Winters here with Vengeance

[Stevey Y]

Hi Gents just going through my first proper winter in the A6 and just thought I would highlight a couple of experiences, no problem starting at -6 degrees but unless you leave it for  at least fifteen mins it takes an hour or so before you get red hot air, regens are far fewer as below +6 degrees the EGR won't open otherwise allied to the really cold air coming in the car would not run therefore less reburning of the exhaust gas, all seasons tyres are a must have not found any side roads with thick snow that I can't get in and out of and you can see where the extra money went, all in all very pleased, oh and usual strange noises from the discs first thing as the thousands of tons of road salt corrode the surfaces of the discs overnight also getting slightly less to the gallon as the extra cold intake charge of air can't atomise the fuel as efficiently, bigger fuel droplets don't burn as well.

Steve.

[coupe4]

interesting points stevey thanks,-4 is the coldest its gotten here in southern eire so far,hopefully it will start going the other way soon

[Steve Q]

Interesting day. Not only did I have to defrost the windscreen on the inside which created nice snow shower, but the outside temp gauge was telling me it was 13 degrees. Oh the irony 😂🤣 just to add no wet carpets. No issues with battery tray or pollen filter housings etc.

 

[Stevey Y]

22 hours ago, coupe4 said:

interesting points stevey thanks,-4 is the coldest its gotten here in southern eire so far,hopefully it will start going the other way soon

Hi I can better that this morning was minus eight so I had to cycle the glow plugs three times to get it to start, the best bit was no screen washers for the first two hours as some lame brain !Removed! engineer thought its a good shout to use an armoured plastic transfer pipe to the jets mounted on the bonnet and despite running neat screen wash the bar steward still freezes up, none of my Fords ever did this as the feed pipes were between the inner surface of the bonnet and the insulation, the award for genius goes to my old Alfa 147 where the washer bottle top area was wrapped around the expansion tank so it was always warm and never froze up in the ten years I owned it, I am gradually beginning to see through the myth of Audi build quality how did they miss this one when testing.

Steve.

[Stevey Y]

Hi Chaps, update the temp has gone up to 11+ degrees and I obviously now ave instant start and washers, the downside is the strange noises from the front are not the pack ice I am rolling over but the front wheel bearings rumbling, over a 140k and the potholes have finally done for them, mind you it looks like a fairly simple job to change them provided you buy the hub flange version which is already pressed in, Boo Hoo more expense on top of Christmas.

Steve.

[Magnet]

Hi Steve, 

‘… cycle the glow plugs three times…’? Pardon my ignorance but is this providing ‘ignition’ for x seconds, switching off and repeating. I have a non-Audi with the abominable stop/start (which I disable), but start is press button and glow plug coil shows as I hold the button for few seconds ( rather than instant when temps. are higher). Start in cold temps is not that even (missing) for a few seconds before it comes up onto song. 
Many thanks for sharing your valuable on-the-street experiences for the benefit of others.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

 

[Stevey Y]

22 hours ago, Magnet said:

Hi Steve, 

‘… cycle the glow plugs three times…’? Pardon my ignorance but is this providing ‘ignition’ for x seconds, switching off and repeating. I have a non-Audi with the abominable stop/start (which I disable), but start is press button and glow plug coil shows as I hold the button for few seconds ( rather than instant when temps. are higher). Start in cold temps is not that even (missing) for a few seconds before it comes up onto song. 
Many thanks for sharing your valuable on-the-street experiences for the benefit of others.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

 

Hi Gareth thats about the long and the short of it, you don't have to hold the start button down I did mine without pushing the clutch pedal down the first two times and engaging the clutch to start third time just pushing  the start button once allow the glow plug light to go out and away we go this works 90 percent of the time when the plugs are getting tired or in my case just freezing ambient air coming in, its a bit like boiling a kettle it takes less time to reheat the more you do it and the heat is more intense, had a result today got two new SKF o.e. bearings from carparts in motion for £150.00 no hub flanges in them but all new bolts, my man reckons the flanges can be used out of the old units, we will see.......

Steve.

[Steve Q]

I've had to do the glowplug cycle 2-3 times prior to my new glowplugs. Only 3 out of the 6 were working. 

Noe the ice has gone I'm wondering if I do have serious water ingress in the A6 as the condensation is crazy. I think I'll have to take to carpets up 😬 I just hope my CCM isn't drowned. 

[Anton8]

If I keep my foot off the brake pedal, press start, put seat belt on, Then press brake pedal , press start again it all comes alive straight away. 

One thing though, my headlight washers deploy if it has been standing out in the freezing weather. 

