Had the engine and turbos replaced under warranty after destroying my engine at Sebring last month

[sdktheway]

I posted about this in the "What did you do to your Z today?" thread but figured i'd make a separate post now that i've gotten my car back with a new engine and turbos covered under warranty.

What happened? I went to Sebring for the first time last month for my first track days of 2026. Everything was going fine till the last session of the first day when I got a reduced engine power warning because the oil temp had hit 280F. In 15+ track days this was only the second time i've ever gotten that warning. The first time was during a miserably hot weekend at VIR last summer and I backed off for a few corners and never saw that again till Sebring.

First thing that jumped out to me at Sebring when this happened was my oil temperature was just not coming back down when I backed off the throttle. It was just hovering there maybe only dropping a degree or two at a time but nothing like the first time where it very quickly cooled back down to more acceptable temps. Decided to take the car into the pits and I eventually saw my oil temps starting to come down. I wanted to keep the car moving to get some airflow so I decided to give it an easy drive around the area and thats when I noticed some really funky sounds coming from the engine bay. Next time I started it up it was very obvious something was wrong and just about everyone who heard it said it was rod knock.

Why did this happen? I'm not 100% sure... My hunch is it was the well known issue where the solenoid gets stuck open discussed here. I even had the solenoid block off ready to get installed but I was waiting to get a bunch of parts installed and unfortunately my coilovers didn't ship quickly enough to get installed before sebring so I just decided to wait till after. One other potential factor was I was on Vitour P1 tires for the first time which are grippier than the continental ECF tires I had previously been running. It was my first time at sebring but that's a track I probably know better than almost any other from quality time in Iracing, so I was fairly confident on track and might have been subjecting the engine to higher g-forces than on previous track days.

What am I doing to prevent this from happening again? Solenoid block off obviously, but also switching to a baffled oil pan and getting an oil pressure gauge put into the car. Changing the engine oil is something i've thought about doing as well, but I talked to the master tech about that and did not think I could keep the warranty on the engine if i switched to something like 5w-40. I think some folks in here have mentioned getting that switched at the dealership, and I'm curious how you did that because the manual seems very clear that you need to use 0w-20, and if you are going to drive on track you are supposed to fill it to the High mark on the dipstick.

Things I think helped with the warranty coverage:

1. I've maintained a great relationship with my service center from the very beginning. I've gone to them for all my fluid changes and have been very open with them about tracking my car. The first time I went in there I pointed out this section of the manual to them and said "hey this says to bring my car to you if i'm going to drive on track and thats what I'm doing." There's clear language in their that competitive driving will void your warranty but I'm not driving competitively. I'm doing high performance driver education, duh!
2. I've purposefully avoided certain mods that I thought would potentially void my powertrain warranty. No tune, no full down pipes. I've done intercoolers, lower downpipes, air intakes, and exhaust.

Some pics from along the way

 

[5amp5on]

I'm sorry this happened to your car, but I'm happy Nissan took care of it.

 

[FSUZ33]

Really glad Nissan’s behind you on this. Is it back in service?
Also, curious, is only the right intake cover removed for a reason?
thought it was black, but that’s apparently the exposure of your profile pic.….and you need to add the Sebring course decal, unless you feel it’s bad mojo.

 

[sdktheway]

Really glad Nissan’s behind you on this. Is it back in service?
Also, curious, is only the right intake cover removed for a reason?
thought it was black, but that’s apparently the exposure of your profile pic.….and you need to add the Sebring course decal, unless you feel it’s bad mojo.

Haha the plastic broke and i've been lazy getting a replacement from AMS... The car is back and I'm currently doing my break-in process with the new engine!

 

[jdm-rhd]

glad to see that nissan is taking care it for you. i don't remember all the details, but a few years ago, there was an issue with people who were tracking their gt86 or and subaru had some issues with the engine.

it took a lot of online pressure from customers before they would fix these under warranty. anyone remember that and what was going on?

 

[up4speed]

glad to see that nissan is taking care it for you. i don't remember all the details, but a few years ago, there was an issue with people who were tracking their gt86 or and subaru had some issues with the engine.

it took a lot of online pressure from customers before they would fix these under warranty. anyone remember that and what was going on?

I remember clearly. I actually bought one to track it. I broke it in, then started doing research for brakes, etc. During the process of researching, I realized that if the car made long high G, sweeping right turns, the oil pressure would drop! It wasn't as simple as a baffled oil pain to fix it. I saw many tests to try different pans, etc. none made any difference. The only way to really fix it, was to convert to a dry sump oil system. It was way too much messing around for my liking, plus that would obviously void the warranty, so I reluctantly sold the car. I really loved and miss it, because it really was a wonderful car. It wasn't the fastest, but felt good, had a great chassis, and was low and light. It just feels really nimble and fun. I also miss the manual transmission on it. It really felt good (not as good as a Miata, but close).

 

[CPerdomo]

I posted about this in the "What did you do to your Z today?" thread but figured i'd make a separate post now that i've gotten my car back with a new engine and turbos covered under warranty.

What happened? I went to Sebring for the first time last month for my first track days of 2026. Everything was going fine till the last session of the first day when I got a reduced engine power warning because the oil temp had hit 280F. In 15+ track days this was only the second time i've ever gotten that warning. The first time was during a miserably hot weekend at VIR last summer and I backed off for a few corners and never saw that again till Sebring.

First thing that jumped out to me at Sebring when this happened was my oil temperature was just not coming back down when I backed off the throttle. It was just hovering there maybe only dropping a degree or two at a time but nothing like the first time where it very quickly cooled back down to more acceptable temps. Decided to take the car into the pits and I eventually saw my oil temps starting to come down. I wanted to keep the car moving to get some airflow so I decided to give it an easy drive around the area and thats when I noticed some really funky sounds coming from the engine bay. Next time I started it up it was very obvious something was wrong and just about everyone who heard it said it was rod knock.

