fuel guage indicator on prius 05
Created August 4, 2005, at 2:48 pm by Anonymous
i just bought a new prius and the fuel indicator started blinking on the last bar on the screen so i went to gas station to fill up, but at 6.9 gallon the pump shutoff even tough i have driven 430 miles after i bought it full tank. now in next 35 miles i see 1 bar less in the fuel guage. so it behaves strangely...
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Take it to the dealer--some 04s were having problems like that, and there was a recall...maybe your individual car got missed. Bummer! Maybe you should even call the dealer and ask if they'd have it towed.
I've had a similar problem with my fuel indicator as well. Thanks for the tip, Maria. I'll be sure to have it checked out.
I bought a 2005 Prius about six weeks ago. I've been averaging 50 mpg. The first time the low fuel beep went off, I took it to the station and filled up slightly more than 9 gal. So, when the beep went off yesterday afternoon, I thought I could go another 100 miles at least. Well, this morning on the way to work I had a major engine failure, called the dealer, and had it towed in to be serviced. Now, they're telling me the problem could be that it ran out of gas!! WHAT? Nothing in the owner's manual indicates that with slightly less than two gallons in the tank this could happen. Has anyone else experienced this?
I had the same problem. The dealer looked into it and informed that there is, in fact, no gas tank in the traditional sense. According to them, the car has a gas bag (no joke!). This bag is at first less than the 11.9 gallons as it needs to expand a little. This is done by keeping your tank more or less full for some time until the bag expands to that advertised size. The bag may also be affected by winter cold as well.
The Prius fuel tank has a flexible bladder within the tank that contains the fuel, this expands and shrinks to match the fuel content, with little or no air/vapour pocket above the fuel. This means that there is a lot less evaporation of fuel and increases the amount of fuel you actually get to use. So yes the prius is a llittle slowr to fill and may not be as rigid in its exact fuel capacity through the life of the car. But it uses less fuel, loses less fuel and reduces the number of times you need to fill up anyway. The fuel light their for a reason, dont ignore it and youll be fine
The Prius fuel tank has a flexible bladder within the tank that contains the fuel, this expands and shrinks to match the fuel content, with little or no air/vapour pocket above the fuel. This means that there is a lot less evaporation of fuel and increases the amount of fuel you actually get to use. So yes the prius is a little slowr to fill and may not be as rigid in its exact fuel capacity through the life of the car. But it uses less fuel, loses less fuel and reduces the number of times you need to fill up anyway. The fuel light is there for a reason, dont ignore it and you'll be fine
One more thing to mention about the bladder: in cold weather it will not be as flexible as in hot weather. This means that when your last square starts blinking and you fill up the tank (bladder), you may only be able to put in 6, 7, or 8 gallons. Which means you won't get as many miles per tank. Your miles per gallon will still be high (46-50 mpg in winter for me) but your miles between fillups will be less than in the summer time.
Numerous Prius owners refer to the fuel gauge as the "GUESS GAUGE." It is not linear and due to the fuel tank bladder, can be unpredictable if you try to outguess it on how far you can drive after the last blip begins to blink. The lady did not have an 'Engine Failure (!!)" but ran her Prius out of gas - not good for the Prius. It is a puzzle to me how some Prius drivers seem to risk fuel exhaustion. I rarely put more than 8½ gallons in my Prius and have never run out of fuel. Pushing a Prius on the main battery is not good.
I thought I read somewhere in the manual that you're supposed to not let it go below a quarter of a tank. So that's what I try to do. I usually fill it at 2 or 3 squares.
Yes, the problem is not well described in the manual, but if the gas goes below 2 gallons you may get an emergency light that can only be eliminated at the dealership. It cost me almost $50 to get it investigated, only to find out that a very low gas supply was the problem.
In addition, the gas bladder has to be replaced at intervals. This is a regular expense and in 2006 the cost is about $840, including the bladder, relay, and labor. If you don't let the tank get low, this cost can be postponed somewhat beyond the 60,000 to 80,000 mile figure, I think.
