no subject, I'll think I'll call it winter driving

[George Selby]

At 05:11 PM 2/10/03, you wrote:
>1=2E Engine turned over slowly after sitting in 8-12*F air for 48 hours (en=
>gine has 20W50 in it). Seems normal considering the oil must have been the =
>consistancy of mudd when I started it.
>
>2=2E My oil temp seems to fluctuate quite a bit. Around town it usually sta=
>ys right at 90*C, but slowly heats up during sustained hightway runs. 65-70=
>MPH =3D 120-125*C, 70-75MPH =3D 125-130*C, and 75-80MPH =3D 130-135*F all a=
>ccording to the digi gauge. I have no idea how accurate this gauge is. This=
>  was all with ambient temps in the 30s. Water temp was rock solid @ 1 tick =
>below 1/2 on the digi gauge. Is this normal?
>
>3=2E My FWD CGT did better on the wisty and snow covered mountian roads tha=
>n my friends ford Explorer 4WD. How cool is that? Imagine if I had quattro.=
>.=2E

Here's my commentary on yours:

1. I usually change weights summer/winter in my cars, and I only live in
eastern NC not known for severely cold winters, although it dropped to the
low teen for several days here, quite rare.)  I wouldn't think of using
20W50 in 10 degree weather.  The oil filter could explode, or part of the
oil pump drive could have let go.  Specs call for 20W50 over 14 degrees,
15W40 for 5 to 86 degrees, and 10W30 for -4 to 50 degrees.  You can get
15W40 by mixing 10W30 and 20W50 of the same brand/type in equal amounts, I
think that's what I would have done.

2.  That oil gauge just showed you that you really do need to drive you car
at highway speeds for several miles (15-30) in order to really warm up your
oil.  Everyone who told you that around town driving was the worst for your
car was correct.  My gauge's temp would indicate a temp drop by the time
you made it off the off-ramp, and would never warm up fully when driving
around town.  So basically the gauge is very accurate, and you should pay
attention to it (like not flooring it when it indicates low oil
temp.)   The thermostat holds the engine's water temp steady (especially in
colder weather.)

3.  I was thinking my same thought myself when I was driving my former 86
CGT Comm Ed. in the snow.  Thoughts like "German Snow Machine" and "Quattro
would make this thing unstoppable in the winter" came to my mind, about 25
seconds later I was spinning around, then travelling at about 50 mph
backwards and went entirely through the roadside ditch and stopped mere
inches from a major telephone junctions box (big $$$ to fix, and for loss
of service to the telephone co. had I struck it)   A sheriff who stopped to
assist me caused a major pileup by reversing his car just past a hill on a
snow covered road where I screwed up (the cars came over the hill, saw the
reversing sheriff in their lane of travel, and general chaos ensued.  Only
damage to my car was a broken panhard rod in the back, and it took me a
couple of days to notice it (the back end just felt "loose".)  I later
discovered that I actually didn't prefer the Quattro's, the added weight
ruins the handling of the car.  I have had a CGT, a 4kcs, and a 4kcsq, and
probably liked them in that order.  (the 5cyl power with the 2wd chassis
combines the best of both worlds IMHO.)  Notice I'm back to a CGT.


George Selby
83 Audi Coupe GT
gselby4x4 at earthlink.net