Impacts of Running out of Gas

No and NO! It doesn't hurt a thing unless you talk about it on PriusOnline, in which case you will be called several things synonymous with idiot. Other than that, no harm at all.

 

8) How many time did you run out of gas with your prior vehicle and if never why now?

Ben

 

8) Tideland Prius,

I have owned nothing but Toyota's since 1982.
1982 Starlet
1987 Camry
1992 Kingcab P/U
1995 Camry
1996 T-100
2002 Avalon
2003 Avolon
2004 Prius
2005 RAV4
And I guess by the Grace of God and being from Alaska, I learned never let the vehicle go below 1/2 a tank. I just think it is funny that we all know that we have a guess-o-meter gas gauge. That being said, why would anyone want to push their luck and the chance to run out of gas?

Ben

 

I fyou have an early '04, then you may need the gas tank/combination meter replacement. Those with a late '04 or '05 can easily get 50 or more miles after the pip. Of course, that does depend on your MPG. I have run out of gas at 87 mile running about 52 MPG.

 

in my 2005 after running 4 miles after last bar started blinking she took 11.4 gals.

 

8) DanMan32,

I had the TSB done in 04 as it related to the fuel gauge and filler pipe. But again why does it appear that Prius owners and driver are taking more chances with the car and are running out of gas more often? Also those that have been here for a year or longer know that there are only three of those TRAC battery chargers here in the US. Why risk killing the TAC as well?

Ben

 

Yeah only three of those chargers and from what I can tell they are like the Maytag repairman of old. We haven't had a single report of damage to the traction battery or need for a charge due to running out of gas or for any other reason for that matter. If you want to push the traction battery, just drive in bumper to bumper traffic in 100 degree heat with the AC cranking. You will be in the low range quick. It's time to stop perpetuating the apparent myth started by Toyota that running out of gas will damage the hybrid system. It's just not happening. We get report after report of people running out of gas and they all say the same thing. "It ran fine after filling up and rebooting, maybe twice." Show me one example to substantiate the oft repeated dire warnings.

While I'm on a rant, show me one example of the supposed problems with overfilling the gas tank or coasting in N. It's no different than all the stories about replacing the "6000$" battery every few years or frying the EMS workers.

 

It may become more common as more Prius traction batteries near the end of their service life and start to lose capacity.

How do you tell that when Prius traction battery needs replacing?

It would have been nice if Toyota had built in some emergency charging circuitry to charge the traction
battery from the 12v battery, the way Ford did in the Escape Hybrid. Instead of having to get
towed in and wait for your dealer to get one of the TRAC chargers shipped to him, you just
open an access door and press a button and wait 7 minutes. (I have not had to use this feature,
but I'm glad it's there).

 

I've had a similar problem recently, and I think that my tank gauge reader (whatever) is now messed up.

3 tanks ago I filled up my tank about 5 minutes after the 1 bar started blinking. Shouldn't have been a problem, filled up about 10 gallons- the most I have filled up yet. Prior to that, I would fill up at 2 bars or the second 1 bar hit, and I would usually fill up about 9.5 gallons.

Anyways, everything was fine the next tank- still filled up about 9.5 gallons at 1 bar. Since that tank, however, it has been VERY innacurate.
I filled up my next 2 tanks at the 1 bar mark or at the 1 bar blinking mark. In each instance, I had been averaging about 52 mpg. I had only driven about 400 miles since filling up! When I did fill up, I was only filled up about 8 or 8.5 gallons. Something is very wrong here.

Any good words? Should I bring her in?


Also, on a totally different note- my Nav has been acting really funny lately. Quite often, it will show me to make a right but the voice says to make a left! What's that all about!?


Thanks.

 

Howdy kwick7

On the NAV question: Was your display set to "North up" or "Heading Up?" Perhaps you were headed South with the "North up" setting on the display.

Check your NAV Manual, pp viii and 9.

 

I agree with Ray regarding the traction battery wear. I believe there was a post where the car did indeed run out of battery power. That may not have been related to being out of gas but rather the ICE stall issue. The car was able to restart again.