Where's that Toyota dealer who was telling us a few days ago how great the Prius is? $840 every few years to replace the gas tank! [chortle] I don't think I'll be having that problem with my Honda Civic Hybrid, thank you very much.
During a ski trip this weekend, I had my 2002 Prius fail to start with THREE BARS showing on the gas gauge. Cost to tow to nearest dealership: $300. Diagnosis: the car believed it was "out of gas." This even though it started right up at the dealership, with no gas added, and ran fine during a road test.
When I took it to the filling station before driving it (carefully) home, I added 7.8 gallons, meaning there was at least 3 gallons in the tank when it failed.
It irks me to see people chiding Prius owners for "letting the tank get low." THREE BARS should not be a low tank needing immediate attention. I was a huge Prius fan until this weekend, but now I have to seriously question the car's reliability.
Interesting comments. My 2005 Prius has not demonstrated any of these malfunctions during the year I have owned it. It is a delightful little car and I average 44.5 mpg. I have had no problems whatsoever with any part of the car. I routinely fuel my car when the gas gauge drops to one square. I will regularly be able to put ten gallons in at that time, and it has done this every time I have refueled.
Sorry the rest of you are having such a bad time. Mine works perfectly.
HP
Has this been a problem in 2006 models, faulty fuel gauge readings that is?
We've only had ours for 3 weeks, and so far we're averaging 47.6 miles, and I'm just getting the hang of coasting on the flats, even started to take the main side streets and getting off the sit, stop and go Freeway at rush hour, which boosted us up from ~45mph!
Only disappointment is we live atop a small mountain/big hill, and it just kills me that the electric motor can't get us up each night, even if we drop to 15mph in slow truck land.
Oh, well, we get to engine break all the way back down to the flats, so that's a great feeling to start the day, recycling all that energy!
My 06 Prius just failed when it was on the last bar--had it towed and was told the only problem was that it was out of gas--even though the guage still showed 3/4 of the last bar left. I was told that my warranty would not cover the towing and $50 to reset the "check engine light" because I had run out of gas. I thought I still had 30-40 miles left as I had been getting 50-60 miles per bar.
I think most of this is about the bladder in the tank.
It is very difficult at faster pumps to fill up the tank. I found a place where I get the best fuel (for performance) and sometimes will spend to time to top up my tank. As time goes on I don't worry about it much unless I'm going to be driving some distance.
Once in awhile I have trouble filling my Prius when there I am down to just 1 indicator light - the pump keeps turning off after just 1 second of filling - the 1st time this happened I took it to the dealer who declared there to be no problem & was able to fill it easily (I did get a full tank of gas out of the dealer) - the problem happened again yesterday & the gas station owner said he sees this everyday with Prius' (Priii?) - after reading the comments on this site I think it is that the bladder was collapsed in its almost empty state & so sensed that it was full - I won't be letting it get much below 1/2 empty from now on - otherwise I love my Prius & have been very happy with the dealership in Walnut Creek - Catherine
Wow, I'm glad I'm not alone in this.
When I went to fill up my gas tank today (gas indicator was only one bar left), I only got up to 6.7 gallons. It was surprising because 2 weeks before, I filled up to 8 gallons when there were 2 bars left.
I really wish this gas bag wouldn't fluxuate as much. It can really be hazardous when travelling far distances.
A week ago, the gas pump at our Shell station where I usually refuel my '06 Prius kept shutting off after a second or two. I was at about 1/2 tank. Now, I've gone about 140 miles and am still at ten bars.
I have an '04 Prius, now with 100,000 km on it. I have pushed the limits of the fuel tank/bag a few times. Early experience suggested that I was able to squeeze out 100km (60 miles) after the last bar started blinking. I have actiually run out of gas twice. Both times I was able to make it on electric only to a gas station. As soon as I was refilled, the warning light went out and all was fine. I understand that if you run out of gas and battery power you need a dealer reset. I now try to refill as soon as the last bar starts flashing.
