cold starts and warm-ups
 

This is my first winter in my protege, and I have started to warmup the engine b4 driving away. Is this a good practice? Do I need to warmup at all? Or can i just put it in drive and go?

Re: cold starts and warm-ups
 

Yeah its good. No engine doesn't need to be warmed up before driving, but not that many people do it because they don't like buying gas. I usually let mine run for at least a few minutes before I go anywhere, but I try not to rev it past 3000 or so until the temp gauge is around normal.

ahh ok good. I dont really rev the engine much very little just normal pressure and as soon as the temperature needle begins to rise i put it in drive. Also I have notcied that when the engine is warmed up the gears change much more smoothly and i get better acceleration then compared to when the engine is dead cold. Specially when it snows for hours :)

Yeah, exactly the same as mine, it also kinda grinds a bit when I put it in second, but only when its cold.

put in synthetic gear oil
that will go away

really? thats interesting. cuz the same thing happens to me. i notice that its very rough when you try to drive it when its cold. mine actually takes a good 5-7 min in the winter to fully warm up cuz i let it warm up to idle speed. honestly, for the little bit of gas that is consumed during warmup, its worth it to have your engine last you a good while.
________
PinkPussyCat

agreed, also you can cause damage to the engine because the oil is not of the proper viscosity.

Yes it's good!
I wait till the rpm drop back to idle(850rpm) before going.
For the transmission, I use Redline MTL 70w80 oil.
It's still hard to shift when cold but once everything is at normal temp, it shifts like never.:D Specially with B&M+Bronzoil

another thing i have noticed is that the exaust sounds much heavier when engine is cold.

i put the synthetic gear oil in
mobil 1 i believe

and its shifts fine

however, the first shift from first to second when the engines cold, i push in the clutch, and slowly shift it into neutral, and slowly place pressure on the shifter and i let it take its time to slide into second
if i push it hard, its kinda rough
but if u do what i said, is perfect

then everytime after that its all good

Yeah it's good to start Warming them up if you haven't yet. The reason for this is because when you start up the engine on a cold day the engine is cold and so is the oil at the bottom of the oil pan at that time the oil is not lubricating properly just because it being cold," it's at it's thickest state until tempuratures rise". Also it being cold the Internal Oil Pump has to pump the oil back into the engine, which at the time that it starts, The oil being cold and thickest it being slightly harder for the pump to pump. Also if you warm up your car on cold days it will most likely a longer engine life. Deeping on the car care it recieves as well. That is if you plan on keeping it long!