Nissan Consumer Affairs Oil Cooler Response

dszombiex

Mine has gone to 240F just from sittin in heavy traffic on a day where the ambient temps have been over 90F.

I agree with frost in that its insulting that not only does the car have a problem, but they wont let us fix it.

I'm all for signing petitions to send out. I think having signed petitions sent to high profile car review websites/magazines is a good idea.

bluzman

Totally off topic but had me ROTFLMAO.

The Pelosi Sports Car - Funny Business with Jane Wells - CNBC.com

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Modshack

I can see this thread going on for another 50 pages with various degrees of indignation, threat and persecution being expressed.

In reality, 99% of you will never have a problem from high oil temps (real or perceived).

Nissan is not going to do anything about it as they've decided high temps are OK.

Nissan has no obligation to pay for any warranty work that may occur from the failure or interaction of a part YOU put on the car.

Quit whining and enjoy your cars

Spend <$300 and install a cooler if it's an issue for you. How to here:
http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...ttsa-pics.html

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VCuomo

For you guys with temp problems but are not tracking or hard-driving the car, I can't help but think that there's something else going on here (like a defective oil pump). I've never had my Z's oil temp go above 220 - and that was in stop and go driving, followed by pushing the car up to over 80mph on the interstate (and after 15 minutes or so of 80+mph, the temp dropped down to around 205).

I see two issues in this whole thing:

1) There really does seem to be an oil temp issue in *some* 370Z's - Nissan should be trying earnestly to figure this out; and

2) There's no reason to void warranties just because someone installs one, nor can Nissan legally (and, it appears here, arbitrarily) declare that they will not honor warranties on vehicles with an oil cooler installed - the burden is on Nissan to prove that the oil cooler caused a problem that the owner is trying to have repaired under warranty.

ChrisSlicks

If my oil cooler blows a line and kills my engine because I installed wrong or whatever I'm cool with that. What I don't want happening is Nissan voiding the entire warranty because "obviously I'm tracking the car if I needed an oil cooler". I also don't want to have the hassle of swapping it in and out every time I need to go in for a major service.

butters167

Legally they can't, they may try but it is up to the owner to fight back. If it is not related to the problem they can't use it against you. And one part will cannot void the whole warranty. An oil cooler or any part is not going to void the entire warranty even if it goes bad. At most only the area covered. Oil is not going to affect the warranty on say your shocks.

butters167

Yeah I don't know why I'm whining I don't even have any temp. problems. Its just the principle of it and I don't have anything better to do while I'm stuck at a desk on Fridays.

I do enjoy my car and I would still buy it even with the issues. If I do have any issues with temp. I plan on using you plans, Thanks for the DIY.

280z/300zx

Tell that to the Subaru guys. Subaru will deny your warranty based on the fact that it's a performance car so obviously it was driver abuse. A lot of people here keep saying it's illegal but what you are failing to see is that they can deny it if they want to. It's up to you at that point to pay out of your pocket to fight it in court. So many WRX owners have taken their car in for busted trannys only for them to be denied repair even though they couldn't prove that it was a direct result of abusive driving. Simply put they stated that the tranny wouldn't have busted if driven properly. Nevermind the fact that the gears in the car are too weak for the amount of power the car is putting out stock. This is a similar situation with the Z. Nissan can easily say that under normal driving conditions the temps should be fine and anything causing abnormal temps is abusive driving and simply deny the warranty. Sure it's bad buisness and possibly even illegal but at the same time you have to pay out of pocket initially try to prove your case. Nissan has us by the balls on this one if they choose to.

butters167

I had a 02 WRX one of the first here in OK. I it putting out 326whp and never broke anything in the transmission. I drive it hard for 20k and drag raced several times. If they are breaking stuff that bad then they probably are abusing the car and deserve to be denied. The point is if you break something or put something on that breaks something yeah it is your fault. But if it goes bad because of a nissan defect they have to fix it unless they can prove otherwise.
Also remember your rights and the procedure very from state to state.
If the need arises I am lucky enough to have an attorney in the famliy and I will fight.

