Techageguy

Experiencing my first really cold winter with my A6 3.0T and it seems like it takes a long time for the LED temp indicators to move up. Yesterday with the outside temp at 14 degrees it took 8 minutes of driving at 40 - 50 mph for the LED to move up one notch and 14 minutes to go all the way up to normal 4 LEDs lit.

My question - is this normal for this car or should I be visiting the dealer for a new thermostat?

Thanks in advance, Joel

zandym

Not sure if it is normal but this has been my experience as well.

One other thing I noticed is that there's a bit of shaking going on with the car when it is running cold.

noservice

Same here, drove 15 mins this morning, mostly highway and when i got to work it was only at 3 notches. hot air does start blowing out the vents even with 1 notch lit.

WAudiA6

Same here..but not as drastic..low so far around 36 degrees...i think that with the supercharger Audi made sure that the air was cool and dense before going into the engine..resulting in a longer time to get to operating temp..well that is my take anyway..

Grapeking

Check your RPMs. Eight speed tranny = low RPMs = slow engine warm-up. Heat seaters and steering wheel heater take the edge off the cold.

Jatmobil

The supercharger has nothing to do with the temp gauge in the instrument cluster. What it shows there is the coolant temperature. In cold weather, especially driving at 40 - 50 mph as mentioned by the OP, there will be lots of freezing air going over the radiator and thus not letting the coolant(and therefore the engine) reach a "normal" operating temperature in the same time as it would have on a not so cold day. If you drive at slower speeds, i.e. stop and go traffic, expect the engine to warm up faster, whether it gets to 4 notches depends on the length of the drive and ambient temperature.

Long story short, perfectly normal this time of the year. And then again, there is the option to block off partial air movement over the radiator..................

Rush2112

I noticed yesterday when the temps where around 15, that the car sounded like it was running a bit rough. As in there was a lot of metal on metal taking place. Just not the normal quiet I've been used to.

I attributed that to the fact it was extremely cold outside and the engine needed to warm up a bit and get the oil flowing.

I drove the car very gingerly and after about 2 miles the sound was all but gone.

at1183

I feel the same as everybody else. First winter, and my car takes a long time to warm up, idles a little rough, and makes funny noises. Its been in the low teens past few days in NY

Nyuni

Direct Injection engines seem to exhibit a noticable roughness in operation in very cold conditions until they get a bit warm - my previous DI vehicle exhibited the same kind of rough initial start/idle, in both that car and my A6 everything is normal within a few minutes. Do notice that the 3.0T does take a long time to get to operating temp when it's cold, I always just figured it was a characteristic of the vehicle and an efficient cooling system!

DeerHunter

I timed my S6 this morning and it took 15 minutes to light up the last LED. Outside temps were about -6C, but I was parked in a garage that was above freezing.