I have had a two irratic refills (took much less fuel than it should have). This seemed to happen when it was left sitting close to empty in cold (Canada winter) weather.
Generally I am very happy with my Prius. I think the gas bladder is an excellent idea environmentally. I am not convinced by the statement (in this list) that it will require regular replacement.
I just got an '06 prius on monday and last night coming home, i went from 2 bars to 1 and it started blinking. My commute is about 45 miles and i was about 1/3 of the way home, so i figured i'd be fine. (~48 miles for the last bar, plus i figured there must be a reserve, right?)
About half way home the engine cut out and the red triangle exclamation, VSC, check engine, and some light on the touch screen all came on and freaked me out. I was able to go about 2 miles on the battery and get to a gas station.
After filling up and turning on, all the lights went off.
It would be nice if it would just say it was out of gas, i thought i was under missile attack or something.
... and the fill up took about 10.3 gallons.
I occassionally smell gasoline while driving my
05 Prius. Sometimes it is very strong. Has anyone else experienced this.
About gas smell.
It often happens to me too to smell gas while driving. It does not last long. I even ask my dealer to check any gas leak but did not found anything wrong. Strange...
I noticed a raw fuel odor inside my 2004 Prius (15K miles) after it had been parked in the driveway for a couple of days. It hasn't gone away. The last fillup was on the road and used about 1/4 tank before returning to the driveway so it's not a spillage problem.
There's no odor in the engine compartment or outside the vehicle and no trace of an external fuel leak.
This is worrisome. Let's keep this subject alive until we find out what it is!
Ron
My 2005 prius seems to be stuck on full on the gas guage. I'll refill my tank after 250 miles and see if it starts working again. This discussion has been very enlightening.
The fuel odor in my 2004 has slowly gone away by itself.
I've had the same problme with the fuel smell recently. The only difference was that I used gasohol in it that day. I only bought just under 3 gallaons and drove for 170 miles on that. Anyway, I don't think the gasohol was the problem, it's just the only thing I did differently that time.
My 2005 Prius hasn't run out of gas and the gauge is only marginally weird [in other words, it DOES seem to vary a little bit as to how many squares are left and how much can go into the tank then.]
The problem that I am wondering about is that when I fill up at the gas station, even if I am certain that the tank needs 7 or 8 gallons to fill it - based on miles driven and the gauge - the darn pump shuts off as I am adding gas after just a few seconds. The pump keeps shutting off [the automatic nozzle shut off feature I presume] over and over and it takes forever to fill the tank, one squirt at a time. It makes no difference if I adjust the angle or depth of insertion of the nozzle, it still shuts off over and over.
The really weird thing is that at other times, I'll shove the nozzle in and it will fill just fine for the whole 7,8 or so gallons.
Anybody else getting this annoying pump shut off problem and know anything that solves it?
Michael B, et al.: I've noticed that some gas station pumps have a more sensitive automatic shutoff than others, so I try to go to those stations first. I always fill the tank at one square left--either blinking or not.
I can usually fill at full flow rate (full squeeze on the handle) for most of the time, and I may have to adust the nozzle angle. After the pump shuts off the first time, I have to fill more slowly. I have also tried just barely inserting the nozzle into the fill tube and letting the gasoline trickle into the tank. I can usually get an extra 1/2 to 1 gallon in the tank this way. HOWEVER......you have to be careful here because I once over filled the tank, the bladder "burped" and about a half-gallon of gas leaked onto the ground!
As I mentioned way back near the beginning of this discussion, the outside temperature has a large influence on how much fuel you can put in the tank. I can only fill out 6-8 gallons in the winter (Dayton, OH) and I get around 9-11 gallons in the tank in the summer. I get about 360-400 miles/tank in cold weather and 480-530 miles/tank in the summer.
I drive an '05 Prius, I've heard anecdotal reports of '04s having worse problems, but I don't know anyone with a Gen I Prius.
