Baiano

My dealer tells me that Audi believes that the 2.7T does not require a block heater... Eh, I realize that Audi's sh*t don't stink but that their engine don't need a block heater in -40^C / -50^C weather seems a bit much. Anyone else heard the same story from Audi??

dkirk

Use Synthetic 0w30 and you won't need a block heater.

Baiano

Are you sure, would that not be unduly hard on the engine?!

dkirk

I live in North Dakota, and have seen my share of cold weather. I haven't had to plug in a vehicle in years and years. I usually run 5w30 or 0w30 mobil 1 in all my vehicles. I garage them at night, but have never had a starting problem when they sit out. You should let the car run for a minute or two before taking off though, but that is what you should do with or without a block heater.

Doug

Baiano

... it's the wear and tear. Block-heaters serve two purposes, 1) to aid in starting an engine in frigid temperatures, and 2) probably more importantly these days with new cars, is that the oil flows quickly throughout the engine.

I'm sure that my engine will turn over, but I would like to avoid the 2x/3x/... daily grind of turning it over with very thick/cold oil, even synthetic loses some viscosity and therefore flow.

Granted we all allow our engines to gain temperature before driving our vehicles in the cold, and the same holds true for driving our vehicles hard in the summer. It would however be nice to remove one less unnecessary, and frequent in Canada, wear and tear of my car.

drhaller

or does Audi also not think the 2.7TT engine needs frost plugs?

I lived in Ottawa for years and had a block heater in every car... Carleton University even provided 110V plug-ins in the student parking lots!

/dan (now in California...)

Rich Martin

Was told my '01 came from the factory with 0w/Mobil 1

dkirk

to cause a problem. The only time you could run into a problem would be if you are starting at 50 or 60+ below F.

Doug