How does your car react to the changing seasons?

[ryanhorlacher]

As soon as fall came mine suddenly started cranking slowly. The auto trans also stopped slipping in 4th while cruising on the freeway. These could have nothing to do with the weather, so I figured I'd ask if anyone else notices specific changes in their cars when the weather changes.

 

[larithmos]

Bump.

 

[TonyJetta]

Yesterday morning was in the low 40s; Passat started up no trouble! 2 seconds of gray smoke and lots of rattle, but it started right up.

I agree...check your battery. Maybe a little undersized. I can see how someone at the vanilla autoparts store would sell an unsuspecting owner a battery for a V6 motor. V6 is Group 41, 500CCA / TDI group 41, 650 CCA.

Also, with temperature changes hot-cold or cold-hot, the battery will reveal a weak cell, preventing full charging and discharging (i.e. starting)

Tony

 

[Lefty]

When the weather gets colder I am colder. I get less MPG in the winter and the car seems sluggish in the winter to me.

 

[n1das]

My 02 Golf TDI with "only" 297k miles on it absolutely LOVES the colder air! My favorite time of year to drive it is in the dead of winter when the temps drop into the single digits and below zero (F). It definitely makes a lot more power in the dense cold artic air. I love haulin' arse on the highway in the wicked cold air.

 

[Inspector14]

my car starts slow too. but the battery is good. got it new last year, big interstate. tested it 3 weeks ago and it has a full charge. i replaced the old battery because it started slow too.

just put my snow tires on, and noticed my milage went up a bit. but thats cuz im not flogging the car every where on the ice.

 

[bigwoode]

^I was going to say normally snow tires make worse mileage!

 

[Mike_Parker]

Mine starts a little harder

But it always starts fine. It runs a bit rough for a couple minutes it it's left idling, but kicks in just fine under load. My mileage will drop a tad in the winter, possible down to 43, but never worse than that. Typically it's about 45 in the winter and 46-47 in the summer and I driver it like I stole it

 

[Souzafone]

Can't relate to tranny woes, but the single digit stuff makes it difficult to warm up. Frostheater makes starting easy, and heat is damn near instant in all but the coldest weather here. Mpg's down, power up. Always use anti-gel when well below freezing. Get a battery rated at least 80 amp/hrs for northern climes, it's only going to get colder for awhile yet.

 

[Lex4TDI4Life]

i am curious to see if the colder weather will make my clutch slip. PP520s and RC2 have not slipped my clutch yet, despite conventional wisdom.

 

[jettawreck]

My 02 Golf TDI with "only" 297k miles on it absolutely LOVES the colder air! My favorite time of year to drive it is in the dead of winter when the temps drop into the single digits and below zero (F). It definitely makes a lot more power in the dense cold artic air. I love haulin' arse on the highway in the wicked cold air.

Agreed. Once it's started the TDI loves the cold air (the operator not so much). Mileage goes down a bit in the cold, mostly due to blended arctic winter fuel up here. When temps go below -20F there is a feeling of much greater stiffness to the car and a lot more rolling resistance due to wheel bearings, CV joints, anything with grease/oil in it, tires, etc..
Last winter was fairly typical and mpg went to 47/48. The rest of the year I average 52.

 

[kcfoxie]

My car starts normal but reports lower mpg's already (2-3mpg lower par the display) compared to a few weeks back when the AM temps were in the 70s-80s, now in the 50s-60s.

 

[scooperhsd]

My car is actually running better, in both power and MPG. Especially since Ike.

 

[SoMDTDI]

As soon as fall came mine suddenly started cranking slowly. The auto trans also stopped slipping in 4th while cruising on the freeway. These could have nothing to do with the weather, so I figured I'd ask if anyone else notices specific changes in their cars when the weather changes.

On startup when it's cold out, it blows cold air from the vents. After a couple of minutes it will blow warm air.

On startup when it's warm out, it blows warm air out of the vents. After a couple of minutes it will blow cool or cold air.

Other than that, no noticable difference.

 

[MayorDJQ]

i am curious to see if the colder weather will make my clutch slip. PP520s and RC2 have not slipped my clutch yet, despite conventional wisdom.

How long have you had this combo? My clutch slipped 5 minutes after going to RC2 with Sprint 520s. I've been taking it easy until I can get out to MrCHill's.

 

[Lex4TDI4Life]

I got chipped at the Fest. Had the PP520s since the last Ho5G. So far I have about 3000 miles on the combo. I think I just am lucky and have a good clutch. I also am pretty gentle on it - rev matching to downshift, etc.

How long have you had this combo? My clutch slipped 5 minutes after going to RC2 with Sprint 520s. I've been taking it easy until I can get out to MrCHill's.

 

[Mike_Parker]

Your car sounds similar to mine

How long have you had this combo? My clutch slipped 5 minutes after going to RC2 with Sprint 520s. I've been taking it easy until I can get out to MrCHill's.

Your car sounds similar to mine. My car "had" the stock clutch until this last weekend. I got it to 168K with the stock dual-mass/LUK clutch the 99.5 had in it. The clutch was actually still ok, for some reason my clutch lever was broken and killed the slave cylinder as well It is going to take some getting used to, but the new sachs vr6 clutch seems to hold just fine and is much cheaper than my stock clutch to replace. My older brother has a 99.5 golf, hist stock clutch is still going with 205K on it. My younger brother has a 02 golf that he had to change the atoxck clutch not long after the chip. He put the same one I have in now and it's been fine to date.

 

[ryanhorlacher]

My 02 Golf TDI with "only" 297k miles on it absolutely LOVES the colder air! My favorite time of year to drive it is in the dead of winter when the temps drop into the single digits and below zero (F). It definitely makes a lot more power in the dense cold artic air. I love haulin' arse on the highway in the wicked cold air.

It doesn't get that cold here but the car does seem a bit more excited about the colder air now.