My 370z Crapped Out on Track
 

Hi guys,

I took my car to track January at Thunderhill. And less than 15 mins in the first session coming out of the last turn before the straight away my engine completely shut down. Prior to shutting off, the Service light flashed, then the LED display flickered (like Fast & Furious 2 when the car got hit with that EMP gun). The oil temp was reading just 220 degrees and it was relatively cold outside. I have a TRU COOL oil cooler and followed MODSHACK DIY in installing the oil cooler with the Ports facing downwards.

Now I'm curious as to why my car shut off and didn't go into Limp Mode first. My car also showed no error code when my friend plugged a portable unit to the ECU. I had to tow it back into the bay and I tried cranking it and it did not turn over. I kept trying it throughout the day and ended up flooding the engine and made things worst. I tried taking out the fuse to fuel pump and dry crank to air out the fuel. It took a total of 2 days before my car started back up and ran fine.

Anyhow, I'm not sure why and was hoping someone might have an idea. I'm thinking oil temp overheat? But why did it not go into limp mode? Now i'm thinking could it be oil pressure instead? I did install the Oil cooler with the port facing downwards, could it be the oil won't reach to the top of the core and if I take a turn too fast (last turn) the pressure could change and disables the car?

BTW:
I'm gonna take it in the dealer to check it out and I also already ordered the Setrab 34 row oil cooler as i know this might help with the issue.

Fuel starvation, how much gas did you have in the car?

It's not an oil temp issue if you didn't even go over 220. No need to jump the gun and spend extra money on the 34 row just yet. As Brazilbro said, it could be fuel starvation. I don't think it gets all that hot up in Norcal. If you start running a 34 row cooler, you're going to have the reverse problem with oil temps not getting high enough in your daily driving.

I'm no expert, though, so do a search on fuel starvation and read up on it.

Long right hander? If so, it's likely just fuel starvation. Odd that it took so long to get it started again. What was your gas tank level at?

Just curious, why did it take over a month to post about it? How has the car behaved since this happened? It was more than likely fuel starvation. When mine died on track the first time I experienced it, it took a long time before I could restart it. I think that once the car senses it is out of fuel, it won't restart until something internally resets.

I had a little under half a tank

that turn is a pretty tight double right..

like everyone is saying... its either fuel or electrical.

+1 for a fuel issue.. thats what it sounds like to me

I did post something but it was awhile back and it was under oil temp overheat. I just assumed it was oil over temp because I researched and found that the reading on the 370z gauge was the return line so I'm thinking there is a possibility that although it's reading 220 it could be running hotter, which led me think it could be an oil temp issue. I am pretty sure it was reading 220 but even if it’s reading 240 degrees, it shouldn’t be oil temp issue right? Cuz it should still put it in limp mode first. I thought I read somewhere that some people didn't get put into limp mode until it reached 260. (FYI, it was a pretty cold morning and it was the 1st session after 15 mins of driving around following the instructor in the beginner's group.)

After I towed it back home (2 days later) The cars been driving fine as a daily driving. I’m surprised everyone say it could be fuel starvation because it had over a quarter tank of gas inside.

The reason it took so long for it to boot up again is because I think I flooded the engine by none-stop cranking my car to start after the ECU disabled the car. I believe the Fuel pump was still providing fuel even though the ECU didn’t allow the car to restart.

I will take my car in to have this checked out, I believe the Nissan techs could see what kind of error code it put into the car before it crapped out. However I’m not sure if I should take the oil cooler kit off because Nissan might give me crap about me voiding warranty. Any advice here guys?

As for the oil cooler, none of you guys think that flipping the ports downward could create an issue? During installation, I didn’t fill up the oil cooler core with oil because I’m installing it upside down so I’m relying on the Engine’s pressure system to push oil through the core and circulate. I checked the oil dip stick to ensure there’s enough oil. But now today got me thinking, what if the core never filled up completely with oil? Will the oil pressure inside the core while undergo a turn fluctuate so much it will affect the ECU to shut off the car?

so how to prevent this from happening in the future? i'm guessing the cheapest way is to keep a full gas tank.

We get fuel starvation at 75% full........

It's easy to starve with a half tank, tracking with a quarter tank almost guarantees starvation.

Fuel starvation problem sounds to me more aligned with Fuel Pump going out, or like what most people right now are telling me, not enough fuel or fuel not reaching to the pump due to the hard turn I'm making.

I'm still not inclined on believe that's the case because I am taking my car to track April 6th and I like to hope my car will not crap out because my gas tank wasn't completely full. I don't think this is a common problem on the 370z and I like to think the car should not crap out (like the way I did) on the track just because they take a couple of twisties in a track at a half tank of gas. My car's engine completely shut off after that turn. Can you imagine what will happen if someone was going through some Cayon road and the same problem occurred? (Okay, I realize I'm totally over-reacting here)

I thought fuel starvation problems presents itself when a car is ungoing such a huge turn where there's enough lateral acceleration (G's) to cause the fuel to shift leaving no fuel to the fuel pump - which should happen only if there's really that insufficient amount of fuel where a car can undergo such a scenario at even at a half tank of gas.

I'm not denying the fact that fuel starvation can't happen even at a 85% amt of gas. I'm just saying I'm not sure if right now I'm incline to believe that was what happened to me. The car didn't start right after I restarted it. The fuel pump seem to work as the whole car smelled like gas after I kept trying to start it. If it was a fuel starvation issue, shouldn't the car start right back up?

I can somewhat relate this issue to a motorcycle i own which needs manual switch over for reserve tank. And this didn't seem like the same case.

I don't know exactly how your car died, but I had a complete shutdown with ~7/10s of a tank, where I could not start the car until the next day.


Your issues also sounds like it could be electrical.