Hey all,

It's been a long time since i've been on, mostly due to the fact that this forum is undoubtedly full of people with nothing to say but "repost","ban", or "fail" but I call on those with some actual knowledge for this one.

Today was a record breaking day in terms of temperature, for those of you in the NY tristate area. As a 370z owner, I am more than aware that the car loses a substantial amount of power as the temperature gauge rises over 180 degrees. The power difference is huge, so I was expecting the same losses on my 50 mile drive home from work today, even in 102 degree weather.

Well something happened that hasn't happened in my 13,000 miles driving the car. The temperature gauge read 265 degrees after about 30 minutes moderate driving. On many cars, 265 degrees is well within the "red" on the temperature gauge. The motor felt as if it was running rough; as if it didn't even want to run at all.

My question is...If the normal running temperature for the car is 185 degrees, why does my car consistently run into the middle 200's, and isn't this horrible on the motor? It's not very satisfying to want to avoid driving your sports car on a summer day and I have to say I'm very dissapointed especially when I consider how many times I've heard people advertise how amazing the VQ motors are.

 

Everyone knows that the 370z need a better oil cooler if tracking, so if your driving in 102F temperature then i would invest in one and see how well that goes. Also, when you say it 265 F or C?? if C then your car should of been in limp mode long time ago. Also, half the time people at the dealer ship are freaking stupid! They say anything to sell a car. Hope my chicken typing made enough sense so that you can make a decision Good luck

 

What is the operating range specified in the factory manual? Without these numbers we are just guessing.

NOTE: Just drove my Z home from work. Remembered that I do not have a temperature gage with numbers. Just a row of tiny lights. So I cannot give you a number for comparison.

 

With the kind of outside temps that you're having, I'm guessing that you had your AC on? If the engine temps get dangerously high, shut off the AC, open the windows and crank up your heater. It'll make you uncomfortable as crap, but it'll bring the engine temps down.

Also, check your air filters. They might be gunked up and you're not getting good airflow.

 

The dealer seems to think most "common" problems with this car are "normal" go figure. I brought my car in because the throw out bearing was making a horrible noise and I was reaching temps of 230f sitting in stop and go traffic. They let me know that I shouldnt worry until the temp gets close to 260, and that my clutch was supposed to make that grinding noise due to it being a dual disk clutch (this is exactly what I was told although I disagree).

I have brought my car to 2 different dealerships 5 different times.. all of them have concluded that my problems are NORMAL. anyone else get any other feedback?

 

When are you hearing the clutch noise. When the pedal is depressed?

 

I had these high temp problems when i first got the 370 but they went away after the first oil change. Is the dealer putting ester oil in your z? I herd of someone using royal purple and they had the same problems as you.

 

I track my car (Z32 and Z33, not Z34) religiously. . . when the water temp reaches 240F, I take a cool down lap and pit. If you are running 265F in normal driving and the 370 goes into limp mode, there is a problem. I've driven a Z34 on the track and it went into limp mode after two laps of hard driving because of water and/or oil temps. It's a common problem, and one that Nissan - at some point - will likely have to issue a TSB for with a corrective action.

It made sense minus the fact that 265C would be catastrophic and is basically impossible with these modern cars. Additionally, it's more than half the people at Nissan dealerships that are tools - it's probably closer to 95%. Most sales people know less about the cars than we enthusiasts do - it's sad. I was just reminded of this last week when I stopped at the local Nissan dealership to talk about a trade-in. So very sad. . .

The grinding is "normal" because that's how Zs/Gs have sounded since 2003. Just like the average American has a cholesterol count of 200. This is the average so it is considered "normal" however, that is very high and not safe. Welcome to fat America.

I have 10 cents to bet that the sound goes away when the pedal is depressed.

 

WARRANTY REPAIR - The only goddamn thing a dealer is good for.

Do not ask the dealer questions - they will lie to you. Do not ask the service
department questions - they will try to explain to you why you need a $2k brake
job. Just come to us.

