Can only fill up 8.5 gallons

Its a rubber bladder. Its supposed to hold 11 but it expands and contracts with heat.

In theory each bar on the guage should represent 1 gallon and the last flashing bar 1 gallon = 11.

Ive been able to add 13 before when its hot. Usually much less when cold, sometimes can't get much in it all.

 

A perennial complaint with the Gen 2 Prius. I didn't often get much more than that in mine. Summers were better because the rubber was more flexible.

 

try waiting a few minutes after removing the gas cap. pump slowly, try different pumps, try holding the nozzle at 90 and 180 degrees.

8.5 is actually pretty good compared to some.

 

I think my typical fill is 8 - 8.5 gallons. Even with owning 4 different Gen 2s, that just seems to be the sweet spot every time when I reach the one dot level. Never had much reason to stretch a tank further than that..

 

How much different is a gen 3 no liner gas tank vs a gen 2 tank?

 

8.5 gals would be like a brand new Gen2. 6.5 is best we can do now.

 

My 2007 can accept up to 10+ gallons in the summer. Winter is 8-9 max. Such is the nature of the beast.

 

Maybe it IS full....if it won't accept any more fuel.....guess what? It's full....

Maybe the low end reading is off a bit and you still have 3 gallons in it ???

If being able to drive more than 375 miles before having an 'indication ' to fill up is this much of a crisis, start driving around with a 5 gallon can of gas and just run it dry. Then you can see exactly how much it will take for a complete fill.

 

You never mentioned how low your gauge was when you filled up. 1 flashing pip?

 

To repeat a question already asked: how far down did you run the tank before refilling? If you didn't run it down to fuel fuel starvation, actually running out of gas and getting stranded along the roadside, then you are not testing the full refill capacity. And most drivers don't really want to run out.

Most cars have some safety margin built in to the gauge. With the Prius, this is supposed to be about 2 gallons from the very last low fuel warning.

But the problematic Gen2 fuel bladder often bulloxes everything. It was a good idea whose time hadn't really arrived yet, so was abolished for Gen3. Some Gen2 drivers have no problem at all, while others run into a lot of variable tank shrinkage problems.