the oil cooler. Why should you ever be worried about over heating? 220* max is about right, with a cooler. Don't be limited as to where or how you enjoy driving.

I may have missed it but at what temp does it go into limp mode?