The official cold weather thread

[wengenstein]

With the cold weather setting in (for many of us anyway) I figured I'd start a cold weather thread for all those "is this normal", "what happened to my smoothe idle", "my doors won't unlock" type questions.

I'll start it off with my own is-this-normal question, as I already know what happened to my smoothe idle When the car has sat overnight in below freezing weather, my clutch pedal feels like the fluid's been replaced with joint compound. If I stomp on it a while, it gets back to normal but it's kind of annoying. Of course the brakes feel similar but it's not such a big deal.

I also have a door lock problem that only shows itself in the cold weather. If its real cold out then chances are that when I hit the lock button on my key, the passenger door won't lock. I have to lock it by hand and tap the lock button again to lock the doors. Anyone have any ideas on this? It's as if the actuator just isnt working hard enough in cold weather.

Dennis

[bimmerd00d]

haha my car did this all summer, (the passenger lock thing), now that it's cold, it works. Car goes and stops perfect, runs like a top. And my aux pump randomly started working again

[bahnstormer]

if your car dings at you, its telling you temps are near freezing or below at to watch for ice!!!! please don't ask this ques heheheh

side note, maybe this fits in this thread, just in case though
http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthr...0640#post50640
radio code error, after i started the car...never touched the battery

[andyman32]

My worthless two cents: I had the splash guard off when I replaced the radiator over the weekend, and left it off when it rained Sunday. Temps got down to 13 F in Raleigh. I think a lot of splash and condensation got up into the belts and froze hard overnight, because when I started the car this morning (at 22 F, around 10am) it cranked and cranked, sputtered, muttered, grumbled, groaned, finally started, and then it made a racuous sound that didn't go away until it heated up. It sounded almost like... ice in the belts! :-o

[andyman32]

Someone emailed me asking what kind of oil I use, which my spam filter accidentally deleted. I could just barely glance at the email before it disappeared, so I apologise.

The oil I use is Mobil 1 0W-40. Right now, it is about 3 months old and has about 1,000 miles on it.

[rickm]

It was 4 here yesterday morning with a nice 25mph+ N wind. Car started right up though was a tad sluggish feeling. I let it warm up for a few minutes before driving off, once I had driven 1/4 of a mile it was fine. My neighbor, Mr "Foreign Cars Suck" wasn't too amused as he waited for AAA to come jump his new Jeep.

My locks did unlock rather slowly but they were ok after that.

[winfred]

it's the simple things in life

My neighbor, Mr "Foreign Cars Suck" wasn't too amused as he waited for AAA to come jump his new Jeep. .

[billb]

I didn't notice it until this morning. I had moved it around in the driveway to let the Mrs. get the 525 in and out of the garage. Two puddles about 2"diameter each. Opened the hood on the 318is and saw evidence of slung oil on the hood pad and the top surfaces of the engine. I'm guessing oil filter housing o-ring at the moment, as I have not replaced it yet. Any other guesses on the M42? Didn't seem to be leaking this morning, but I never really got it warm on my drive to work...

[Derek A.]

[632 Regal]

Someone emailed me asking what kind of oil I use, which my spam filter accidentally deleted. I could just barely glance at the email before it disappeared, so I apologise.

The oil I use is Mobil 1 0W-40. Right now, it is about 3 months old and has about 1,000 miles on it.