your temp comes up at idle because u don't have air flow thru the radiator, typical symptom of a missing/ stuck open thermostat.

 

North side of Baltimore.

 

When you flush the coolant and pur in antifreeze, use distilled water when add coolant rather than tap water. Less minerals, chlorine and other contaminants.

 

water is a better coolant than antifreeze, which could explain why the temp dropped dramatically. Go to the Audi dealer and get their blue coolant, it's the 'proper' coolant for these blocks

 

Thanks for all the tips guys!

Yea, you can't beat much for colling than water. 90% water and 10% water wetter is standard mix in FL for sports/track cars.

So there is the main thermostat, and aux tstat and then the thermo fan switch right???

What brand weight oil do you al use up here for winter? As I have 20w/50 now and know I need to drop it but to 40 or down to 30??

 

5W40 or 5W30 synthetic for temperatures well below freezing.

 

In my experience, if you run the car hard (a few runs to redline), even in the winter, a 30W will not provide sufficient oil pressure at idle. I'm currently running a mix of 0-40 and 15-50 Mobil 1. Castrol Syntec 5w-50 would be a good choice too, it won't ever be below freezing in Maryland.

 

I lived in Virginia for about 10 years. It definitely gets below freezing there, and in Maryland.

 

With Mobil 1 5W30 the lowest wintertime idle oil pressure that I ever saw was 2 bar. Most of the time it was 3 bar on a warm engine. Where I live there' s no possibility of running the engine to redline in winter weather unless you turn the boost way, way down. In the cold you are traction limited (unless maybe you have winter tires). YMMV.

 

If you're talking wind chill, then yes it sometimes gets below zero. Last year the coldest day of the year in Philly was 10, and Maryland is a few hours south

 

When it comes to cold weather operation, I have a bit of experience living in Canada. Your car, with good thermostats, should keep the needle at or close to the first mark. Driving it in -20F temps my car will stay in the proper operating range. Don't often do that as I don't have snow tires so it usually gets parked, but I have driven it in the cold . For oil in the cold country 5-40 or 5-50. The multi weights really do work well.

 

I've driven my 944 in some COLD weather... didnt have any issues with the temperature dropping to where it was cold.

If you wanted to go crazy, you could do the same thing as diesel trucks.... cover up the front end of your radiator...

But honestly, I'm pretty sure its your thermostat.

There is an easy way for you to solve all this... move back to orlando :-)

 

When you replace the t-stat, make sure to replace the seal around it as well.