Got Master Warning Alert Coming Back From Hybridfest

[Aaron]

Coming back home from Hybridest 2008 I was cruising along in Indiana just east of Indianapolis. My wife was driving with the cruise control engaged and I was taking a rest playing with my new Scangauge II.

The fuel gauge (or as I like to call it "Guess Gauge") reads two bars and I told my wife to go to the next exit to fuel up two miles down the highway on Interstate 70. Next thing I know the low fuel warning "beep" sounds and the last bar is blinking. I'm thinking "OK, no problem...we are ONE MILE from the gas station, in fact I can see the gas station".

All of a sudden the Master Warning light comes on and my wife says the Prius is losing power (came to find out the cruise control kicked off) and she pulled off to the side of Interstate 70. I was pretty much freaking out, but I thought this HAS to do with low gas.

Luckily, I had the brand new Scangauge II plugged in and it read the code immediately. P3193- low or no fuel. I knew the Prius still had gas because I told my wife to press on the gas peddle and the car went down the highway using the ICE. I kept a close eye on the traction battery. When I made it to the gas station, I filled up with 10.7 gallons...the most I've ever put into the tank. I powered the Prius back up and everything was fine. I cleared the code with the Scangauge II. Thank God I bought the Scangauge II because I've read of people not being able to start the Prius when they get code P3193 until it is cleared (towed to the dealer).

I have gone down to one blinking bar many times, but never again. From now on I'm filling up at four bars.

[freshmtt]

HI Aaron,
You bought that Scangauge just in time! Did Wayne put your EBH in on Friday night when all the mosquitos were eating us up alive?? If so he did mine right before yours. I had the car with all the Dachshund stickers on it. The Driftwood Pearl color.

I have started filling my car up with either 3 or 4 pips as I have found the guess gauge to be just to unreliable. Coming home on Sunday I watched the gauge carefully to monitor my mileage and pip usage. I drove 175 miles before the 1st pip disappeared, then only drove 30 miles before the second pip went away, so it seems that there is jut no rhyme or reason to when the pips go away.

[Highly ImPriused]

We had something kind of similar happen to us coming back from a long roadtrip last week, only I never got the Master warning alert. I took notice when the display dropped to 2 bars and figured we could easily go another 50 miles before needing to fill (I usually refill at 1 bar or right after it starts blinking). I have an XGauge programmed into my ScanGauge for the gas tank it showed 27.5% when it dropped to 2 bars and then 25% shorthly thereafter. It dropped to 1 bar about 20 miles later (I usually get 40+ miles from 2 to 1 bar) and SG showed 17.5%, dropping to 15% shortly thereafter. Went to blinking and the Add Fuel warning flashed about 10 miles later (again I usually get 40+ miles from 1 bar to blinking). SG showed 7.5% and at this point I immediately got off the highway (luckily we were right near an exit) and went to the nearest gas station. It took 10.6 gallons to fill, which is the most I've ever put in. Very strange behavior. Normally I could have gone 80 miles on those last 2 bars before blinking and that has been very consitent. I only got 30 miles this time. Now I was getting worse mileage because we were traveling 70+ mph and had a full car, but that still doesn't account for the discrepancy. The only thing I can think is that the gas gauge acts differently on a long trip when you don't shut down much or for very long during the tank as compared to when you have multiple stops and re-starts over several days on a single tank. Still it never acted like this before on road trips, including our trip there a few days prior.

freshmttt, the first bar lasting that long followed by the short duration for the next bar to drop is normal Prius behior. Some of the middle bars have been inconsistent for me (especially bars 3 through 6), but the first two to drop and the last 3 or 4 have always been very consistent for me (over 50 fillups). The last 3 or 4 are a little under 1 gallon each, near as I can figure. This instance coming back from the roadtrip is about the only time I can remember those last bars dropping so quickly.

BTW, I am also pretty sure that the CAN reading (using XGauge or Can-View) for the gas tank is the same data that the display is using to drop the bars. Only you get a little better resolution (2.5% increments). It's not necessarily any more accurate though.

[judymcfarland]

Scangauge or no - when Fiona is down to 2 bars I am giving her some gas. I don't want the princess to turn into a drama queen on me!

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by freshmtt

HI Aaron,
You bought that Scangauge just in time! Did Wayne put your EBH in on Friday night when all the mosquitos were eating us up alive?? If so he did mine right before yours. I had the car with all the Dachshund stickers on it. The Driftwood Pearl color.

Yeah, Wayne installed my EBH right after yours. He did a great job.

[freshmtt]

Originally Posted by Aaron

Yeah, Wayne installed my EBH right after yours. He did a great job.

HI Aaron, Nice to put a face to the avatar!. Yes, Wayne did a GREAT job installing the EBH!!

Wayne, you are wonderful, Thanks so much for installing this for me!