Everyone with oil temp issues

chubbs

This sounds just like the system they use in the UK. The person who answers your call analyzes how important it is (normally by how much you argue with them and how many times you refuse to accept their attempts to palm you off, then eventually they 'refer your case to a manager', who actually has the authority to do something - always ask for your problem to be referred to a manager, or even better ask to speak to a manager there and then. Then be prepared to discuss/argue with him/her too, until finally they do something about it. Trust me, it works. Been there, done that regularly, am thinking of getting the t-shirt.

Here endeth the lesson on how to get a warranty claim accepted by Nissan.

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sylenze

the only reason i have not posted what i have done with this issue is because i do not have any new information to offer... after discussing my situation with a CS, i was contacted by a regional quality assurance personel who basically instructed me to bring the car to a dealership to make sure the problem is not mechanical... during my discussion with him, i described that the temps that i was reaching driving for 30 mins in stop and go traffic were 260 and 240 after driving 2 hrs straight from LA to Santa Barbara... he did not at any point in our conversation suggested that those temps were normal nor refute my argument that this is a cause for concern on the longevity of the engine... at this point, i am trying to find time to schedule an inspection of my car...

again... i did not mean to be harsh towards weatherman at all...what i am trying to convey is the fallacy on his statement... we cannot just accept any statement that is given to us by some guy in customer service over the phone because it is evident that their motive is to make you complacent with the car you have purchased and stop you from escalating the issue at hand... i apologize if i was mean, i just dont want people to be discourage at figuring out a substantive conclusion for this situation...

SoCal 370Z

I understand where sylenze is coming from as this is why I asked TheWeatherman his process in getting his answer. There is a process here for Nissan protocol to get to where TheWeatherman got.

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wstar

I haven't called anyone yet because I don't feel like I have anything that's really actionable from the point of view of customer service on a consumer street-driven car. I can only get it to 260+ by doing things I would never do on a public road with a Nissan rep riding along, they would just blame the abusive driving. It's still not 'right', in that the car is a sportscar and should be able to drive like one, but I think it would be hard for me to convince a CS person on a live drive that my car was defective for normal driving.

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smartbomb

Thats the typical denial that an OEM will give you. They will probably also feel that limp mode will protect the engine enough so you won't nuke it and make a warranty claim.

lww

What kind of gas mileage does your little Insight get...? Sorry, I couldn't pass up the opportunity!

The issue here is that we could have gone out and bought any number of other cars that are competing for this segment of the market and NOT had this problem. I believe the VVEL system is a fantastic technological and engineering achievement, but I also believe it is the culprit.

If I don't see a reasonable resolution soon, my money is going to another manufacturer that has a product engineered to support the use it's owner's expect out of a capable "Sports Car". Porsche, BMW and god help me, even Chevrolet fills this bill.

The statement from the CS person TheWeatherman spoke to is spurious:

If by an awful lot, he means one 20 minute session in a track day, then I call bs on that statement. Track days have become one of the most common "after work" activities for sports car enthusiast/owners as evidenced by the number of track day organizers that have sprouted up over the last 10 years. The number of 350Z's I see at track day/HPDE events is enormous and I see none of them with similar problems. P.S. I'm an HPDE Instructor for several event organizers.

If Nissan won't engineer a product to support this EXTREMELY important "enthusiast" segment for their "sports cars", I question the competence of their marketing organization.

For the same money or less, I can buy a nicely depreciated Porsche, BMW or Corvette and never have to worry about these issues again AND have better resale value in 5 years than the 370Z is going to have after it's first month.

Unfortunately, I'm going to look at a Boxster S this afternoon...

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ChrisSlicks

20 minutes? Heck, if it's a warm day out (80-90) and you start out with your oil at normal operating temperature (180-220) you will hit limp mode in 5-7 minutes on the track. I don't know of any other car where oil temperatures accelerate so quickly and take so long to recover.

TheWeatherman

This was originally posted by Smartbomb. It may already be in this thread, but I'm reposting it as a refresher. A top-notch cooling kit is coming out from Nissan, so be patient. Those seeking other cars, that's your opinion of course, but just hold on, and you'll be just fine.

