[WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III)

[tochatihu]

I like the sound of 'test pilot' better than 'crash test dummy'.

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by Tad Moody

Um...

WHO runs out of gas? Is filling up a fuel tank THAT difficult?

It is if the fuel gauge lies to you. See the GII for an example of that. Save the snarky responses for something you understand.

[Econ]

Originally Posted by LRKingII

"I still have not had the guts to push the EV button. "

That's shocking.

What are you waiting for????

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by tochatihu

I like the sound of 'test pilot' better than 'crash test dummy'.

But I love "Crash Test Dummies:"



Bob Wilson

[garygid]

1. Running out of fuel is a terrible way to "purge" old gas, because it tends to draw dirt and "dregs" into the fuel and injector system.

Far better to drain any water and "dregs" from the fuel tank occasionally from underneath the car. Is there a fuel tank / filter / sump drain plug to use?

Also, if the "old" fuel is so poor that it cannot be mixed with fresh, then you certainly should not burn that fuel in your engine to "purge" it from the tank. An engine tuneup or repair costs a lot more than several gallons of gas..

[PriusRos]

Originally Posted by fred garvin

1. i have never run out of gas and never will

I have never run out of gas either but I can't say that I never will. Of course, I hope I won't. I can see a couple of situations where it could happen...

1) Getting stuck in a 20-mile traffic jam when you're fuel is already low.

2) Forgetting to fuel up before driving through some wilderness mountainous area, such as the Rockies, and getting lost.

Never letting your fuel gauge go below two bars will probably prevent running out of gas even in these type of extreme conditions, but probably a majority of people wait until they get down to one bar or even the warning beep (which is loud and always scares me half to death when it goes off).

But in the second situation, even if you had two bars left, and let's say that there are still 2 gallons left after the last pip, at say an average of 40 mpg going up and down hill, that's only 160 miles until you run completely dry.

[dhs]

Originally Posted by PriusRos

But in the second situation, even if you had two bars left, and let's say that there are still 2 gallons left after the last pip, at say an average of 40 mpg going up and down hill, that's only 160 miles until you run completely dry.

Yeah...of course in my prior drive (Subaru Forester), I had some tanks that were not much more than 160 miles.

[bwilson4web]

In my three fuel exhaustion tests, I was running at speeds ~25-40 mph when it finally ran dry. These are speed ranges where the Prius normally transitions between gas and electric. The two other reports were at higher speeds where the loss of engine power was obvious ... no need for a 'check engine' light.

Bob Wilson

[gotoperson]

I just ran out of gas.
I was confused because i thought the tank is 12 gallons, but I had only driven 400 miles so I figured I had a couple more gallons left and the warning light goes on premature. I always need to test the boundaries and I found out the warning light isn't lying. I was able to get to a gas station within a mile so I'm hoping I didn't do too much damage. I discovered when filling the tank it stops at ten gallons, so figured I still had two gallons in it, but this time I kept pressing to fill more and was able to get two more gallons into the tanks. So it did fill up past 12 gallons for the first time. My prius is still confusing to me.

[rrolff]

Originally Posted by garygid

1. Running out of fuel is a terrible way to "purge" old gas, because it tends to draw dirt and "dregs" into the fuel and injector system.

Far better to drain any water and "dregs" from the fuel tank occasionally from underneath the car. Is there a fuel tank / filter / sump drain plug to use?

Also, if the "old" fuel is so poor that it cannot be mixed with fresh, then you certainly should not burn that fuel in your engine to "purge" it from the tank. An engine tuneup or repair costs a lot more than several gallons of gas..

I say baloney (not the Oscar Meyer kind).... Anything in the tank that can go into the fuel system will go - regardless of amount of gas.