Low Fuel Light

I got my first warning yesterday. It is a double beep. I thought a seatbelt was off and the warning came on. The dash told me I had 22 miles left to go. I just went to a gas station I liked and filled up. You will get the warning soon enough.

 

That last bar will start flashing also a beep will be heard. That is your low fuel indication. You will have about 2 gallons left at that point.

 

I ran into this yesterday with my 2010 Prius .... so if one has only 22 miles to go and the bar is flashing, how can there still be two gallons in there? I filled right up at this point, and it took only 9.4 gallons.

 

The "miles to go" is not terribly accurate. The tank is rated at 11.9 although mine seems closer to 12.1. Regardless, three tests to complete fuel exhaustion came in at ~2.1 gallons based upon the trip meter MPG and distance. A more conservative number, 2 gallons, would be a good rule to use. BTW, I caution about running out of gas because the car does not raise a "check engine" light or any other indication that you are not running on the last of the traction battery power.

In the earlier versions, running out of gas raised a lot of error signals and lights. This let us know we had about a mile of traction battery power to reach a safe parking place. This car switches to traction battery and if you don't notice it, can quickly drain the traction battery and then raise a false "power steering" light. When that happens, all power is lost and you will be parking within the distance you can roll.

Bob Wilson

 

I think that the miles to go is intentionally off. Toyota wants you to fill up before running out of gas. I read somewhere that it is advisable to fill up with no less then 6 liters (about 1.6 American Gallons).
I find that even when your consumption (MPG) is pretty stable if you add the miles actually traveled and the miles to go you will find that the sum decreases as you advance in the tank. I believe that this for the same reason.
Do others find the same?

 

Your tank in close to 21.1 wow thats awesome mine seems like 12

 

Interesting, I hadn't tried that test, yet. Have you tried to graph it?

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

That's what the refill blink is calibrated for.

I've consistently been at the 9-gallon mark when it triggered.
.

 

I read somewhere that the fuel pump is in the bottom of the tank and fuel cooled. Does anyone know if it will damage the fuel pump if you routinely run your gas tank to near zero before refueling.

 

I know you posted this observation earlier in another thread, but just now it got me thinking. Wouldn't the ICE without gas act not all that different from a defective ICE? Then why wouldn't there be any warnings/indications when the ICE fails to run?

Have you tried the test (hard to do) where the ICE fails to run (due to out of gas or perhaps simply pulling a spark plug) and then attempt to specifically engage the ICE (not relying on ICE coming on for low SOC, but perhaps hard acceleration)? I would be very surprised if there are no warnings given at that time...

 

And what about the condensation that must accumulate in a nearly empty tank?

Though the looks you get from the gas station attendants when you fill up and the car only takes 6 or 7 gallons is disturbing

 

Please read the User's Manual - everything is written in there.

 

I think the claim of more debris in the fuel as the level gets lower is a myth because gas is drawn from the bottom of the tank, regardless of the level of gas in the tank.

 

It is true that the electric fuel pump is cooled by "fuel", so it is better to keep a tank at least 1/2 full most of the time. I know this because my prior car's fuel pump burnt out because I would run it to the low fuel warning consistently. I've learned my lesson!

 

Ditto to everything but the beep. I haven't heard the a low fuel beep.

 

It will beep when the fuel level drops to a certain point while you are driving and after that it will emit the same beep when you enter Ready mode until you add gas.

 

On my last two fill-ups I had 491 miles on the trip indicator and 2 bars left on gas gauge and filled up with 8.73 gal. (56.2mpg); then 492.4 miles on the tank with 2 bars left, and filled up with 8.95 gals (55.0mpg). So, with roughly 3 gal left in tank, still 2 bars on the gauge. This seems contrary to others data above since they are getting low fuel indication at 9 gals burned and I am at 2 bars left on gauge. Does fuel gauge take into account rate of consumption? My intention is to take it down to flashing indicator on this tank and see what I have left in tank at that point. Once you get to 1 bar on gauge how soon does it start flashing and indicating low fuel?