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Ran out of gas-what to do now???

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Esmo-Joe, Feb 6, 2012.

  1. Esmo-Joe

    Esmo-Joe New Member

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    I have a 2010 Prius Gen III; It appears to have ran out of gas yesterday and in trying to get to the gas station the battery has apparently ran very low, the gas gauge still showed two bars. After putting gas in the car it will not power up, I get the "Check Hybrid System" indicator. Is there anything that I can do to get the car to power up or will I have to have it towed to the dealer?

    This happened once before approximately a month ago but after putting gas in the car it powered up and ran. I don't know that the battery had gotten as low as it is now. We were returning from an out of town trip and had found that my son had his coat over the vent in the rear seat so thought that the car had ran out of gas earlier; while still showing two bars, than it would have otherwise. I definately will be taking it in to have it checked out, if for nothing else to have the gas gauge checked out but I would like to save the tow charge if possible. I already had to pay for one yesterday just to get it home.

    Thanks for any help, Joe
     
    #1 Esmo-Joe, Feb 6, 2012
  2. nerfer

    nerfer A young senior member

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    I'm not sure how covering the vent in the back seat would affect the gas gauge. It can cause the battery to overheat though. Did you see what level of charge the battery is at?

    I'm not sure if trying to jump start it would be a good idea, but that's about all that comes to mind right now. If you press the start button once without the brake pedal pressed, does it power up to that state?
     
    #2 nerfer, Feb 6, 2012
    1 person likes this.
  3. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    Joe,

    Worst case scenario, you may be harmed the hybrid battery. I would make sure that the dealer acknowledges and documents the gauge reading in the event you need a warranty claim.

    Only Toyota can recharge the hybrid battery if drained past its normal threshold. You'll need another tow, sorry. :(
     
    #3 fotomoto, Feb 6, 2012
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    By battery, do you mean the HV battery? Were you trying to make it to a gas station on battery alone?

    Jumping only works for the small 12V battery, not a low HV battery.

    Unless you repeatedly restarted you will not have drained your HV battery to a critical level. The battery control system will do everything in its power to keep you from hurting the HV battery.

    How much gas did you add? It takes about three gallons before a Prius will register the new fuel and attempt a restart. I'm guessing you didn't add enough fuel.

    So here is what to do:

    1) Make sure you add at least three gallons.

    2) Try to power up.

    3) If it powers up, great, but if it doesn't and you still get an error code, disconnect the 12V battery for a few minutes to reset the error codes, then reconnect.

    4) Try to power up again.

    If that doesn't do it, you may need a flatbed. All of this assumes your 12V battery is charged and in working order. If not, start there.

    Once you get it running again, recalibrate your fuel gauge.

    Tom
     
    #4 qbee42, Feb 6, 2012
  5. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    doesn't the new prius genIII+ along with lexus hybrids have a lock out... 3 failed starts and it locks you out?... that way it doesn't complexly kill the HV pack
     
    #5 V8Cobrakid, Feb 6, 2012
  6. Esmo-Joe

    Esmo-Joe New Member

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    There was a gas station about a mile to mile and a half in the other direction so yes I was attempting to make it back to the station on the battery.

    The HV status shows that it is down to two bars, so not completely down (of course so did the gas gauge).

    I initially added one gallon of gas but in reading the manual it said it may not start if it didn't have a sufficient amount so I added another five gallons, so six gallons total. I did try the starting sequence several times with no luck. I did not think to disconnect the 12V battery to try to clear its system. I will not be able to try this until later this afternoon after work.

    Thanks,
    Joe
     
    #6 Esmo-Joe, Feb 6, 2012
  7. Esmo-Joe

    Esmo-Joe New Member

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    I disconnected the battery for a couple of minutes, went thru the three start/stop procedure and am up and running again. I don't know why I didn't think of the battery Sunday; it's just like hard booting a computer.

    Thanks to all for the input,

    Joe
     
    #7 Esmo-Joe, Feb 7, 2012
    3 people like this.
  8. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    :cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:
     
    #8 fotomoto, Feb 7, 2012
  9. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    Glad that worked for you, I'm not sure I would have thought of it either.

    Just for information with a properly working Gen3 Prius gas gage the last pip should start blinking with about 1.5 to 2 gal left in the tank. I was able to pull into a station once just as mine started to blink, the miles to empty were at 0, it took 10 gal to fill it. Tank capacity is listed as 11.9.
     
    #9 tumbleweed, Feb 8, 2012
  10. 32kcolors

    32kcolors Senior Member

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    This doesn't make sense. You ran out of gas twice with two bars left on the gauge? Better get the fuel gauge checked or recalibrated.
     
    #10 32kcolors, Feb 9, 2012
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