harrower

Wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations with respect to cold weather and effects on car. I am the process of having a garage built to house to keep it inside as the house we bought did not have one, but until then the car is kept in driveway outside. Temps here have been -15C over-night and -7C during the days and I want to make sure I do what I can to make sure it remains in good shape while it suffers the abuses of been outside. Should I run it for some period of time each day, change oil types (has stock oil as car has less than 3000km) or anything else that someone who lives in cold climate has done?

ZephyrAMG

Some info that I asked service man at MB dealer:

Just running engine in the garage for 10-20 mins is not enough. Car needs to be driven from time to time to keep fluids (oil, coolants, etc.) and oil circulating and fuel lines running clear. Engine needs to have the oil coat all components and you cannot get that from just running in one place.

You needs to roll the car back and forth obviously to prevent tires from flattening over extended static periods.

You need to check tire pressure due to drastic temperature falls.

Do not blast stereo in first cold moments because linings and diaphrams are cold and can crack over time.

Gasoline condenses in cold temperatures so make sure tank is not too low to prevent lines drying out and not having enough to start.

Just some basics that I was told. I am not an expert at detailed performance reasons as I am sure some of the more educated and knowledgeable members that I also turn to would probably be able to tell you.

harrower

ZephyrAMG, thanks for the info. In fact after posting this I did it for a run of 20 minutes or so as I suspected this is what would be required. Some in city driving and a few highway blasts. I did allow oil/coolant temp to get to normal levels before setting off. Car ran like a dream. In fact the performance was even better than normal I assume due to the cold air. Very fast throttle response, a more aggressive rumble at the pipes and the thing that below my mind was that ESP kicked in when I punched it doing 140kph on highway. This is partly due to smaller snow tires which were hard as well as the road been very cold, yet bone dry. Still impressive when all things considered and hence why we all love AMG!