Has anyone run a Prius out of fuel?

So if you do run out of fuel, don't Pulse, just Glide.

 

No. If you run out of fuel, pull over as quick as humanly possible, and go get at least 3 gallons of gas. With luck (and 3 gallons of gas) it will restart. Do NOT try to restart without 3 gallons of gas or you will set a code, and need to be towed.
If you run down the HV Battery messing around, not even the dealer can recharge it. Toyota regional will (eventually) loan the dealer that recharger.

The real answer is "Never come close to running out of gas in a Prius" but bizarrely, no one wants to hear that answer.

 

The dealer where I bought mine said they have that charger in their service department but have never had to use it. He used a slang term for it but I can't remember what it was. Interesting that when I reached one PIP I still had almost 4 gals left in the tank and the first time I let it get that low I drove it for over 20 miles. There is a procedure for jumping one off. The jumper cable connection is under the hood near the inverter.

 

Are you sure that is not the 12 volt battery? I am unaware of a HV Battery jumper in normal Priuses, is the PHV different?

 

I honestly don't remember. I've done so much ADHD/OCD googling since I bought mine that I couldn't even begin to find it at the moment. Assuming you were getting a jump it might have been the 12v. In any event, I remember it saying if you were "dead in the water", it would get you back up and running. I know there are lots of Gurus here and I'm just throwing out my research. This jump start may just get you to. Dealership to charge the HV.

 

A tow truck will, but nothing you can do to the 12 volt will help the HV Battery at all. Do NOT run down the HV Battery trying to keep going once you run out of gas.

 

I can assure I will never do that. I wouldn't ever do that with a regular car. There is no excuse (other than if your a high school kid collecting aluminum to recycle for gas) for running out. There are gas stations on every corner everywhere I've ever driven and I do have a steady job.

Oh, now I remember. I think the dealership guy called it a Frankenstein charger!! I was also told every dealership has one. He could have been blowing smoke, though.

 

They may each have one by now, in 2009 when I did my research on the HV battery, one was shared by all the dealers in a region. You really only need one when an owner runs out of gas, then drives until the battery is exhausted. One would hope there could not be that many owners with a bad idea.
Ran out of fuel AND battery!! | PriusChat

One reason it may be called a Frankenstein is that it is designed for Domestic Japanese electricity then plugged into a Heavy Duty voltage converter to get US electricity. As I recall, it features a number of plugs that LOOK like US 110 Volt AC outlets, but are actually 220 volt.
http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/Hybrid15.pdf Page 6

 

It'd also have to step up to a pretty high voltage to be able to charge the HV battery, if I recall. I think I'd read something like 70-80% of all Priuses in the US or North America are all in California, so that may justify more o' these "Frankenstein" chargers here while other regions may still have to share fewer ones. It also seems like the fuel meters have been recalibrated to make it appear the tank is nearing empty when actually retaining a couple gallons in order to discourage more instances of running it completely dry.

 

Ha! Been there before. When I was a kid I worked at a resort hotel in Florida. We had just got a vacuum cleaner back from being repaired and I was the first to use it in the bar. Turns out our idiot maintenance guy (this was back in the 70's) wired up a standard 110vac 15 amp 3 prong socket for 220vac by mistake. I was helping with the remodeling, plugged in to the miswired socket with that vacuum and for about a minute, it was sucking the color out of the carpet!! Then came the faint burning smell, then the smoke. Off to the repair shop back it went. Ah, youth is wasted on the young.

 

Some of us frequently drive places where stations are scarce, so refueling requires significant advance planning and knowing the real range of the car has some actual value:


The middle picture is on a U.S. Interstate Highway. I didn't stop to get a picture of a couple similar signs on the Trans-Canada Highway, but they were for the same distance as the third picture.

 

Not really, the voltage is just a bit lower than the internal voltages of switching power supplies tied directly to the AC power line without a 60Hz transformer. I was doing it as a green engineer fresh out of college, three decades ago. Most tube televisions of that era were doing it, for the regular power supply, not for the real high voltage needed to drive the tube.

Now, nearly all wall warts and bricks do the same. It is virtually a requirement to reach California and EnergyStar efficiency standards, or to make dual input voltage (120/240V) supplies for common electronic devices.

 

I ran out of fuel today with my 2013 Prius C even though the last bar on the gas gauge was still lit and flashing. It lost power and then a warning light came on saying something about lost power to steering. I had always assumed that if I ran out of gas I would be able to go the extra half mile to the gas station in EV mode, but that's wrong. The car simply stops and will not start. I was going to walk to the gas station but called the Toyota service center. They told me that putting gas would not solve the problem and that I would have to get a tow. I got it towed to the Toyota dealer and was told that even if the only problem was no gas, the computer system would have to be reset, that it would cost me $125 for this service, and that it wasn't covered by the warranty. This is a real problem with the Prius that most people don't know about. Having to pay the dealer $125 for running out of gas seems unconscionable.

 

i think they might be wrong about this, you should have tried adding gas first, before having it towed.

 

or just clueless, as usual.

 

I already responded to your other post, but am copying it here.

What do you mean 'even though'?

That was the last warning. That light does not go out. There are no additional warnings before fuel starvation.

What really happened is that you failed to notice when fuel ran out and the ICE died. Thus, you continued on EV until the traction battery was also drained to the lower limit allowed by the computers, which is what triggered the warning light about loss of power steering.

For more detail, read the base post of:
[WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III).

The full story about what really happened isn't discovered until about half way through the very long thread, but you'll need considerable time to find it. Search for Bob Wilson's various posts through that thread. But the very first post has most of what you really need to know.

That depends on how you abuse it while it is out of fuel.

If you immediately put in enough fuel that the computers recognize it, it will restart. Bob has done this 50-ish times without failure. But if you try to restart too many times without fuel, a counter will trip and lock out further restart attempts, to preserve the remaining traction battery charge. Several other drivers have reported that issue here. You may be able to clear that lockout yourself by disconnecting the 12V battery long enough to clear and reset the memory.

I.e. that dealer charge is a worst case if you continue to abuse the car. It is not a given.

 

I have done this and this is quite recove

I have done this and this is quite recoverable ... just fill it up ... I had the car towed to a gas station (on a flat-bed) and since the car was my first Prius, brand new 2-3 weeks old wasn't sure what to do. Filled it up on the tow and started ... only after that I had the guy put the car onto the ground. But Bob Wilson experimented runnig out of gas on purpose (several times) and surely did not pay 125 each time to a "dealer" to re-set the computer ...


(I think you need some minimum amount which is more than 1 gal ... so just the 1 gallon orange can MAY not work)

The dealer absolutely cheated you!!! They most likely charged you for the "diagnostic" fee and you probably consented to it however unknowingly !! But this is clearly cheating. I would call Toyota regional support and report this ...

 

The OP stated that the light was still blinking when he/she ran out of fuel. What was expected to happen?