Warming up your Audi in the Winter

[PlayitLeo]

I live in Wisconsin and it gets cold! My boyfriend wants me to let my Audi run for at least 15 minutes before we drive it anywhere. I have never really done this and I fear it is doing more harm than good. He says he is the car guy and he would know, but cars are built different these days...Any words of advice?

[S4'ed]

Warm it up.

[Fast4esT]

15 minutes sounds excessive. I would give it a couple minutes if you want to when its really cold. research suggests the car and systems warm up together and warm up better when driving. just be gentle with it during warm up.

[Spike00513]

I live in Wisconsin and it gets cold! My boyfriend wants me to let my Audi run for at least 15 minutes before we drive it anywhere. I have never really done this and I fear it is doing more harm than good. He says he is the car guy and he would know, but cars are built different these days...Any words of advice?

what's a car guy

15min is excessive
cold weather environment cars have heating devices.
Oil is designed to be thinner at cold start.

you know what warms a car up? Driving.
It's more RPM. And load.
And use of other drivetrain components to warm them up as well.
IDK about Antarctica, but any place I've lived down to 0degF folks are not idling 15min.

You know what doesn't warm up, or takes long? Idling. Which is low RPM.
That leaves the engine in a cold state (more wear) for longer.

Has nothing to do with model year.

A minute or a couple minutes is understandable. Not 15.
That's why many performance cars have a gauge cluster that limits RPM when cold. It can be driven. Not redlined.
Got an oil temp gauge? Nope. Well if you did, you'd see just how long it takes for oil to warm up. Long. Much longer than coolant. And that's driving.
If they were concerned about oil temp, they'd get an oil temp gauge

[RMode]

The best way to warm it is to drive it. 49 cars to date, nearing 20 Audis. 5 owned currently, old to new (er).


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[Norskie]

I live in Wisconsin and it gets cold! My boyfriend wants me to let my Audi run for at least 15 minutes before we drive it anywhere.

I live in MN and it gets even colder! (but I have a garage so I'm a wimp .... I also have a remote starter for when I'm not in a garage ...)

Presumably you've parked outside and you need to clear the snow and scrape your windows. Let it warm up while you're doing that and then drive gently away.

I'm assuming you don't live next to a freeway ramp where you'll be asking the engine for higher output within seconds of pulling away.

Presumably you have a 2.0 turbo? Once you start driving the turbo will quickly heat the oil .. at idle it will take much longer to warm up.

He says he is the car guy and he would know, but cars are built different these days...Any words of advice?

You're right, cars are built differently. When I was young - i.e. 30+ years ago - we had to let our cars warm up longer to get the fueling right ... carburetors and big iron engine blocks took a while to warm up and the fuel would condense on the cold metal surfaces. Fuel injection and plastic intake manifolds changed that. Also, today's oil technology and metallurgy is vastly superior to what it was like in the olden days.

Some advice for your "Car Guy":

What kills these Audi engines are stretched timing chains and burning oil, regardless how long you let the engine warm up.

Both issues are likely preventable.

Tell him to get a VCDS and monitor the cam phaser - this will tell him when the chain has stretched too much and needs to be replaced. From what others have mentioned on this forum that's likely going to be need every 90k or so, but there is some variation (hence why it needs to be monitored). Timing chain replacement is about $1200 - but if it isn't done in time then it can destroy your engine.

The oil consumption is usually caused by Audi's stupid windowed piston ring design getting clogged with soot from the direct injection. Best way to prevent this is to change your oil often - like every 3k miles or so. Using FCPEuro.com you can get your oil changes down to about $25 - and with an extractor it'll take 30 minutes and no need to get under the vehicle.

If you're already adding oil there might be some good options using engine flushes - others have reported good results. If this is the case come back and search our forum or make a new post.

[freshjive]

No harm in letting the vehicle warm up for 10-15 minutes before driving. I'm up north in Alberta canada and were seeing temps as low as -40C. When it's that cold the oil is thick. Once it warms up the oil will thin out just fine. Just don't romp on it when you start driving.
If it was the spring/summer time no more than 5 minutes and you'll be fine.

You'll do more harm doing frequent short trips without letting the oil get up to operating temperature.

[19birel]

Not necessary, as previously stated driving it actually helps it warm up quicker. Just do not accelerate hard until the oil comes up to temp, that is the important thing.

That said, it's not hurting your car at all. Occasionally I warm mine up, just so temp inside the car is nice and warm before I drive to work.

[Black&Blue]

All I know is that before my PCV was done(3.0), idling and traffic increased oil consumption greatly.