Low Oil Temperature Question

JenovaI

Guys,

I got a SC'd 370z. 479hp to the wheels. Oil Cooler. Daily Driver.

The issue is the oil temperature is under 180 most of my driving. It's 2 miles to work. It's 4 miles to church. I barely ever do a long highway drive. So most of the time I'm under 180 degrees on the oil temp. Not only that but I tend to beat on the car on the way to work (because idiots in my way) but at that point im barely at 140.

I know which oil is highly subjective. But does anyone have any logical reasons why to choose one type of oil for my application over the OEM ester? Such as get a 0w weight instead of a 5w weight because my car is always cold?

TerribleONE

Id just stop beating on it when its cold. Not a good idea at all. If you want to have fun take the car for a real drive.

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JenovaI

What about ways to get it to warm up quicker? I could put a plate in front of the oil cooler and just remove it when I actually need cooling or something.

TerribleONE

Yea you could do that however if you are only driving 2-4 miles and not letting the car warm up for a while before its still not going to come up to operating temperature.

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Cell

Only thing I can think of is Thermostatic plate.

TerribleONE

This will yield the same results. The oil can only heat up so fast, a thermostatic plate will just eliminate having to put on or remove the blocker plate.

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Cell

Yes but its less oil to heat which should be faster? It would only open up if the oil hits a set temp. Or at least that's how i thought it works.

TerribleONE

Yea I am pretty sure how that works however its not that much extra oil. Don't think it would make that big of a difference compared to a block off plate.

Sounds like the OP needs a oil heater for his kind of driving.

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jwick

Mine takes about 10 minutes to get to operating temperature and I have a thermostatic sandwich plate. I don't spool the turbo or go above 3krpms until the car is at least 170-175.

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'10 G37T 6MT Graphite/Graphite - BP - G37T Build

SouthArk370Z

A thermo-plate may help your situation but, as TerribleONE says, it takes a while for the oil to warm up. 2-4 miles just ain't far enough to get the engine warmed up good.

You don't have to baby a modern engine with modern oil when it's cold but you don't want to be going WOT until it warms up, either.

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SouthArk370Z

The difference in the amount of oil is not that important. The thermo-plate keeps most of the oil away from the heat exchanger until the oil warms up. This means there is less cooling going on until the thermo valve opens up.

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Spooler

Add 20 degrees to the oil temp. The temp is taken after the oil cooler. I have been running at around 165F on the drive in to work on cold days. That would be 185 out of the motor. I don't worry about it. I run 5W30 synthetic.

James10694

I don't see why you can't just let it warm up. I park mine in the garage and give it about 10 minutes of warm up time. I'm N/A and I stay below 4k RPMs until I get to 180* oil temp.

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Boosted Performance Single Turbo
618whp/489 tq

BGTV8

Car needs a longer run to get it to operating temp. Figure at least 5-6 miles.

If temps never get above 180 DegF to make sure water/cr4p in the oil boils off.

Take the car for a 20 mile run once per week and your car will say "thank you"

2011 Nismo#91

OP needs a Thermostatic plate if he can't get over 140F when it's in the mid 40s to 60s. I have no problems heating my NA oil up to 180. Winter time I still install a partial block off plate because the thermostatic plate doesn't completely, nor should it, close. I suppose you can install a complete block off plate till it gets hot out again.