Nissan 370Z hits 290degree Oil Temps and overheats

[45ACP]

during Car and Driver "Best handling car under $40,000" six-car shootout. (Put next to the Mustang, they said: The 412hp Mustang GT ran the hottest lap of the group. The Nissan 370Z simply overheated.") Ouch.

The exact line: (relating to brakes to start, as to context) "We had to cool the stoppers repeatedly out of fear of failure. Then, while lapping Grattan, the engine-oil temperature reached roughly 290 degrees, and the car adopted a low-power mode for preservation. This required even more low-speed driving to cool things down. Not fun."

Now. I hope the Car and Driver people had some oil in there that could handle 290-degree oil temps!

What kind of oil do you think it was, if the testers were being provided these cars maybe from a dealership? (It does not say where they came from but tey are ALL new.) And what do you think of the Nissan's behavior? What kind of oil would be bes for it, given the high oil temps?

 

[Colt45ws]

It needs an oil cooler if it is going to be tracked. Period.

 

[Drew99GT]

This isn't the first time we've seen this issue with the late model Nissan Zs.

 

[hooligan24]

you'd think Nissan would have fixed this problem with an oil cooler instead of electronically during R&D.

 

[45ACP]

I have a question, what kind of oil are they putting in this car? My guess would be 0W-40 or 5W-40?

Just a guess. 290 degrees seems to warrant that. If not an M1 0W or 15W-50.....

(right?)

 

[dparm]

Grattan? I have been there. Only place I can see them having issues is the end of the 3/4 mile straight. I hit 130-something in my S2000 there. ;-)

 

[45ACP]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Grattan? I have been there. Only place I can see them having issues is the end of the 3/4 mile straight. I hit 130-something in my S2000 there. ;-)


Im just telling you what the article said, dparm.

An S2000? Really? Thought Miatas (the Mazdaspeed one) was about as fast...

 

[mopar_monkey]

i'm not sure if the z is anything like the trucks but nissan truck seem to have very small oil capacities, some nissan v6 trucks (4x4 aswell) hold less then 4 qrts.

 

[buster]

I've read about this before with the 370Z. At those temps you want a good synthetic.

 

[dparm]

That car is 5.2qt. Compared to stuff like the M3 and S4, which are almost double that...

I think the oil cooler is a Nismo accessory but I don't remember.

 

[edhackett]

Quote:
I've read about this before with the 370Z. At those temps you want a good synthetic.


I've read about this before with the 370Z. At those temps you don't want a Nissan.

There, fixed it for you Buster.

Ed

 

[45ACP]

What GRADE oil should go in there. ?

(OK for comparison, what goes in the GTR? Now THATS a car! Not this little odd-looking vehicle that sucks.)

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: 45ACP
I have a question, what kind of oil are they putting in this car? My guess would be 0W-40 or 5W-40?
Just a guess. 290 degrees seems to warrant that. If not an M1 0W or 15W-50.....
(right?)

No it's just a light syn' 5W-30.
When the oil gets that hot the engine goes into limp mode until the temp's come down.
There is a ready factory fix but even with the optional oil cooler the oil temp's do get high on the track.

 

[buster]

Originally Posted By: edhackett
Quote:
I've read about this before with the 370Z. At those temps you want a good synthetic.


I've read about this before with the 370Z. At those temps you don't want a Nissan.

There, fixed it for you Buster.

Ed

 

[dparm]

The VQ37 is really being pushed beyond its limits, IMO. Everything I've read makes me think they've extracted as much power as possible from this motor (barring FI like on the GT-R).

Oil temps of 290F? Definitely needs a bigger sump, bigger cooler, or both. Very surprising to see that a car Nissan targets at the weekend racer crowd has a problem like that. The hood on that car is certainly long enough to jam a big oil cooler in there...

 

[hooligan24]

Originally Posted By: mopar_monkey
i'm not sure if the z is anything like the trucks but nissan truck seem to have very small oil capacities, some nissan v6 trucks (4x4 aswell) hold less then 4 qrts.


3.3l Supercharged 3.75 with the filter in the xterra

 

[Old Mustang Guy]

I think it was Car and Driver that crashed a 370Z when the brakes failed suddenly. They stated that normally the brakes on a car give warning by slowly fading. It was the first time they had experienced such a failure. I'm not impressed with a car that does that. Before I retired from the Dallas Police, we had a driving course in which we would lap Crown Vics (or Caprices) for hours on a short course without failure (brakes or overheating).

 

[antonmnster]

It's just not much of a car.

One claim that it's an anomaly and cars shouldn't be tracked like that, but the article compared 4 cars with the same tests. The Nissan was the only one with braking and cooling problems. That said, it did not finish last.

But for a car that's "track-ready", it's an embarrassment.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: antonmnster
It's just not much of a car.

One claim that it's an anomaly and cars shouldn't be tracked like that, but the article compared 4 cars with the same tests. The Nissan was the only one with braking and cooling problems. That said, it did not finish last.

But for a car that's "track-ready", it's an embarrassment.


Agreed.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: 45ACP
What GRADE oil should go in there. ?


It is speced for a 5w-30 SM/GF-4 or better, and either synthetic or conventional are acceptable. I use PYB in my G, but I don't track it or drive it hard at all.