Your temps are way out of ****ing line. Your car will overheat if you don't
do something to correct your issue, and continue to operate under identical
conditions. You might do significant damage in the process.

Although you will be able to get a warranty repair thereafter... heh.

Get an oil cooler kit from stillen. Make sure the temp probe works,
then get back to us w results.

 

Are we talking about water or oil temperature?

 

Getting an aftermarket oil cooler is not the answer, if he wants it fixed under warranty, because the Nissan can be a douche and say that was the direct cause of the issues. Unless he has it document at the dealer that he had it installed to attempt and correct the issue.

 

For those wondering, this is the official response we have gotten over on the 370z forum multiple times and doubt it will change anytime soon:

 

so an additional what.. maybe $500 for an oil cooler would have possibly put the price of the 370 out of the range of some buyers... wtf?

 

Agreed - they are idiots. Such is life for Nissan in recent years; clearly people are having an issue off the track as well.

"An oil cooler is not necessary for normal operation of the vehicle on public roads. The addition of an oil cooler would have raised the price of the car and potentially moved it out of the reach of some customers. Value has been a core principle of the Z car since the original 240Z and we choose to uphold this core principle by not adding additional costs that are unnecessary for normal use. For those individuals who choose to drive their vehicle on a race track, the oil cooler is available as an aftersales item."

They "choose" or they chose it to be this way? I also don't believe "aftersales" is a word. Go Nissan .

 

Multiple people have written back asking how a simple 500 dollar part (which Nissan would not pay that much of course) would cause the price to jump price brackets.
Of course this has all been received with no response or the same generic line back again. There is an official Nissan oil cooler which has its own separate warranty and if installed by Nissan will not void your warranty. Yet it is at a price of 700 or so for the cooler plus install.

 

Thanks everybody for your insightful responses. David, i'm referring to the temperature gauge in your second picture, not the gauge just under the gas gauge.

 

Bluz370, After owning 2 370z's I can conclude that though the grinding noise is unsettling, it's common in the 370z's. Just like running a car at oil temps that are high enough to ruin engine oil and cut the life of the motor, the same could be evident with the clutch but the only way to tell is to wait. In my head, when something runs rough, sounds rough, there's more friction which results in less reliability.

**AFTERNOTE**

My friend recently purchased a 2006 eclipse GT SR. For those of you who don't know exactly what that is, it's a 3.8 liter v6 making 263 hp at 5,750 rpm and 270 lbs of torque. He purchased the car with 30,000 miles for less than 15,000 before taxes.
The car doesn't seem to experience any noticeable power loss after normal driving in hot weather, so last week I decided to drive my car in these 100+degree conditions until the temp gauge creeped up to 240-250 degrees.
Then, on a double lane road, we slowed down to around 10mph when conditions were safe. You don't want to know who's car reached 60mph first.
The worst response Nissan or anybody else supporting this stupid theory is that "the car isn't a track car", while these problems spill out onto my normal commute days. If the problem is that the car isn't a "track car", than the car should continue to run at 185 degrees if you baby the car as much as possible in 100 degree weather. But it doesn't. It still runs hot at 225 degrees and the power losses compared to colder temps (40-70degrees) is outrageous as you can gather from my little story about my friends' eclipse.

