Like the GTR. LOL

Wellllll, kinda...the appropriate statement for the GT-R is:

"Hey, lets design a sports car and advertise it as being "capable" of doing an AMAZING 0-60 time...but with a tranny that cant sustain repeated attempts at it!"

Otherwise, the GT-R is a proven track star, despite its size.

Thanks Lug - +1 rep

While true, then I assume it'd also be true with other cars that don't have an oil temp guage there for the driver to see.

For example, how about on the G37? Same engine, but AKAIK, no oil temp guage. Are they complaining as much about oil temps getting over 200F?

Why is 200F bad? or 210F, 220F, 240..260? At what point does oil become less than what it was 10F cooler? How long at 260F does it take for the oil to have measurable degradation? How many miles/months does that translate to for the average driver?

All that...lol

The article I read on the bearing problem noted 300 degrees as point break for Nissan. I have to assume the 280 degree limp mode is just a bit of cushion. As far as general oil breakdown at what temp, I really am not that well versed in oil theory to make a call.

Nor is anyone else here. The Panic is all based on emotion, not fact...

It's not a binary proposition though, there's a lot of room between "Panic" and "Everything's fine shut up". Oil breaks down under heat stress, reducing oil life. Oil viscosity drops as heat rises. Engines like to have good oil at a good viscosity to prevent excessive wear (or in very extreme cases, immediate parts failure, although I think you're more likely to run into detonation issues from overheated cylinder walls first). If you plan to keep an engine for a long time, and it's hitting high oil temps on a regular basis, you should put an oil cooler on it. It's pretty simple.

What's high enough to worry? We don't know and never will. We can put some boundaries on the issue though. Nobody thinks 200F oil temps are bad for a car, that's plenty cold. Nissan clearly thinks 280F+ is bad because the ECU kicks into a safety mode and limits revs in that range. I think if you're peaking at 260+ on any kind of regular basis, or sustaining anything over 250 for long periods, you would probably be better off with an oil cooler in terms of long-term engine wear issues, but that's just my educated guess.

Just bought my car yesterday and was driving back form PHX and my oil temp hit 255 degrees. It was 114 degrees out according to temp reading on the dash. I pulled over and sat for about 5 minutes and the temp came down immediately to about 230. Kept my eye on the oil temp from then on, but it never went up that far again. Interesting...

Except that i'm pretty sure everybody sees 210-240 degrees on average everyday when they drive.. I haven't seen someone say their oil temps are fine/normal yet with their 370.

That's what I was getting at :)

But, is 260F where oil starts to break down, or is it higher. If oil has issues at 350F - then the "weak link" would obviously be the bearings.

200F might very well be too cold - the oil might still be less than 30w oil, as far as it's viscosity is concerned.

Does anyone know what *is* normal?

If I had a good thermometer, I'd stick it on the pan of my wife's civic after she gets done driving it.

I'll say this again folks, get off your butts and read what it takes to get an oil API SM certified. It's apples and oranges compared with API SG. I don't understand why some people just can't reel in the fact that additives to oil in this day and age make them far superior to withstand the heat genereated by the newer engines of today with highly advanced technology compared with engines just 10 years ago. If it were not for better lubricants and materials engineering, we would not have these highly advanced engines available. 260 deg oil temps are yesteryear. 280 deg are today. I am not going to lose any sleep over whether or not my engine will wear prematurely unless I abuse it e.g. tracking the car. Yes, that's abuse. So protect your engine and get a cooler. Protect yourself and get a roll bar and a helmet, etc. I bet there are some folks in here who think their insurance company should pony up and make good on a claim if by some fluke you write off your car while tracking it! Or lay blame on a faulty part and expect the responsibility lies with Nissan or the race track or whatever to make good on the repairs. Anyway, these threads are still very entertaining.

Look on the sticky above! It's still going and still just as entertaining as ever. Now in three different spots! I agree with you IDZRVIT. I think it has become the opinion of the vast majority on here.

Huh? :eek: What threads are you reading?