So, I believe, but I am unwilling to test, that if the battery SOC gets below nominal 0, the car will be powered off. You can then attempt a restart until the battery does not have any more energy to possibly crank the ICE or power the inverter. I don't think any of us would push the car that far.
I suspect my car may have gone to that condition in the car wash, as the guys could not get the car out of the washer. A few visits later, they did inform me that they had been instructed not to mess with the power button, so the car was probably in READY and in Neutral too long. I did turn off the AC but the SOC was at 2 red bars when I got it back.

 

Has anyone had any experience with the SCANGUAGE's ability to predict mileage to empty? I bought and installed one of these, particularly for that purpose but the value it gives me seems a bit overly optimistic. Just wondering if anyone else has one of these things and has "checked it out"... Thanks,

Mitch

 

Mine reads a bit too low, and it seems to vary quite a bit vs the mfd reading, so I trust the car reading a bit more. But it's nice to have both. Today my commute to work read 54.9 on the mfd, and the scan gauge read only 50. This was an 8 mile trip. It may not sample enough, and with longer trips it tends to read only like 2 mpg lower than my mfd display. My true mpg is in between the two.

So for fill ups I use the gauge and run out on purpose periodically, with spare gas on hand, just to be sure it is still accurate enough. So far I only trust it to about a half gallon variability at the blink point.
I normally plan on fill up before I go over 30 - 40 miles (less if car is cold and does warm up modes).

 

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Well, I have a 80 mile round trip commute so I get a good sampling. MyMPG readings of the Prius vs. Scanguage actually track pretty well. The part I'm most concerned with though is the "miles to empty" reading. It just seems like the Scanguage is much more optimistic about how far I can go on a tank of gas than I am. I even have the tank size input at 11 gallons rather than 12 (since I can't do 11.9) but it still seems to indicate that I can go about 470 miles on a full tank and then at about a half tank it is showing like 275 miles left to empty. Maybe I'm just chicken and should try your experimental method (and I'm a scientist). I'll get my old gas can filled and perhaps I'll determine the accuracy empirically on this tankfull. Thanks,

Mitch

 

I too have a lot of doubts about the gas gage. My first tank I decided to wait untill the last square blinked at me and then fill the tank and see how much it took. Well I drove about 25 or 30 miles on the last square and it never did blink, I finally got nervous about running out and filled it. It took between 11.9 and 12 gallons. It was a warm day, low 90s, so maybe it had a little more in it, but maybe it didn't. Since then I have always filled it when it reaches the last square or before.

When it gets to the last square it takes between 8 and 11 gallons depending on who fills it. I have to go to Washington to fill my own tank and I get a little more in without spilling any, we aren't allowed to pump our own gas in Oregon (Oregonians aren't always very bright).

 

I'd love to be able to rely on the miles to empty on the scan gauge. But l see three problems.

1 I have to remember to reset when I fill up, which may not be a problem when I get used to it, but so far I've been forgetting.
2 In winter the bladder holds less, so that could cause me to run short, as well as the problem with pumps, so to reliy on this even in summer I'd have to be extra sure to get my tank full.
3 The final variable item is the unusable fuel. ie How much fuel can be left and still have it think it's empty. I think hills, cornering, etc can make the fuel slosh a bit and if the engine just gets a gulp of air it may decide tjhe tank is empty a bit before it really is.

Guess I should do more tests with my gallon gas can with me before it gets too cold.

 

The last 4 squares gives me about 50 miles each at 55MPG.

half a tank on the isn't necessarily half of the usable fuel volume used. Here's a good way to judge though.
You know how many gallons you programmed into the scanguage. It gives you the MPG. If it gives you tank average MPG, and it is comparable to the MFD tank average, you can figure out the gallons used: gal=Miles/Miles/MPG. Now that you know how many gallons you used, subtract from total gallons for gallons remaining. Multiply by MPG, and you have DTE based on tank average. The problem is, your short term MPG can be significantly different than your tank average. You should use it for the 2nd MPG that you used with your remaining gallons to find your current DTE.