Advice on low mileage driving with new car - remote starter, oil changes, etc.

[wickster]

I just bought a new compact car, a Mazda Protege. My job is 3 blocks from where I work. Regarding this:
1) I put on 1,000 miles in the first 4 months - should I get my oil changed every 3 months with such little driving?
2) I live in Michigan and it's darn cold right now - would a remote starter be good to get my engine warmed up before I go to work as I don't think it's warmed by the time I get to work. Doesn't this kind of driving wear on the car?
Any other recommendations you might have regarding my situation would be appreciated - thanks!

[ivymike1031]

Originally Posted by wickster

I just bought a new compact car, a Mazda Protege. My job is 3 blocks from where I work. Regarding this:
1) I put on 1,000 miles in the first 4 months - should I get my oil changed every 3 months with such little driving?
2) I live in Michigan and it's darn cold right now - would a remote starter be good to get my engine warmed up before I go to work as I don't think it's warmed by the time I get to work. Doesn't this kind of driving wear on the car?
Any other recommendations you might have regarding my situation would be appreciated - thanks!

With such short trips being the norm, you definitely need to change your oil more frequently than usual. If your oil isn't holding a fairly high temperature for an extended period, it won't have a chance to evaporate out some of the contaminants that it will collect (water, fuel).

Idling a car for a long time, especially in cold weather, can be very hard on the engine (cold oil, insufficient lube supply to reciprocating assy). A good low-temp synthetic oil should help (0W30 or similar), but I wouldn't recommend warming up the car by idling for 20 minutes every morning.

That's my take on it, I'm sure there will be a few who disagree...

[ponchonutty]

Originally Posted by wickster

I just bought a new compact car, a Mazda Protege. My job is 3 blocks from where I work. Regarding this:
1) I put on 1,000 miles in the first 4 months - should I get my oil changed every 3 months with such little driving?
2) I live in Michigan and it's darn cold right now - would a remote starter be good to get my engine warmed up before I go to work as I don't think it's warmed by the time I get to work. Doesn't this kind of driving wear on the car?
Any other recommendations you might have regarding my situation would be appreciated - thanks!

Not sure. I know people say that idling a car isn't good but you see Police and other people doing it all the time. I install them for people in your same predicament. I would make sure to change the oil every 3 months though if you only go 1k miles.

[bm2boats]

Your job is 3 blocks away? WALK!!! Walk to work. why not. it is only 3 blocks. I knew someone that lived 4 blocks from where i worked. By the time he got his car warmed up, drove to work, looked for parking, he could have been at work having a coffee.
Don't be a LAZY American.

[SaabJohan]

Idling for long times isn't good, especially if the engine is coldstarted; the rich mixture will clean oil from the cylinderwalls. (and this is according to people who knows what they are talking about) It will also take a very long time for the engine to reach operating temperature on idle, if it reach it at all.

If a good synthetic motoroil is used you shouldn't need to replace the oil so often. Most cars have intervals of 10,000 or 20,000 km (6000 or 12000 miles) or once a year. If the car is used for short trips you can replace the oil once between the normal intervals.

Install an electric engine heater in the car, it makes the car to get warm faster, reduce fuel consumption, exhaust emissions and wear. If you haven't electricity where you park you can get a gasoline driven one, they are however more expensive, cause exhaust emissions and tend to increase the risk of a car fire.