Oh, to talk to the Quality Specialist at Nissan, I just did what everyone else does. Call CS, take the car to the dealer, talk to my regional CS to diagnose my problem, then wallah! They'll ask you to take them out on the street, and try to hit limp mode. If you can't, you're not hurting the motor or it's Ester Oil at all. Sorry, I didn't post earlier. I've been gone. After reading this above article, for me, this issue is closed. If I race, I'll need an oil cooler. Should Nissan have offered this on it's release... Yes. Are our cars going to have a short life? Absolutely not. Racing= oil and possibly a diff cooler. Hard street driving? Good luck hurting the car. Future owners: this will pretty much be a non-issue when the cooler comes out which is very shortly. (I like the last sentence of the article.)

Okay, I just got off the phone with my Quality Control specialist. He doesn't know the exact temp of the max thermostat's setting on the Nissan Motorsports cooler, but for anyone who doesn't know what that thermostat is for here's the explanation. (For those of you who know, sorry for dumbing this down.) When you are easy on your motor, cruising, traffic & such, you don't want your oil too cool. A normal cooler would just continuously cool the oil that's circulating through the motor. So if you're cruising, if the cooler is powerful enough, it may only have you sitting at like 140-170 which is not healthy for the motor. (Mine sits between 205-235 all of the time, without any spirited driving, even in 90-degree temps. I even let it sit idling with the air running for 15 minutes, and the temperature came back down to 205. FYI) In this case, the thermostat would know, and shut that cooler off. If the oil temp starts popping over it's recommended operating temperatures while racing the motor, etc. the cooler will turn itself on and try to keep those temperatures in check.

spearfish25

I've been reluctant to call and schedule a demo drive with the quality control specialist since lately I don't think I'd get to limp mode. As my car has broken in, the oil temps appear to have tamed themselves. Even the past few 80+F days with spirited driving and stop-and-go intervals, I haven't even gotten over 230. Racing to the hospital a few nights ago on ER call, the temps didn't rise much at all even then (sustained 115mph on the highway).

I have the number for the QC engineer should I run into problems again. But for now I agree with Weatherman, case closed with regards to road driving. If I want to track the car, I'll have to buy the oil cooler...so be it. I hope Nissan just prices the new cooler set at a bargain rate knowing that they should have installed it (or had it as an option) upon the car's release.

jbbrann

How many miles are you at now, just out of curiousity?

TheWeatherman

I'm at 4,200 and have never had serious problems. One spike over 265, but I was pounding it for well over 10 mins at a charity event on the Milwaukee Mile. Never went into limp mode on me. (That was at like 3,200 miles.)

wstar

Mine seems to have gotten better with miles as well, relative to outside temps, but it's hard to judge whether I've just been driving different, or whether lots of other small changes are contributing (switch to synth, lack of engine cover, colder intake air, water wetter, etc). It's possible that low-mile engines exhibit the cooling issue more than ones that are fully broken in.

Edit: oh yeah, and I'm right around 5K miles now.

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spearfish25

Just broke 2,000 mi. My sole temp issue was a temp of 245F on an 80F day sitting in traffic for 1.5hrs. I did change my driving habits that day to keep the temp from going higher. That was around 1,200mi and then I had my oil changed with Nissan Ester Oil at 1,300mi. Haven't had any temp issues since then, regardless of how I drive, and our daily temps have been 70-85F for the past week or two.

joeyz10

That's why I posted last weekend and told spearfish I was driving my car for abour 80 miles one way with some heavy traffic and some spirited driving and my temp never went higher than 240. I have 2800 miles now and i drive a 7AT. Case close for me. Let's move on guys...Oh by the way when we did the Malibu Canyon Run last month the weather was above 90 degrees and all the 8 370z's were pushing their cars to it's limits and no one that I am aware went into limp mode nor did we experience 280 degree temp if I may recall.

toasterflyer

So is it safe to say the "Oil Temp" thing is a non issue, once the engines are broken-in? I mean this for normal to hard street driving.

Rich
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