NO fix for Prius Gas Tank Filling Up Issues

[roadog03]

ouch..uhh..oh argg...stop it I can't take any more...sensitive guy.

Crap...I should have checked that gallons it took.....but no.

[OZ132]

Second fill-up on my brand new 2010 Gen III. Went down to 3 bars. Gas pump pops off as soon as I stick it in the tank!!! Had to "Force" it to take a couple of gallons, which put it up to One Bar down...
This is NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!!

[F8L]

Umm that is what warranties are for.

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by OZ132

Second fill-up on my brand new 2010 Gen III. Went down to 3 bars. Gas pump pops off as soon as I stick it in the tank!!! Had to "Force" it to take a couple of gallons, which put it up to One Bar down...
This is NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!!

Interesting, but probably best in its own thread. This one is for the Gen II with bladder.

However, what this suggests is that there is some sort of issue with the tank venting system on your vehicle. It will be interesting to see if this is a common problem with the Gen III or is just sample defect.

Hmmm...maybe an aftermarket retrofit kit with a removable vent plug in the filler is in order. Kind of wish I had something like that for the Gen II when it misbehaves.

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by OZ132

Second fill-up on my brand new 2010 Gen III. Went down to 3 bars. Gas pump pops off as soon as I stick it in the tank!!! Had to "Force" it to take a couple of gallons, which put it up to One Bar down...
This is NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!!

The Gen III doesn't have the same problem as the Gen II, as the fuel tank system is entirely different. If you are having problems, it is unrelated to this issue. Perhaps you should start another thread.

Tom

[FreddieVee]

Today I fueled my 2009 Prius for the 9th time. For the first 7 fill-ups, I had been refueling at 3 or 4 bars on the fuel gauge and taking between roughly 5+1/4 to 6+3/4 gallons until the 8th refueling when it got down to 2 bars and I took about 7+1/8 gallons.

Today, I was down to 2 bars and the pump stopped fueling at 3.08. I retriggered the pump handle twice and it took 0.10 more for a grand total of 3.18 gallons. I went to another pump in the same station and was able to pump another 0.22 gallons. The gas indicator read 5 bars.

I about drove 20 miles to the gym and after I worked out, I went to one more station where I was able to put 3.9 gallons and reach 10 bars.

My wife was in the car each time so I left the car on (as I usually do to keep the air conditioning going) and I noticed that my 5 minute mileage interval was maxed out during refill both when I could not fill the tank and when I did fill it. It has never done that before either.

Are there any electronics in the refueling system?

Is the 2009 fueling system like the older cars or the 2010?

FreddieVee

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by FreddieVee

Today I fueled my 2009 Prius for the 9th time. For the first 7 fill-ups, I had been refueling at 3 or 4 bars on the fuel gauge and taking between roughly 5+1/4 to 6+3/4 gallons until the 8th refueling when it got down to 2 bars and I took about 7+1/8 gallons.

Today, I was down to 2 bars and the pump stopped fueling at 3.08. I retriggered the pump handle twice and it took 0.10 more for a grand total of 3.18 gallons. I went to another pump in the same station and was able to pump another 0.22 gallons. The gas indicator read 5 bars.

I about drove 20 miles to the gym and after I worked out, I went to one more station where I was able to put 3.9 gallons and reach 10 bars.

My wife was in the car each time so I left the car on (as I usually do to keep the air conditioning going) and I noticed that my 5 minute mileage interval was maxed out during refill both when I could not fill the tank and when I did fill it. It has never done that before either.

Are there any electronics in the refueling system?

Is the 2009 fueling system like the older cars or the 2010?

FreddieVee

Yes there are electronics in the fueling system, which is one of the reasons the manual explicitly tells you to turn off the car before refueling. There are several valves in the fuel system that reconfigure to refueling mode when powered off. There is also a pressure test system that will notice the open gas cap when running.

Refueling while powered is a bad habit, and illegal as well. Now might be a good time to mend your ways.

Tom

[jayman]

Originally Posted by qbee42

Refueling while powered is a bad habit, and illegal as well. Now might be a good time to mend your ways.

Tom

You know, there is a very old saying about leading a horse to water ....

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by jayman

You know, there is a very old saying about leading a horse to water ....

There is another one that says "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It only wastes your time and annoys the pig."

Tom

[yardman 49]

At least Freddie admitted his guilt! Time to point him to the thread with the cars catching on fire while refueling! :-)

On another note: for the first couple of tanks my 2009 had no bladder issues. Then they began to show up intermittently. I can tell when the fill is not good, as it will come down off the first pip at 90 mile or less.

We just got back from a long road trip (eastern Massachusetts to Kentucky). While travelling home at night. I topped off the tank on the western side of the Mass Pike. Then I drove all night through NY state. I went about 485 mile (might have been a little more), and was maintaining my cumulative MPG average (slightly over 48 mpg). When I filled up (when the car got down to 1 pip), the tank took 10.2 gallons. Yeah!

And when we finally got home, there were still 5 pips on the tank and we had gone 315 miles since that fillup. Double Yeah!!

Lately when I fillup the Prius, I try to park at pumps where the car tilts towards the passenger's front tire, due to the location of the tank and filler neck. That's also what I did for this fillup. But one thing that was interesting about the pump that I used this time was that it had three detents fo the pump handle latch (rather than two like many pumps). I pushed the nozzle in snugly, and used the slowest setting, which was indeed very slow. I don't know if this contributed to the good fill or not.

Frank