How much will short distance driving hurt fuel mileage? I recently moved and before was getting about 15 mpg and that was driving roughly 25 miles round trip to work and back. Now since I moved back in October my fuel mileage has dropped to about 12 and I can't seem to bring it back up. And I'm running about 8 miles round trip to work and home.

Any and all ideas and help will be greatly appreciated

 

8 miles round trip will not get the engine warm, except maybe summer.
The short hops are bad for the motor & truck, as the fluids never get up to temperature. Especially in cold weather mileage will suffer on short runs.
Try incorporating more miles on your runs for other things, will get thr CTD warmed up.

 

and does the mileage take longer to get to rise back up once it has fallen cause it seems i can drop mileage fast and it takes twice as long to gain it back if at all it seems

 

Pick up a cheap gaser beater drive it to work save the truck for pulling or longer trips. Running it those short trips will not be good for it at the very least you would need to change your oil much more often because of it not getting hot.

 

I run about 10 miles to work. I start it about 10 minutes before I leave not plugged in and has been around low 20's for awhile now. My truck gets up to temp before I get to work. my fuel milage is around 15-17. It also depends on your driving style, type of road (highway,city,hills). You can try running synthetic oils to help with the fuel milage.

 

Where are you located? Winter blend fuel is less 'potent' than regular #2.

Plug it in, this keeps the block warm and helps oil circulation if its cold outside.

A three mile trip on level ground with a few stop lights gets my truck to temp in the 40's round here.

Remove your IAT and MAP sensors and clean with electrical cleaner. This is known to help w/ mpg's.

If you are in a climate that stays pretty cold, block off the radiator with some cardboard to help decrease warm up time.

Kurt

 

All good ideas and I plug mine in ALWAYS, summer or winter if I know I'm going to be using it. IMHO, warm starts are easier on the engine.

 

You guy's with the short trips not plugged in and the cold weather 20 or below may not be actually getting it as hot as you need to.
The truck may put out heat and lift the temp gauge but it takes a lot longer than most people comprehend to get that big iron block and the oil as hot as it should be.

I plug mine in for only a couple of hours then as has been said it starts very quick warms a lot quicker and is much easyer on everything.
You get more wear on a cold engine then you do on one up to temp with a load on it.

 

I live in okc,ok. Our temps have been down in the teens but are coming back to normal which is about 30's at night and 40 and 50's day, I plug it in most every night. It's to hard on batteries and other parts not to plug in, I drive conservitive there's no need to race the truck around it's hard on engine also. My drive to work is flat land.

 

Kicker, I'd try blocking off the radiator for a trip and see if it helps . If it works you can make or buy a good one that will resist the weather.

Also, make sure you are above 1500 rpm in your travels, bogging the motor will keep it from getting up to temp and will add unneeded wear on your clutch.

Luck, Kurt