Well its approaching faster then I'd like it to, but what can ya do? So I live in MN obviously just look at the name. I was wondering if anything special has to be done for the turbos to prep em for winter. I've already noticed that driving to work and leaving work sucks. I let the car warm up for a minimum of 10 minutes and the tranny still doesn't like to shift gears right away. So aside from letting the car warm up for an hour is there anything else that can be done so turbos and tranny don't get wrecked with cold weather driving?

 

Hi, MNA6

You're already doing the best thing for your car by allowing it to warm up prior to driving. The only other suggestions I would make are to ensure that your antifreeze mix in your coolant is high enough for the freezing winter temps, and try and resist the urge to drive the car hard until you allow all of the fluid temps to come up to normal. A lot of drivers don't realize that allowing an engine to warm and the oil to circulate doesn't do much for the transmission and warming its fluid. Just drive the car conservatively until all of the fluids come up to temperature.

 

Make sure you're using a full synthetic 0W-40 oil like Mobil1. You need something that stays thin to lube those turbos.

I generally keep my A6 garaged, but last winter I was in Chicago in -4o weather and it started fine. I did let it warm up for 2-3 minutes and then accelerated slowly for the first few miles. The MT6 felt like it was shifting through molasses but it went into every gear without problem.

Years and years ago, when I used to park cars outside, I invested in a block heater that kept the water warm and moving. Not sure if this is an available or affordable aftermarket option for an A6.

 

I don't know what kind of oil the previous owner used before trading it in. Is it safe to use sythetic if they used regular oil? The car already has 105,000 and I'm bringing it to get an oil change for my first time tomorrow .

 

Yes get synthetic, WHY NOT?!