[Tigger]

@Anton8 - I read that was caused by the water in the pipes to the headlight washers freezing up and expanding - in several cases it popped the bumper-coloured top off the washers, or burst the pipes - hopefully yours is not that bad...

@Stevey Y - I could not agree more about the engineering of the Washer Fluid pipes! I was shocked! I came from a 2005 Mondeo as my last car that had heated washer jets and flexible pipes that never  froze up (down to -10°C) as long as the -15°C washer fluid was undiluted. Now, with my A6 it all froze up at -2°C with the same undiluted fluid! Most disappointing! I even started investigating 'heated washer jets' as an upgrade to my A6 - only to find I already have them! (Allegedly - I do wonder though...!?)

Leaning out the window of a 'luxury car' to squirt water on the screen at traffic lights is not a good look!

(I do miss my heated screen too - never had to use an Ice Scraper before this winter!)

@Steve Q - That definitely does sound like a water ingress problem, sadly... Unless you had very wet clothing in a previous trip that might have given a 'moist' atmosphere to the car, which then froze...? You shouldn't have 'internal snow' just from your breath... I hope you find and resolve it.

 

Regards,

Tigger

[Stevey Y]

5 hours ago, Tigger said:

@Anton8 - I read that was caused by the water in the pipes to the headlight washers freezing up and expanding - in several cases it popped the bumper-coloured top off the washers, or burst the pipes - hopefully yours is not that bad...

@Stevey Y - I could not agree more about the engineering of the Washer Fluid pipes! I was shocked! I came from a 2005 Mondeo as my last car that had heated washer jets and flexible pipes that never  froze up (down to -10°C) as long as the -15°C washer fluid was undiluted. Now, with my A6 it all froze up at -2°C with the same undiluted fluid! Most disappointing! I even started investigating 'heated washer jets' as an upgrade to my A6 - only to find I already have them! (Allegedly - I do wonder though...!?)

Leaning out the window of a 'luxury car' to squirt water on the screen at traffic lights is not a good look!

(I do miss my heated screen too - never had to use an Ice Scraper before this winter!)

@Steve Q - That definitely does sound like a water ingress problem, sadly... Unless you had very wet clothing in a previous trip that might have given a 'moist' atmosphere to the car, which then froze...? You shouldn't have 'internal snow' just from your breath... I hope you find and resolve it.

 

Regards,

Tigger

Hi Fords Quickclear windscreen was a revelation and they guard the patent for it aggressively thats why no other car manufacturer uses them unless they have been granted a licence to do so by Ford at great expense.

The main freezing point is the run of pipe that passes through the bonnet this is some sort of clear plastic garbage covered with amour flex wiring loom protector rather than the silicone and rubber mix Ford use which can't freeze, I am going to convert mine in the summer, the only upside is the washer jets are easy to remove but if you break one they are fortunes new.

Steve.

[Steve Q]

8 hours ago, Tigger said:

@Anton8 - I read that was caused by the water in the pipes to the headlight washers freezing up and expanding - in several cases it popped the bumper-coloured top off the washers, or burst the pipes - hopefully yours is not that bad...

@Stevey Y - I could not agree more about the engineering of the Washer Fluid pipes! I was shocked! I came from a 2005 Mondeo as my last car that had heated washer jets and flexible pipes that never  froze up (down to -10°C) as long as the -15°C washer fluid was undiluted. Now, with my A6 it all froze up at -2°C with the same undiluted fluid! Most disappointing! I even started investigating 'heated washer jets' as an upgrade to my A6 - only to find I already have them! (Allegedly - I do wonder though...!?)

Leaning out the window of a 'luxury car' to squirt water on the screen at traffic lights is not a good look!

(I do miss my heated screen too - never had to use an Ice Scraper before this winter!)

@Steve Q - That definitely does sound like a water ingress problem, sadly... Unless you had very wet clothing in a previous trip that might have given a 'moist' atmosphere to the car, which then froze...? You shouldn't have 'internal snow' just from your breath... I hope you find and resolve it.

 

Regards,

Tigger

Yep I'm looking into it as it's a worry. 

 

2 hours ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi Fords Quickclear windscreen was a revelation and they guard the patent for it aggressively thats why no other car manufacturer uses them unless they have been granted a licence to do so by Ford at great expense.

The main freezing point is the run of pipe that passes through the bonnet this is some sort of clear plastic garbage covered with amour flex wiring loom protector rather than the silicone and rubber mix Ford use which can't freeze, I am going to convert mine in the summer, the only upside is the washer jets are easy to remove but if you break one they are fortunes new.

Steve.

I have a suspicion Steve we will see other manufacturers with heated windscreens from now on as I believe Fords patent has expired.