Why did this happen? I'm not 100% sure... My hunch is it was the well known issue where the solenoid gets stuck open discussed here. I even had the solenoid block off ready to get installed but I was waiting to get a bunch of parts installed and unfortunately my coilovers didn't ship quickly enough to get installed before sebring so I just decided to wait till after. One other potential factor was I was on Vitour P1 tires for the first time which are grippier than the continental ECF tires I had previously been running. It was my first time at sebring but that's a track I probably know better than almost any other from quality time in Iracing, so I was fairly confident on track and might have been subjecting the engine to higher g-forces than on previous track days.

What am I doing to prevent this from happening again? Solenoid block off obviously, but also switching to a baffled oil pan and getting an oil pressure gauge put into the car. Changing the engine oil is something i've thought about doing as well, but I talked to the master tech about that and did not think I could keep the warranty on the engine if i switched to something like 5w-40. I think some folks in here have mentioned getting that switched at the dealership, and I'm curious how you did that because the manual seems very clear that you need to use 0w-20, and if you are going to drive on track you are supposed to fill it to the High mark on the dipstick.

Things I think helped with the warranty coverage:

1. I've maintained a great relationship with my service center from the very beginning. I've gone to them for all my fluid changes and have been very open with them about tracking my car. The first time I went in there I pointed out this section of the manual to them and said "hey this says to bring my car to you if i'm going to drive on track and thats what I'm doing." There's clear language in their that competitive driving will void your warranty but I'm not driving competitively. I'm doing high performance driver education, duh!
2. I've purposefully avoided certain mods that I thought would potentially void my powertrain warranty. No tune, no full down pipes. I've done intercoolers, lower downpipes, air intakes, and exhaust.

Some pics from along the way

Wow! quite a story. Thanks for sharing.
The only time I took my Nismo to the circuit, I did the same as taking the car to the dealer and letting them know that I was going to track it. They mentioned to keep an eye in the transmission oil level. That if it raised to 250* I should take the car back to the dealer afterwards in order to change the tranny fluid.
Now you have a new engine

 

[Zplz]

Glad to hear Nissan covered the engine. One question, though.

"What am I doing to prevent this from happening again? Solenoid block off obviously, but also switching to a baffled oil pan and getting an oil pressure gauge put into the car..."

You can't set your stock display to show oil pressure?

 

[FSUZ33]

You can't set your stock display to show oil pressure?

Not on the NISMO. It's got temps on all 4. Will never understand why Nissan decided the NISMO didn't need oil pressure. To me that's more of a brainless decision than making it AT-only. Albeit pitiful, at least they had some reasoning behind that.
It obviously has the ability to monitor it. Give owners the ability to toggle it in.
Stupid.

NISMO has:
- coolant
- engine oil
- transmission fluid
- diff oil

 

[chadhunley]

I'm thinking that an aftermarket oil cooler would benefit you since hitting temperatures of 280 and especially with 0w20 oil. Different people at dealerships have different opinions on oil viscosity. I was told by my dealer that 5w30 wouldn't void warranty. They said the main thing they look out for is that service intervals are done on time.

Did they get an oil sample to confirm that you were running 0w20? I'm pretty sure that some people have had engine replacements done under warranty using 5w30 oil. Although, the manual is very clear about 0w20. I guess it depends on the dealer and how you get around it with the corporate warranty claim. But it has been done.

Glad they got you back going. How many miles did you get out of the first engine?

 

[Zplz]

Not on the NISMO. It's got temps on all 4. Will never understand why Nissan decided the NISMO didn't need oil pressure. To me that's more of a brainless decision than making it AT-only. Albeit pitiful, at least they had some reasoning behind that.
It obviously has the ability to monitor it. Give owners the ability to toggle it in.
Stupid.

NISMO has:
- coolant
- engine oil
- transmission fluid
- diff oil

Wow. Thanks for that info. Weird that my Sport has it and, of all models, the NISMO doesn't.

 

[FSUZ33]

Don't get me started...
I've looked into aftermarket gauges, and although not terrible, they're not cheap. I haven't bit on one mainly because there's really no good factory-looking way to work one in.

 

[G M]

I've read your posts and it looks like you went by the book. Based on my research, I have to agree with you that the oil pressure solenoid stuck open. Having tracked my former ZR1 the only advice I can add is more frequent oil changes since I didn't see you address that issue. I used to do an oil change (with oil analysis) after every race weekend. The brand I was using was available in a 5 gallon pail so it was a little less painful than paying for a quart at a time. But as you know after factoring in all of the other costs, oil is but a blip.

Also, I would recommend an OBD2 device (e.g. Dash Logic for the Vette) that will allow you to set parameters for an alarm to sound at a pre-programmed value i.e. Oil Press <50 PSI.

Good luck with your new engine and let us know how it goes.

 

[kevinbonds]

Don't get me started...
I've looked into aftermarket gauges, and although not terrible, they're not cheap. I haven't bit on one mainly because there's really no good factory-looking way to work one in.

They make OB2 style gauges, so should work for the track; set up an alarm; either light or audible and disconnect it when street driving. Or, may be an expensive option, but you can get a mild tune, and RR6 has a setting to put car in limp mode based on oil pressure, among other safeguards.

 

[Midz10]

Don't get me started...
I've looked into aftermarket gauges, and although not terrible, they're not cheap. I haven't bit on one mainly because there's really no good factory-looking way to work one in.

Best one I found: (When I contacted him, he was open to custmize it for my liking)


https://www.opentop.fr/product-page/manomètre-pour-370z