Water temp and oil temp
 

Hi All,

I recently upgraded to a CSF triple core rad and noticed water temp going past the 7th dot at the track. I didn’t have this before with the oem rad. I had it vacuum filled again with water and water wetter it still went pass 7th dot after 5-6 hot laps on a pretty hot 88F day. Could there be air pockets still? Driving back and forth on the street has no problem at all.

Thanks

I haven't had any issues with my CSF radiator. Do you have an oil cooler?

I have a 25 row oil cooler, oil temp seems fine. Just the water temp, once it passes the 7th dot to 8 or 9th I let off and it cools back down.

I would recommend you put Tracspec vents in your hood to get the heat out.

Yea I have the trackspec vents too. Started having this water temp issue after I put on the hood vents, Z1 CAI and upper plenum, CSF Rad and no thermostat now. My tech bleed the system again and made sure no air pockets lock in there(?), could it be the intake and plenum causing my car to run lean and hot? I checked the fans are running fine too and I dont see a coolant leak anywhere.

Put the factory thermostat back in. Get a new one from Nissan. Not some aftermarket junk. Why did you take it out?

My mechanic took the thermostat out to see if that will help. I dont have a legit temp gauge yet but I guess you are not suppose to pass the 7th dot on the dash gauge?

1. 0-132°F
2. 132-138°F
3. 138-143°F
4. 143-149°F
5. 149-152°F
6. 152-158°F
7. 158-222°F
8. 222-228°F

Airflow through the Z's engine bay is pretty crappy. If you already have track spec vents an additional two holes on top of the existing opening will allow a lot more additional air in onto the radiator. I never did it personally but it helped with other boosted 370s.

After my turbo install I hit 240 before popping the cap release. But I don't think the CFS radiator is any better then OEM, it might even be worse because it's prone to leaking.

I have reinstalled a new thermostat and bled the system again to try. I am already thinking to put the OEM rad back on if this doesn’t work out. You’re right, thumbs up on the trackspec hood vents I dont feel too much heat from the engine bay just the rad acting up. Also switched to a richer cooler Uprev map to see.

Nothing wrong with the CSF radiator. I have one and have had no issues. It's hot as can be where I live and no issues.

7 Dots is around 175F to 185F on my SpeedHut water temp gauge. I have the sensor in the upper radiator hose.

Rusty,

Do you have notes on the temp. range you've found each dot represents?

#7 leaves a lot to be desired with such a large range in this list.

The highest my Z has ever been was 210F, that's the 8th dot. Where my sensor is located at in the upper hose. It don't reading until the thermostat opens up at 7 dots. Which is around 175~180F. I'm planning on moving the sensor this winter.

I don't think these dots:temp are accurate....
The thermostat STARTS to open at 76.5C / 170F which is 7/8 dots... Wouldn't you think your engine is too hot if it was at 7/8 of a temp gauge?

From testing I have done on the G37, the temp gauge is at about half way with coolant temps of 70-105C or 158 to 221F.

Good info.

For comparison's sake, I'd love to see a list from anyone who has recorded a per dot range with an aftermarket gauge including the sensor placement like 2011 Nismo#91 posted earlier in the thread. I can do one with ECUTEK but I'm not sure of the OE sensor placement nor accuracy as it's probably derived by the ECU.

If anyone has a cheap OBD scanner they can display the engine coolant temp sensor (ECT) and takes notes on how many dots and the actual temp.

I have a Bluetooth OBDII adapter and Dashcommand app on my phone, I can look into this in the next few days of driving. I will say that the fuel and coolant temp "gauges" are probably the worst change from the Z33 to the Z34 IMO. What was wrong with the analog needles? Personally I *hate* the stupid dot-bar-graph style which leaves a LOT to be desired in terms of accuracy.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

I can tell you the 9th dot via ecutek reading was 240* and when my ac shut off.

Just to let you know analog needles are not any better on my G37.
From data logging, the engine coolant gauge doesn't move from 70C/158F to 105C/221F. As I understand it, this is to prevent the customer from freaking and gives the impression everything is rock solid.

As for the 370z coolant dots, here is what I have from a trusted source:
1 88-133F
2 133 - 140F
3 140 - 145F
4 145 - 150F
5 150 - 155F
6 155 - 160F
7 160 - 220F
8 220 - 240F
9 240 +

This morning. I paid more attention to the dots and my gauge. The thermostat opens at 7 Dots, which is 175F. Then settles at 180F on my SpeedHut water temp gauge which is still 7 Dots.

The Eighth DOT!!
 

Fellow Z Drivers.

If that eighth dot ever lights up and stays lit, I would be pulling over for a cool down. I say this because I think the setting for it is actually higher than 220 deg F to light. My experience while track driving and/or stop and go driving with OBD2 scanner running, tells me that even at 221 Deg this light does not illuminate. I would worry only because the next dot (8th) to me really means overheat condition for my Z. My car would regularly see 221 in the Texas Heat and then the Fans would crank up only to cool the car to 210 and start the heating cycle again. I have yet to ever see this next dot light up. Knock on wood that I never do.

I did install an actual water temp gauge so that I do get a more realistic view of the water temp in the engine. A worthy expenditure in my opinion. I never liked the 'dots' for a temp gauge. Nissan should know better.

Am I missing something here? My gauge has 16 total dots. My coolant temp routinely hits the 8th and 9th dots during normal driving. Not even close to overheating (under 200F).

8th Dot
 

You are correct, there are 16 dots on this temperature meter. In the 7 years I have owned my Z never has the 8th dot lit for me. I have seen 221 deg F. on my OBD2 reader software, both Dash Command and Torque. I am however acknowledging dots 8-16, and truly wonder at what temperature they do light up. I would be alarmed at the 8th or 9th dot lighting up.

Ah, sounds like your software is not interpreting the actual temp correctly. The only way to correctly get it is with a gauge with it's own sensor.

Anyone know what the ones are beyond 9 dots? I had a track day once where the gauge was somewhere in the 10-12 dot range after some red mist/tunnel vision driving.

The temps I provided are for the first 8 (1-8) LEDS, and stop once the car was up to temp.

To get the next 8 coolant temperature LEDs (9-16) someone has to offer their car to the overheat gods or send me a 370z gauge cluster to test :)