[s-cars] Subject: engine block heater

[Tom Winter]

On 10/1/08 11:50 PM, " Varon H. Fugman" <vfugman at globaldialog.com> wrote:

> I?ve just moved to northern Wisconsin where I can expect some -10F mornings
(and a few even colder!) over the winter.

I've owned an early non turbo 5000, two 5000 csq avants, and a 4000 csq in
addition to my current ride, a '95 S6 Avant.

All of these cars have lived for much of the winter at 8,000 feet on
Colorado's western slope. I won't say that the temps spend a lot of time
below -10F (I wasn't in Frazier!) but it gets plenty cold at that altitude
and no worries ever. You can tweak your oil and coolant for the winter if
you are concerned. I know folks here run different oil in the winter and a
more aggressive anti-freeze mixture, but I've never bothered with that
(lazy? Yes!).

I suppose you'd get more heat into the cabin faster if you had a block
heater on the car. But I wouldn't do it. I would, however, get that seat
heater working. I'm obviously getting old, because aside from the quattro,
it's my favorite "winter" feature on my car. ;-)

Tom '95 S6 Avant (heated seats front and back)