Hey everyone,

So I live in Central NY and the temps here have been around -30 with windchill. The A4 has had some rough starts - but usually doesnt have any problems. Yesterday morning I went to let the car warm up for a while. Well I am assuming the Thermostat was frozen because the vents were not blowing warm air. Well during my 3 mile drive to work, the collant temp guage went way up - causing the warning light to come right as I pulled into the parking lot.

Lunchtime rolls around and the car starts, blows warm air, and temp gauge is good.

This morning - same thing - cold air through the vents. But this time that car didnt overheat on the way to work. And the CEL is now on. I should note that in this cold weather, when I first start the car, it doesnt idle at the usual 1100 rpm at first. It goes straight to the 700 - 800 idle. Im wondering if while I was inside my house letting ti warm up - it may have registered a misfire.

I havent checked the code yet - and yes I know there is nothing you can do without knowing the code it is throwing. but it only happened not even an hour ago - and I am at work now - so I wanted to see if anyone has had any similar problems in the cold.

Thanks everyone!

 

be sure you check your coolant level. Good chance you boiled some over if it was half frozen when it overheated the first day. And low coolant could be why you didn't overheat the second day. Top it off with straight G-12 and get your system a little stronger percentage for the cold temps.

 

Good Point, MKE... That didnt even cross my mind.

Im hoping the CEL isnt something huge. Would the coolant issue trigger any codes? I dont know all the codes - but I dont remember seeing anything that is coolant related.