Oil too good?

[jrc2905]

After fixing a water pump on a 1995 Nissan Sentra, I changed the oil to a semi-synthetic I ran the engine to purge the air out of the cooing system. I used one of the new oil filters from Fram. The problem was that the engine would not get hot enough to open the t-stat and circulate the water through the engine. I replaced the t-stat thinking it was defective. Still same problem no coolant circulating, I put my hand on the engine and it was warm but not hot. Took the car for a ride still no circulation of the coolant. The return hose from the radiator was not even warm. Took the coolant hoses off to check for blockage, nothing.
The whole thing spooked me so much that I changed the oil and put regular oil back in. Ran the engine again and it got hot enough to circulate the coolant. If I did not see this myself I would not believe it. Please comment on this. This was on a 60 degree day and the car ran about a half hour and the temp gauge was always normal.

 

[coal68]

What oil keeps the temp so low.

 

[kcryan]

did harry houdini sell you this oil?

 

[Frank D]

It's not the oil. My 96 Sentra would never get up to temperature at idle. It had to be driven to get up to temperature. Even at fast idle it would take forever to get up to temperature.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

I have a 93 Sentra. It does take a while to warm up and get the thermostat to open, especially on a cooler day. But, I question how you are purging the air. My experience is Nissan has a specific procedure to purge the air. I used it the first time last month, and it work well. Here is the procedure:

http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=71050

Don't know if you used this procedure?

 

[JHZR2]

My 91 BMW has a small (1.8L) engine. The thing can barely keep itself warm, unless Im driving on the highway. If I shut the car off for 5 minutes on a hot day, the temperature needle will have already begun to drop. The car has a relatively large radiator and a finned oil pan.

My GF's acura also has a 1.8L engine, and it has a hard time keeping itself warm, it exhibits the same behavior as my BMW. However, with light use, it will be up to temperature within a minute or 2 instead of more like 5-10 for my BMW.

Dont know why... But I doubt it was the oil that did it... You likely heat soaked the engine with the first run, and then the second run put out enough heat to get the temperature way up quick and easy.

JMH

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by MONKEYMAN:
Here is the procedure:

http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=71050

Don't know if you used this procedure?

---

Hahahahaha..it would take a month of Sundays to do that.

I'm not knocking it but its typical Car Manufacturer stuff. I have an 01 Sentra (SR20DE )and it is a little finiky. I just run it on a couple 5 mile or so trips and recheck and add coolant as necessary.

 

[jrc2905]

When I say purge the air I mean that I was checking to make sure that there is proper coolant flow through the engine. The oil was Castrol semi synthetic 5-30. After a half hour no part of the engine other than the exhaust manifold was anything other than warm. You would only notice this is you were looking for coolant flow on a cold engine, the temp gauge read normal. When I say “too good” I was asking is it bad over the long term for superior oil to keep an engine at too low an operating temperature.

 

[haley10]

Don't attribute this to the oil at all. I have Castrol Syntec Blend 5W-30 in the Ford truck. It's up to temp. in no time. It doesn't behave any different than it did with Havoline dino. Not oil related. Can't be. It's strictly a function of the cooling system.

 

[JHZR2]

yeah, if the oil was THAT good, there would benegligible frictional losses in the engine and we'd all be getting 100 MPG.

JMH

 

[racuda]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MONKEYMAN:
I have a 93 Sentra. It does take a while to warm up and get the thermostat to open, especially on a cooler day. But, I question how you are purging the air. My experience is Nissan has a specific procedure to purge the air. I used it the first time last month, and it work well. Here is the procedure:

http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=71050

Don't know if you used this procedure?

---

I screwed up a 93 Nissan Pickup by incorrectly refilling the coolant after replacing a thermostat. It overheated and blew the head gasket.