The official cold weather thread

[granit_silber]

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

After owning the 525 for 6 weeks now all my problems are cold weather problems

Here's my list...
1) Fog Light message (bulb out and lens cracked)
2) Driver side low beam cracked
3) Slight oil leak (after wife confused brake and throttle while starting)
4) T-stat stuck open = overcooling = almost no heat in cabin
5) Leak in rear pass-side footwell (clogged tube maybe)
6) no smooth idle
7) nice whine when using the CD changer (cold temps only)
8) casette player eats CD Tape adapter
9) rock chips
10) rust spot below rear driver side tail light
And this morning...
11) turned on blower, squealing from dash (varied with fan speed)

On the bright side...
Love the car
Windows work
Doors lock
engine starts
tranny works
radio works (see above)
wife loves it

things could be worse, I could own a renault

-ashley