So I finally had some time to go to the track last Monday. And I'm sorry to disappoint anyone that thought I went to the dragstrip lol

I went to the Streets of Willow in case anyone was wondering.

I had lots of fun and it was awsome blah blah blah......

Ok now here is the problem that got me worried. So I went out in 20 min intervals and it was 105 degrees that day.

This is like my 4th time going out and i'm on like my 8th or 9th lap in a row and i'm pushing it very very hard becuase there is this GTR nuthugging my *** but there is no place to let him pass yet.

So I keep pushing it and all of a sudden my car goes into limp mode, I can't change gear (in tiptronic), the display where it normally shows if i am in drive or in whatever gear is now blank and i can't rev past 3k rpm. So i'm freaking out cause I think my car just got damaged someway

My first impression is that the car overheated and it went into limp mode to cool off, especially cause it was so hot outside, but I checked my tempturture guage and it was right dab in the middle, normal. And my check engine light is always on because I have test pipes so idk if the car threw a code or not.

So i pull off the track and Sean@ Precision Z is there so I ask for his advice. He thinks that it didnt' overheat cause my temp was normal but thinks that somethign might have happened with my throttle bodies???? He said he's seen a couple Z's with dead throttle bodies at 30k miles and have seen track time(I have 20K). He thought it was either that or my car just "hiccuped" and there is nothing wrong at all. Either way, I called it quits for the day.

So now i'm really worried something could have happened and because of my test pipes idk if it threw a code. So I am just trying to get multiple opinions on what you guys think happened and what I should do? I appreciate your input



-Arsh

 

Did Sean put a Consult on it to check actual temp and engine code(s)? The gauge isn't "in the middle" typically.

How does it run today?

 

with the stock cooling system, at almost 2500 ft of altitude and 105 degrees you can bet your a$$ you were overheating pretty much everything on that car.
check your coolant tank, probably it's half empty or more... your oil was probably around 300F.

 

Easy, go to Autozone or somewhere and check to see if there are codes present for anything other than the test pipes. That will give you a good starting point.

Or you can let dozens of people on here throw darts with their eyes closed until someone guesses correctly

 

+1, the stock temperature gauge is a POS. my digital temp gauge can be anywhere from 150F to 220F and the stock temp gauge will be in the same exact sport the entire time....

calling solo350z, calling solo350z.

 

I guess I track an HR car enough to know my $hit.
AH tune is on the "spot on" A/F ratio.. that on the track translate in higher than required engine temperature (that is one of the reason you want to run on the rich side on the track.. less power to begin with.. but more consistent because you don't heat soak the block as fast as will be).
for what I know AH hasn't put any thermal wrap around the headers, the test pipes and the exhaust and the radiated head will increase the heat under the hood and around the transmission.

of course.. if he ignored and kept beating the $hit out of the car while his water was boiling, the oil in the engine was more like lava and the transmission fluid almost in flames I don't know which kind of damage he could have...

for sure the 350z cooling system isn't enough (stock) to allow you to drive on a track in those brutal conditions (105F at 2500ft is just crazy)
isn't enough on most production cars. not only on the Z.

 

AH - your oil got hot. we don't have a gauge , but there is a sensor. my last time at the track - 150c.... that is crazy hot.


so - oil cooler is a must for HR.....

 

But why'd his car shut off?

 

I haven't read it did shut off.. it went limp.
usually on newer cars is a feature of the ecu to protect the engine or the transmission (depends on which sensors the car has) if some working parameters go out of an established range.
mainly for overheat.

bmw has it. the G37 has it. the 370z has it... so.. maybe also the 350z with the VQ35HR has it.

I'm not positive about that.

 

 

There was an automatic turbo Volvo wagon at gymkhana on Saturday that was doing the same thing under similar conditions. He was driving without any issues in the morning practice session, then session #2 in the afternoon he tried twice and only made it through half the course before his car would no longer be in gear and he would have to roll off the course... once his car would cool he could go back at it. So as mentioned above, it's likely you Z has a similar feature.

 

How much is an aftermarket cooling system?

And where can I find a good one?

 

engine oil cooler
http://www.gtmotorsports.com/product...cat=266&page=1
(this one is pretty much the best bang for the bucks as cooling capacity and quality of components)

automatic transmission cooler
http://www.gtmotorsports.com/product...cat=262&page=1

pretty much any vendor here can assemble a good one (the use of a thermostat for the engine oil is mandatory) or you can shop around (if you know what you need) and save some cash.

 

I don't have an AT but the oil cooler looks like it wold do the job... Does that just swap out the factory oil cooler?

 

I doubt our cars come equipped with factory oil coolers

 

nope, we do have power steering fluid cooler oddly enough. though, the stock cooler is inadequate for road racing.

 

So where would i stick this bad boy underneath the hood of my already tight engine bay?

 

I'm putting mine in front of the radiator and condenser. There is a guy that made a custom one for his 370. I just ordered the same parts he did (hose, fittings, core,etc...). It came to $270.78 with a mocal thermostatic sandwich plate.

 

Wellington Huh? Ill be there the end of this month I have family over there.. Might have to meet up with you and see how Im gonna do this.

 

No he didn't do that, he was just there to have fun and didnt' bring any equipment. But good news is that today it runs like it did before, doesn't seem like any damage was done.
From this experience I can tell
You are correct, I do not have any thermal wrap on any of my exhaust components. But right after I went into limp mode, I did call it quits for the day. Although it ran fine after I let it cool down and I turned it on, so Idk why I worried so much. It seemed odd that throttle bodies woudl give out but I just got scared cause Sean said he's seen cars come in to the shop with that problem.

That sounds like a good call. I'm going to be tracking about 3 more times this summer so I would like to try to avoid limp mode again I also need some better seats, my stock leather ones made me slide around the whole time, pretty annoying.

Do you recommend getting both cooler's or will the engine oil cooler be enough? Also do you have a ballpark figure of how much install will run?