951North

I'd like to hear your impressions about driving your c4's in the winter. Not the usual get good snow tires, etc... but rather what temps do you or don't you drive the car in, do you use oil pan heaters, battery blankets, is cold weather particularily bad on specific components? How is the 964 for warming up, defrosting, cabin comfort, etc? I live in Whitehorse, Yukon about 61 degrees North. Typical winter lasts from October to March, daytime temps average -20° C on occasion it's -40° usually 2 weeks in January. We don't get alot of snow but it stays. So any owners from Norway/Sweeden/Finland/Russia out there? That's what I'd say my winter climate is most like.

Thanks.

tafkai

aircooled works in any weather !!!!
aircooled rules in any weather !!!!

951North

You live in the U.K. it doesn't get cold there!

I'm trying to gauge if the 964c4 can live in the sub-arctic as a 50 week/year DD.

jaboc03

My winters don't normally get that cold, but last winter we had multiple weeks of single digit highs and sub zero lows and my c4 had no issues. Heater worked and car drove normal. The only issue I really had was my speedo would not work for the first 5 minutes of my drive in the mornings.

DarrylH

Personal experience only down to -25C, with C2 (not a DD).

Your battery would be at particular risk, since it will never get warm in the unheated luggage compartment. So a battery heater / blanket and a battery maintainer would be a given (or take it inside with you).

12 litres of oil takes a long time to warm at -25, so I think short runs would be very hard on the engine. OTOH, the dry sump means less treacly oil in the crankcase to obstruct cold starts! I've never seen an oil tank warmer (where most of the oil resides at shut down) but it may exist, or maybe one could be made? If you could start it and drive it gently until warm, a reasonable distance, you'd probably be OK.

Obviously if the cold is really intense, dampers are stiff, tires are hard and not very grippy, tranny oil is thick so shifting is hard, yada yada, but that's all the same as any car.

I suspect it would be a great far North car, really. Keep the battery happy, appropriate weight lubricants with warmup. Otherwise, it's just a normal car, innit?

951North

Yes I have issues with batteries dying on my E36 BMW as the battery is in the unheated trunk. Battery blanket fixed that (fingers crossed)

Oil Pan heaters are really common here, you adhere them to the oil pan with Sillicon then plug them in for a few hours before you start the car and they warm the oil nice and toasty. Obviously there aren't block heaters available for 964's



I wouldn't drive it in temps much below -30°C I don't much like driving anything then.

tafkai

could you stick the heater on the oil tank in the rear wheels arch ?

951North

I'm not too familiar with 964 physiology/anatomy, yet. You can place the heaters on any clean metallic surface.

DarrylH

I bet at least one of those shapes would fit very tidily on the oil tank (it's just in front of the RHS rear wheel in the wheel arch) with a bit of fiddling and cleaning (it's not the cleanest place on a 911, that's for sure) and Bob's your uncle. Warm battery, warm oil, you're good to go! I'm kinda warming up to this idea! (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

Jan-Terje

I'd say your winters are worse than ours. The last couple of years I've seen -23 at the worst (average at about -5 dec-mar) and we usually have snow from christmas until easter. Because of severe salting of the roads in winter time alot of Porsche owners dont use their cars during this season.

I've been using mine though with no problems. Actually the heating system is just perfect, hot air from the vents in no time ! The car is parked in it's own unheated garage and I don't use oil pan heaters or anything. I wouldnt recomend short trips when it drops below -20 though.

Just my two cents ..

burgass

I ddont drive it in the winter

tafkai

apart from my "warm-up time" when i first start it , would one of these oil heaters have any advantage for my car , which spends most of the time in storage ?

951North

Sounds like you are maritime/coastal. Yes salt would be killer (I used to live on the coast as well).

951North

Unless you are seeing temps below -15 C I'd say no. I usually don't 'Plug" my cars in untill then, and then only cause I do have short trips and it takes a while to get things up to temperature after that. I've started cars at -35 with no plug in, it's not pretty, but they start...

C H

Winnipeg gets cold. I drove mine from Philly in December and never had a problem. Heat dial was set in the middle with fan on min. and lots of heat. Takes 10-15 minutes to warm up to operating temp and then the gauge peaks and dips as the thermostat opens and closes. Bottom line the car can be used, but I wouldn't. These cars are expensive and you are only going to cost yourself by driving in the extreme cold. Traction is good even with summer tires, but the ride is hard. The tires are cold and harder than usual and the roads heave in the winter.