When people post to these discussions, they should state which model year they drive because some of these problems get fixed year-to-year even though the model is the same and it will help others to realize if this problem has been fixed in later years.
I have owned my car for 3 weeks
2004 Prius
It had a fuel smell since day one.
The car does make a hissing sound when parked in the driveway & turned off. ( after a bit of driving)
No leaking has been noticed on the drive way.
The smell has come and gone.
Can anyone elaborate?
Thanks
Bob
Hi,
I bought a 2006 Prius the beginning of June 2006. Today I ran out of gas for my first time... this is my fourth tank fill-up. I get about 52 mpg and about 1 bar drops on the gas gauge about every 50 miles.
I had only been able to get around 10 gallons of gas in the car every time I get a fill-up and so I assumed incorrectly that I must have a couple of additional gallons in the tank when the last bar started flashing. I learned that when I put 10 gallons in the tank, that was all it had.
So, I assumed I ran out of gas when all the lights came on so I pulled over right away. I did not dare run my battery low because I thought that could cause problems. My wife brought me some gas (2-3 hour wait for AAA), started the car and all the lights turned off. From now on I will get gas soon after the light starts blinking since I was able to go only about 30 miles after it started to blink (got about 530 on this tank).
Ran out of gas yesterday. Major panic, flashing lights, GOTTA TAKE IT TO A DEALER IT SAYS !!!!!
Not under warranty they tell me, it ran out of gas.... Couldn't even make it safely to a gas station.... 125 bucks to "check out" and add some gas...
How about class action suit against Toyota ????
I think the bladder was a bit of overkill. I'd rather have a bigger tank without a bladder and lose 0.01% to evaporation. The odd time I happen to get a bit more gas into the tank and it pukes out a pint onto the ground has more than made up for what I've saved from no evaporation.
Other than that and my half baked DRL 'add on' ... love the car ...
I just bought a used '05 prius w/ 22 K mi - after 1 wk, had same described gas fillup problem. Relieved to learn about the 'gas bag' situation and that it's not a problem specific to my car! I'm guessing the bag concept with zero evaporatives is one req'd component for the PZEV rating. After reading all of this, though, I will nervously fill up every 200 miles, it being winter in Chgo!:)
Good rule of thumb: When you hit the second to the last bar, plan to go fill it up. I've used that rule since mine was new in '05. NEVER have I run out of gas. That last bar means you have less than 30 miles. If you leave your house in the morning and you see 2 bars, and you know you'll be driving about 20-30 miles into the city to get to work, FILL IT UP FIRST. On the other hand, if you're only going to the store down the road, you're probably ok filling up on your way home. Even better, as my dad always said, "fill up your tank when it gets below half...you never know when you'll have an emergency and need to drive somewhere, and won't have time to stop for gas". As a side not, I haven't run out of gas since I was in high school, and I'm almost 50 now. Just don't run your gas tank down too far and you'll never have to worry about it, even in a Prius.
I work for a dealership and have NEVER had to replace a fuel bladder on a Prius.
We have people still driving 2002 models with original battery and fuel bladder over 150,000 miles. Glenn
Bumping up this thread again. Did anyone ever learn what was causing their gas smell? I have an 05 Prius, and while the car doesn't smell like gas, my HAIR does after every time I drive. Window up, window down, recirc on, recirc off, doesn't seem to matter, so I'm assuming it is something related to the car. FWIW I've never had a problem running out of gas/erratic mileage on fill-ups.
Here's another strange one -- The guage on my 2008 is showing full bars even though I've got 270 miles.
I'm either getting the best MPG -- EVER -- or something is broke/stuck/not working.
I filled up my Prius this morning. I've driven 140 miles and it still shows full on the gauge. This is the first time this has happened.
2005 Prius- no gas problems but there is occaisionally a strong raw gas odor from the car. This fills the garage and seeps into the house. Anyone else ever experience that?
http://www.fazmiclaw.com/page5/page17/prius.html
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