**QUESTION FOR NISSAN**

_____As for Nissan and it's answer to this far worse than "normal" problem, I have a question for Nissan. "Nissan, Why would you design and describe a technology in the engine that only performs correctly under a very specific temperature and then tell your customers that they are essentially missing the part that makes it all work correctly?
_____That is a horrible scapegoat, Nissan. This is like buying a really expensive pair of shoes where the shoe company decided not to include the very expensive shoe laces!... For reasons that essentially make no sense to the shoe buyer! Worse yet, it turns out the shoes only perform *close* to their advertised standard with these shoelaces!
-----It's like a computer company that advertises a fast running computer at a price worthy to own a very prestigious, or at best reliable computer. However, when people purchase these computers they realize that the computer is overheating under otherwise normal use and performing horrible in comparison to the advertised performance; So they take their computer to the company which then tells them they need to purchase other parts to keep their computer from overheating while they use their computer for running 30+ programs. Wait, who said anything about running 30+ programs?? I was only trying to access my email!!
_____If you want loyal customers to continue to spend $29,500 on a car with "cutting edge technology" for an advertised 332 horsepower, don't tell us you 'left out' a 500 dollar item because it would have changed the price bracket of the car, or because it's not a "track" car when it can be EASILY proven that a sizable number of 370z's experiencing the same problems have never even seen the "track". Do you think we want our 370z's to explode?
_____If this car runs to a SPECIFIC temperature (185degrees) than I'm going to assume that 240-260 degrees was a temperature (the temperature where OIL begins to break down and become useless, by the way) unintended to EVER be reached under NORMAL driving conditions. Do your loyal customers really need to clarify for you the difference between track driving and normal driving?? Or do we need to prove to you that the car overheats,loses power,loses pedal response, all while unrequested heat POURS out of the vents while driving to the grocery store, even if grandma borrows the car??
_____Your answer Does Not and Should Not Make Sense To Your Customers, Nissan, and if you don't fix this soon and you sell one of your useful but useless cars to the wrong person, it will go down in the record that you falsely advertise, lie, and conduct BAD business when countless honest dealerships relying on YOUR ability to supply the dealer with good will and quality products begin to file suite when these 370z's begin to crumble under the heated pressure.
_____This is a problem that is going to hurt every single Z owner in the future when their engine fails at 50,000 miles (or just after warranty expires) due to all the "UN-INTENDED" strain on the motor from the extra heat; Heat at such extensive temperatures that the majority of other cars don't even have gauges that even read that high.
_____This is HORRIBLE business and marketing practice and there should have been a recall in order a LONG time ago. You want to "earn" more unsatisfied customers by leaving out a precious necessity for a precious technology? Eat the 500 dollar bill and consider it as a lucky escape from a huge problem in the future. Or, eat the 500 dollar bill and pay for all of the extra customers you imply you wouldn't have been "able to attract" without breaching some "Price Bracket".
_____The best thing going for you now, Nissan, is the fact that still very few 370z owners and possible customers are truly aware of your neglect to a problem that will most definitely shine like a spotlight once heat is no longer the issue, but rather the cause of problems that will gross many thousands of dollars per car to fix in the future unless something is done NOW.


...and don't even get me started on your sh*tty excuse for a paint job, Nissan.

 

That's the oil gauge...

According to this modified article the 370z goes into limp mode at 280 oil temp. Oil starts breaking down near 300 degrees.

I'm sure it's probably starting to pull timing before that which is what you are experiencing. Sucks man...my 96 Cobra did that **** on hot days and it felt like driving a 4cyl. I installed an aftermarket radiator and a fan switch to kick on earlier. Neither worked. Later the factory came out with a TSB to install an oil cooler which apparently fixed it.

 

Oil temperature. Checked mine the other day when ambient temperature was 102 degrees. Oil temperature was about 200 degrees.

Keep in mind that water and oil temperatures are related. Hot oil makes the water cooling system work hard. A poorly functioning water cooling system will result in hot oil.

BTW a primary function of motor oil IS cooling.

 

Thats crazy. I know its hot but still. Hes not even tracking it. Although bumper to bumper on the LIE im sure in taxing on the cooling system in 102F temps. I would stop playing around and just get an oil cooler installed.

FWIW ive been driving the car everyday this week because I lent someone my DD. I havent noticed a single difference performance wise.(Just a lot more popping in my exhaust-wierd) I would expect a TSB to come out soon because your situation is rediculous.

Makes you wonder if they even test cares in these conditions.