confirmed overfill damage

[kazots]

galaxee you must be a mechanic or something like it. I'm impressed!

[galaxee]

husband is a former prius tech.

[jbumps wvu mntrs]

After reading all five pages here I'm still left with one question. galaxee hinted at an answer on the first page but here goes anyway. Is an overfill from say a small lawn mower type gas can likely to cause damage along the lines of what is being discussed here? From what I've read here it's apparent that a high rate of flow/high pressure fill could cause this type of damage, but I'm still wondering about the gravity type fill. Inquiring minds have to know.

[bazineta]

I'm traveling in Oregon while reading this, and in Oregon, there is, by law, no self-serve gas; you legally aren't allowed to pump your own.

It would appear that the gas jockeys are instructed by management to eke the last drop possible out of a fillup, as despite numerous instructions to the contrary, they always top off the tank.

So, I'm wondering just how hard this type of damage is to accomplish, since it seems as if this state would be a hotbed of the problem if just overfilling would cause the problem.

[prius12306]

Originally Posted by bazineta

I'm traveling in Oregon while reading this, and in Oregon, there is, by law, no self-serve gas; you legally aren't allowed to pump your own.

NJ has the same law. I don't think you'll have an issue if they only top it off, what I've had happen though is that the pump stops prematurely and you really end up with less than a full tank. They have attempted to top off only to have it stop again. Even in NY where I pump my own, I find that I have to keep trying to get it to accept anywhere near the right amount of gas. So, I don't think you'll run into an issue.

[PaulHS]

Originally Posted by jbumps wvu mntrs

After reading all five pages here I'm still left with one question. galaxee hinted at an answer on the first page but here goes anyway. Is an overfill from say a small lawn mower type gas can likely to cause damage along the lines of what is being discussed here? From what I've read here it's apparent that a high rate of flow/high pressure fill could cause this type of damage, but I'm still wondering about the gravity type fill. Inquiring minds have to know.

Toyota recommends NOT pumping low and slow. Apparently the protective valves in the fuel system cannot detect small pressure changes which can then allow overfilling. While I'm no expert, I believe that gravity fill may not be much different than pumping low and slow.

You may find the following document helpful.

[Aaron]

I've had two over-fills in my 2008 since I bought it in March. Both due to bad pumps at the station that didn't work properly (gas stations admitted it).

Question:

Can the charcoal canister be damaged without getting an error code on my ScangaugeII? No codes so far. I sure hope I didn't do any damage after gas was spilling out on the ground.

[Tata_pilote]

The dealer just told my wife that she perhaps has a broken fuel filler neck on her '05 Prius, and they want about $800 to fix it. The service guy said she could drive it that way. Does that sound right, or are we looking at possible cannister flooding, pollution equipment getting flooded, etc? The mileage is normal, between 48 and 52 mpg, depending on cold and rainy conditions. I'm tending towards just leaving it as is and driving it.

[galaxee]

catching up-

aaron: you will get a code if there was any damage. sounds like there is no need to worry about those incidents.

tata: perhaps? um. can they be sure before they replace it? what led to that diagnosis (or lack thereof) in the first place?

[Tata_pilote]

Galaxee, I forgot to say the car was damaged once in that quarter where the filler is, a non-Toyota place fixed it (Russians here in Seattle area), so perhaps it didn't get fixed if indeed the filler neck was broken. Haven't had any strange codes or gas smells or funny performance.