Winter Grille

[neilos100]

Just wondering if anyone with a diesel uses a winter grille when it gets cold. They are supposed to help warm up times and fuel economy. A lot of the lads on the Citroen C4 owners site which I'm also a member of swear by them. I'm not sure Audi actually make them but I know a bit of cardboard in front of the radiator will do the job too.
Anyone?

Neil

[coolraj003]

I am not entirely sure as to what winter grille would look like but i am assuming that the winter grille would stop the flow the air to the radiator to get the engine warmed up quicker. Correct me if im wrong here but if what i think it is then wouldnt it be harmful to leave the air flow restricted while the engine is running specially if you are doing a long run. Yes it would help the engine warm up but even though it will be winters stopping air flow to the radiator would cause issues to the engine overheating given that being pretty much closed off at the bottom grille is the only way for radiator to get air. dunno it might be good but its just my opinion.

Raj

[Crasher]

You mean a radiator blind. You used to be able to buy these up until the 70's in magazines like Practical Motorist, I remember remote cable operated radiator blind kits being available for all sorts of cars.

[neilos100]

I know they DO work on other cars and do make a difference....diesels are notorious for taking a while to warm up and even then running cooler than petrol engines. The Citroen guys know what they are talking about... should still be enough air getting to the engine bay from underneath .I was just wondering if anyone uses one (radiator blind..thanks crasher!!) on their Audi in the cold winter months. Bear in mind i'll be driving to the Czech Republic in February where the temperature could well be down to something like -20C to -25C.

[neilos100]

This is the kind of thing I mean................

[lifemoveon]

Hmm... this is very interesting. Let me know if this is available somewhere. Group buy people?

[coolraj003]

well to be honest will it make such a big difference, wouldnt it be better just to buy a engine block heater as it will help to get the engine warm up but once it is warm then it wont really make too much of a difference to try to warm it more.

Raj

[harryg]

Think I read somewhere the latest Focus diesel has an automated shutter for the engine that works like you suggested (not just for winter conditions). Maybe somebody on the forum from a country that has a severe winter may be able to help with aftermarket parts.

[coolraj003]

Been to Poland on christmas and to didnt really see anyone using this grille blind over there even though the temp was constant -10 to -15c, there were few but mostly on older cars and as far as the automatic shutters on new focus they advertise it to be more of an aerodynamics enhancing feature than the engine temperature to be fair.

[lifemoveon]

Hey!

If it is an aerodynamic enhancment, coupled with warming the engine up. Win win!

Question I have is, have anyone bought this and tried this out before? Give a shout please if you have.

Cheers!

[JimC64]

I've seen the radiator blind as advertised on the new Ford......does seem to be advertised as more for aerodynamics, but as is said here may help I guess in the situation being discussed here.

Someones' also mentioned "block heaters" for the diesel engine...........

Quite a knowledgable guy i know on my Jag site has played around with this quite a bit on his S type Jag deisel. You need to bear in mind that certainly up here in Scotland where it can get a little chillier to be fair, there were examples of diesel cars being stuck / unable to move in the mornings as their fuel was frozen!!

Anyhow, can't remember all the ins n outs but he reported it as being quite successful in many ways.
The fuel didn't freeze
The car got up to temp soo much quicker
Lower fuel costs

All seemed good and it was something I'd been thinking about myself, although I haven't got round to doing anything about it yet....

[joshA6]

Why bother on the A6?

On older cars, the fan was run directly off the engine (i.e. was not electrically controlled), therfore there was colling whenever the car was running, hence the need to block off the incoming air to speed warm up.

In the A6, the coolant is deliberately flowed around the EGR valve to speed up engine warm up. All the hot exhaust gases (which are hot from the moment the engine is running) are used to accelerate the heating up of the coolant.

Also, since the thermostat will have closed the coolant loop to the radiator, then this will not be effected heat up much.

I find my A6 heats up way faster than my MK4 Golf ever did.

[neilos100]

Makes sense Chris.....I'll report back in February after my trip to CZ......must admit the car is up to temperature after only a couple of miles so we'll see what happens when its REALLY cold !
Cheers,

Neil

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[nealeb]

I've always wondered how this was supposed to work in a modern car as well. If the thermostat's working correctly, then there shouldn't be any significant water flow through the rad before the engine is pretty much up to temp, so it's at ambient anyway. Might be relevant if you take the car out of a garage into very cold temps which might chill it a bit more, I suppose. Many years ago I drove an old Hillman in which I took off the fan altogether. Except once or twice in very slow traffic in summer, that never overheated and did save a bit of fuel. These days, I guess that airflow management and electric fans achieve pretty much the same thing but with a lot more technology:)

The other aspect of this is not water temp but oil temp which is maybe more important from an engine wear/life perspective. My previous A6 (C5) had an oil temp gauge and it took about twice as long for the oil to get to working temp than the water.