In a fortuitous twist of fate, I scored the keys to out 370Z last night, and in the brief time I spent behind the wheel I have some observations as well as a simple maintenance issue.
Brakes:
Accelerating off the line with a bit more aggression than needed, I noticed that the "BRAKE" light appeared in the left instrument pod, then disappeared a few seconds after feathering the throttle. This was repeatable at every green light I encountered. Fortunately, I've come across this before in one of my own rides (when pulling serious lateral G's instead of longitudinal, though). My diagnosis: slightly low brake fluid level.
Another issue that caught my eye was the "VDC OFF" light remained lit during my morning commute. The VDC relies on the brake system to maintain stability, so I'm assuming this is related to the low brake fluid level. The light went away after I shut-down and restarted the engine (maybe it's powered by Microsoft?).
Pop the hood, find the brake fluid resevoir, and there's it is -- the level's right between the high and low marks. I'll bring this to the attention of the Mikes and hopefully this is the actual culprit of the intermittent BRAKE light.
Blips and Revs:
I've spent the better part of the last decade honing my heel-toe downshift craft, and, I can confidently say, "Yeah, I've mastered it." I'm also fairly proficient at traditional, and more complicated double-clutch downshifts in vintage racecars. With that self-aggrandizement out of the way (bow down to the master of soon-to-be obsolete skills!), I am completely enamoured with the Z's Synchro RevMatch system.
I challenged myself to do it better and failed. **sigh** I've been replaced by a machine...but wait, something's not adding up here. A good heel-toe downshift requires a strong throttle blip that shoots the tach past the point of the matched revs of the next lowest gear. The clutch isn't re-engaged until after the revs begin to fall.
Here's what I discovered about the Z that makes me feel better about being beat by a computer: With the Synchro RevMatch off, I executed the typical heel-toe and noticed that the revs didn't fall as quickly as I'd expected. Using my normal downshift tempo, I was dumping the clutch while the revs were too high. So the solution was to pause before clutch re-engagement (not at all racy), or attempt to blip precisely to where the revs are in the next lowest gear (difficult, but not impossible).
I now contend that Synchro RevMatch is necessary in the Z because of the drivetrain's inability to affect a proper heel-toe downshift without the aid of a computer. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it, anyways.
Mark Takahashi, Associate Editor @ 6,533 miles
rick8365 says:
09:42 AM, 05/21/09
I dunno - I had a 6spd Frontier for 3 years and it had the hanging rev tendency (up or down shifting). I'm no heel/toe guy but after 20+ of driving manuals I am quite smooth (my own self-aggrandizement there). I've taken pride in being smooth, I can say that it took a while to adjust to this hanging rev tendency in the Frontier - to once again be consistently smooth. Read somewhere that it's programmed in for emissions reasons.
felonious says:
10:07 AM, 05/21/09
"Read somewhere that it's programmed in for emissions reasons."
Yep, many cars are like that.
wizard8873 says:
11:01 AM, 05/21/09
didn't the Civic Si have the same issue with hanging revs? I remember reading about it on some of the blogs and entries
tekknikal says:
11:17 AM, 05/21/09
iirc if brake fluid is low that may cause the vdcoff light to come on also
speedyshift says:
11:27 AM, 05/21/09
Does the 370Z offer a hill-start assist function? Could that be the reason for the BRAKE light coming on? Maybe?
stovt001 says:
11:32 AM, 05/21/09
"bow down to the master of soon-to-be obsolete skills!"
Quote of the day. I really like what I'm reading about the Z. If I drive it myself and find the lack of engine sophistication to not be too bad and I can convince myself I only need two seats, I would add it near the top of my list. Maybe I'll have to pop over to a Nissan dealer sometime.
trentor says:
11:37 AM, 05/21/09
yeah, the VQ35 is definitely known by enthusiast owners to hang onto revs a little too long.
As far as the brake fluid, I have the same issue in my G35 if the fluid gets too much below the half-way point. Any good romp on the pedal will turn on the lights and restarting always resets them. Although, I get the ABS light as well.
trentor says:
11:38 AM, 05/21/09
^ obviously, the 370 doesn't have the VQ35, but it's similar enough
wobbly_ears says:
11:57 AM, 05/21/09
BTW, on a sidenote, can you guys go easy on animated GIFs plz? I peruse the site on my Android G1 phone & the blasted browser doesn't do animated GIFs!! (Google, are you LISTENING???)
cuthgood130 says:
01:11 PM, 05/21/09
Does anyone know (or know how to find out) if Infinity will be offering Synchro RevMatch on the 2010 G37 6MT? I'd like to know if I should wait for the technology or pull the trigger on a pretty good deal now - I live in LA and am under the impression that this "game-changer" could make my commute quite a bit easier (I refuse to drive an automatic).
Thanks!
stovt001 says:
01:11 PM, 05/21/09
Yeah, what is with the GIF explosion recently? I'm not against it where appropriate, but it seems like in the last few days we've gone from none to nearly every single post. Did someone just figure out how to do it?
waevox says:
01:17 PM, 05/21/09
Me thinks the IL crew got a copy of ImageReady or something. Waiting for flash next. =)
mikeolan says:
01:26 PM, 05/21/09
You know honestly, the fuel gauge doesn't look so bad here. A night thing?
mtakahashi says:
01:36 PM, 05/21/09
UPDATE: Filled the brake fluid resevoir up to the top line and, voila! No more brake warning light.
wobbly: The iPhone supports animated GIFs, plus it has some super cool automotive apps.
Speaking of GIFs, well, in my former life I was an art director and graphics slave. Personally, I think it adds a little oomph to an otherwise static page, but perhaps unnecessary on this particular post. I hope we can add flash to the blogs, though...Flash rocks!
elyliu33 says:
02:13 PM, 05/21/09
Can you just install an aftermarket flywheel that's lighter?....
wobbly_ears says:
02:25 PM, 05/21/09
@mtakahashi
"The iPhone supports animated GIFs, plus it has some super cool automotive apps."
Blasphemy!! Android all the way!!!
carguy622 says:
06:14 PM, 05/21/09
No... not a "mac vs. any other operating system" fight on a car blog. I read too much of that on C|Net already ;)
stovt001 says:
12:34 AM, 05/22/09
Mac is the Toyota of the computer world
[stirs pot and runs, quickly]