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Current consumption stays at maximum while idle

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by nearly young, Dec 17, 2012.

  1. nearly young

    nearly young New Member

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    Hello!

    First of all, I would like to say that I am happy to be a member of this community. Even though I just registered, I have been using priuschat as one of my top information sources while buying a Prius (last month).

    Alright, I bet this question really belongs here in the Newbie forum and it might have been posted before, but I simply cannot find it. Maybe I am searching for the wrong thing (keywords etc.).

    OK, so this is it:

    The current consumption (L/100Km) gauge is at maximum (99.9 L/100Km) whenever the car engine is idling. This is a problem since the average L/100Km seems to be affected by this and gives a really inaccurate measurement. (I have done a few measurements when filling gas, and the fuel consumption seems to be OK). I am wondering if this could be a symptom or if I simply have misunderstood the current consumption gauge.

    These are my specs:
    * Prius 2nd gen 2005
    * 148 000 kilometers (91962 miles)
    * I live in the middle of sweden, the temperature is about -3 celcius right now.
    * I am using a block heater whilst at work and a warm garage (10 celcius) at home.

    Regards,
    Mi
     
    #1 nearly young, Dec 17, 2012
  2. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    So long as you are going 0 Km/h, then your L/100Km is infinite, just as my MPG is 0 when I am going 0 MPH.

    This lowers my average MPG, just as it raises your average L/100Km. When you look at a lifetime value, this is true, time spent at rest certainly still did consume fuel.
     
    #2 JimboPalmer, Dec 17, 2012
  3. nearly young

    nearly young New Member

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    Thank you for the reply Jimbo. I am glad to hear that the "infinite reading" thing is normal. Your post helped me find some other posts regarding this subject as well.

    Am I getting this right; this gauge is used to get a perception of your cars lifetime value, not to get a precise reading of your fuel economy. This should be checked once you fuel up? Because the value shown in the "consumption" gauge obviously does not seem to match up with the measurements done when refueling.

    Another thing which I think is strange is the fact that the energy monitor does not show the energy source sometimes, even though I can clearly hear the gasoline motor running.
     
    #3 nearly young, Dec 22, 2012
  4. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    There certainly are times when the engine is running that it is not providing energy to drive the car, it might be heating coolant to run the heater, or running to warm up the catalist.
     
    #4 JimboPalmer, Dec 22, 2012
  5. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    No it is accurate and a precise reading (it is usually off by a varying percent car to car though). If you are going 0 kilometres per hour, but consuming even a tiny tiny bit of fuel, your L/100K is infinite so it pegs as high as it can go. There are also times when you are going say 40kph but the engine is off burning 0 litres. Then you are getting 0L/100K. The average of all of this is what you see when you fill up at the pump.

    It does show the energy source. It just may not be intuitive why the car has chosen that energy source yet. There are times during warmup when the engine will run until it is at operating temperature, but the car will try its hardest to not use it. So it will run, you can feel it, but the energy source will be battery unless you stomp on it. When stopped, then it may show slight recharge from engine to battery, but until it passes Stage4 warmup it is dead weight in the eyes of the Prius computer gods.
     
    #5 2k1Toaster, Dec 22, 2012
  6. nearly young

    nearly young New Member

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    Alright, I think I get it now. :)
    Thank you for the answers, everybody!
     
    #6 nearly young, Jan 15, 2013
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