Also the warranty issue is not just a nissan thing, pretty much any car maker will try to deny a claim if they see a chance.

antennahead

I have hit 260 from 10 minutes of spirited driving followed by heavy rush hour traffic in 90F heat.

John

Cypress

Is anyone here an attorney? I am not, but I have experience with the legal aspects of warranty and class action suits.

Some food for thought:

1. Some folks are quoting a Wikipedia reference. Just consider that this reference could be directed toward parts that support original form, fit, function or specification and not apply to add-on modifications.

2. Adding an oil cooler will alter the original form, fit, function or specification of the original product. I would submit that Nissan could deny warranty claims on the grounds of "customer induced damage" due to altering the original product design and specification (notwithstanding that everyone "thinks" that adding an oil cooler is "better" for the car). If adding an oil cooler is better for the car, why are you having a warranty event? Your car should not be broken.

3. What exactly would be the grounds for the suit? That Nissan would not honor a warranty service event? Some of you went down the path that either Nissan needs to prove or the class needs to prove one way or another that adding the oil cooler did or did not induce the failure. As the basis for the suite has a failure yet occurred or are you wanting to sue to have the right to warranty service after you modified their original design should you need such warranty service?

I suggest that Nissan could simply say, the user altered the design and subsequently voided the warranty (regardless of proof that the oil cooler damaged the car or not).

Guys, I'm a 370Z owner, so I am on your side. I am just suggesting that if you go down the path of a class action that you make it real clear what you want to sue for and think through if that request even makes sense.

IMHO, if you were to pursue this path, you should sue for the right to warranty service if you installed an oil cooler. Now you have to be fair to Nissan. It would have to be some oil cooler part and installation that they can certify was done correctly (i.e their dealer and their installation). You just can't have your local mechanic or you slap in some home made parts and call it an oil cooler and demand that the vehicle should stil be under warranty. Also, think through the chronology. You can not sue for something that has not happened yet. i.e. If no one was denies warranty service after installing an oil cooler, then the suit has no merit. Meaning, you have not yet been damaged. You would first have to install the oil cooler, then try to get warranty service and then be denied for the service. At this point, you have a case that you were damaged.

If you are suing to get a free oil cooler because the car was sold to "Enthusiasts" and it gets hot, I don't think that will have merit. Again, in this case, how have you been damaged given the published specifications of the product you bought.

So think about what you want to sue for and make sure it has merit. Typically, the party will need to prove that damage was done.

Anyway, like I said in the beginning, I am NOT an attorney. I am one of you guys so no flames please. I am just trying to help sort out the various thoughts.

antennahead

You know, I'm not looking for a freebie, I just want them to say "buy this oil cooler (Nismo or Nissan Motor Sports), have the dealer install it, and we won't void your warranty". Pretty fair and simple.

John

AutoX Z

I'm with you on this one. While the oil temp issue seems to be relatively widespread I've yet to see any temperatures over 220* in almost 1500 miles of driving. That includes sitting in Houston rush hour traffic on 90+ days, accelerating up to 70+ and then back to stationary with no time for cooling air flow in between. I don't doubt that if I tracked the car I could get it to overheat but for those people that are "overheating" (car isn't even going into limp mode) in daily driving conditions, there might be something else in play.

And I'm also not at all surprised that Nissan is making this claim of denying warranties if they find an aftermarket cooler installed. Any aftermarket modification not authorized by Nissan is grounds for voiding warranties, it's written right into the paper work, and I don't see why oil coolers should be any different.

XenChi

Sounds like a plan to me, I'm all in.

butters167

The paper work also says that the aftermarket modification must be the cause of the problem for them to deny a claim.

Like I said I agree nothing could be or should be done legally until something actually happens.