TDI Engine gets cold again when idling

Jon_w

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Driving to work the last few days, I've noticed a peculiar phenomenon. My route takes me on a motorway for about 10mins then what is essentially an A road for 40 mins. The car warms up whilst driving down the thankfully ice-free the motorway, but as soon as I start on the smaller roads and driving slower with lower revs, the car cools down again to the 50 degree mark. Is that normal? Its -22 here and I have the 140 TDI.

On another note, the last couple of days when I've been driving, its felt like the brakes were on slightly. I've checked that it wasnt snow or ice building up in the arches so wondered if it maybe the brakes were frozen on somehow, if thats possible? :think:
 
Regarding engine temperature I can report the exact same thing happening here in Oslo, I have the same engine as you, and if I'm not using the Auxiliary Heater (audi original dieselheater) my engine never reaches 90 degrees when -20 outside unless traveling on highways. At slower speeds, for instance inside city center or in traffic jams, the engine temperature drops fast, so then I also start the diesel heater to maintain 90 degrees. Maybe the recently introduced 7% Biodiesel crap has got something to do with this? I don't recall this problem last winter, but then again I don't think it was as cold as it is this year.
 
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Good to know its not just me then. I didn't notice it last year either. Did the diesel heater come on the car as standard or did you get it retro-fitted? I imported my A3 from germany, so some things that are maybe standard from Møller didn't come with mine.

Do you know how much it might cost? I was looking around the shops the other day (admit I didn't go to audi though) and all I could find were the "kupévarmer" and the type you plug into the house like the DEFA ones, neither of which help, because I own a decent jacket and the car is normally parked about 200 metres down the road from me.

Im a bit reluctant to splash out much more than about 3000 on one, as its not normally much below -15 (its back to -12 today), but would be handy for the ski weekends (Inoticed Geilo was -30) last night. I cant imagine that would be too good for the engine or turbo with thicker colder oil.

Is the biodiesel addition in all stations now? I've only seen it marked in statoil.
 
The axillary heater is an option only in certain countries and I doubt it'd be easy to retrofit as it's an electronically controlled diesel burner. It has other functions such as being able to switch it on at a preset time to warm the car up ready for you to get in it. I tried to spec it on mine but I had no chance.

If it can be retrofitted then I might be interested :)
 
Yeah, thats what I've been loking for. My friends dad owns a transport company in berkshire, and whilst helping out at weekends sometimes, I saw a few of the aux heaters for the lorries (aka night heaters). I'm assuming they were quite a bit bigger than what I need, but they burnt around half a pint of diesel a night to keep the whole cab warm. One for an A3 I assume would use a lot less, and would only be required on the coldest nights and even then only just before start up, and when driving in -20 like the other day.

I guess I'll take a trip down to the audi garage and see If its possible to retrofit. If it is, I'll find out the part costs and posting, otherwise I could maybe bring one back next time I come home to berkshire.

If you have a garage, or can get an extension lead to your car then there are several companies over here that do electrical aftermarket ones. The problem with those though is you need a plug socket on the outside of the car and as said earlier, i can't do that where I live now and I certainly have no intention of modifying my car to make it look like a G-wizz!
 
The audi axillary heater is definitely not standard equipment, it did cost 15000 kr when I ordered the car new. Retrofit is around 25000 kr (webasto). I love it as it has 3 timers controllable from the dashboard cluster, and you can also turn it on/off using its own remote control. It can even run in the hot summer to ventilate the car, for instance if the car has been in the sun all day and you cannot open all windows to let all the hot air out. And the thing is smart as well, if the diesel level is too low it does not start, or it stops when the level is too low, and also the same regarding the electric voltage level of the battery.
 
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Well, I popped into Audi on the way home, and they suggested 7-800 pounds for the parts for the webasto heater, but they will not fit it themselves. The garage to do that was closed by the time they had figured out what I was after. Kept trying to sell me the electric version.

English site for the heater is www.parkingheater.co.uk

It got down to -18 again today and noticed the car cooling again, so now need to work out what I want/need the most. Heater or RNS-e or S3 kit. But first need to sort out the suspension.