Cold Weather Qattro Quirk

[tturse@ps-b.com (Thomas Turse)]

Hi all, just got back from a nice, well-deserved vacation.  Couldn't find
any good snow in Colorado though.  Oh well- it's coming.  Anyway, on this
trip my car started doing something strange.  In the cold weather when I get
to speeds above about 50 mph, my temp gauge drops into the white marks at
the very bottom and the heat in from the vents gets noticeably cooler.  The
temp seems normal driving around town.  My mechanic said something about
putting cardboard in between the radiator to stop the cold air from getting
in- it's a new radiator.  The only problem is that it didn't do this last
winter.  I just replaced the thermostat last week thinking this was a
possible solution to no avail.  The temp here just dropped into the single
digits and even with 3/4 of my radiator covered w/ cardboard it still drops.
It did seem to help a little.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
as always.

Sincerely,

Thomas C.  Turse
85 4ksq
Boulder, CO
tturse@ps-b.com