Fueling trick - How to get your Gen 2 to take gas

See the flange where you're putting your nozzle at 12 on that flange use a punch and punch two holes . They'll be close to a quarter inch holes or such I can usually run on high to 6.4 gallons then half squeezing to get to 8.4 takes me about 1.5 min to gas up SE USA

 

and pray that you don't create a spark?

Wth...............this has to be the absolute worst advice ever given.....

 

I’ve found occasional success by rotating the angle of the fuel nozzle to where it’s sideways and filling the tank slowly. But most of the time, it was just paying attention to which station and pump I was using when there were problems and using different ones after that. I always did my best to pump in at least 3 gallons at a time, since that’s what the car requires to detect that there’s added fuel in the tank.

 

Must be a US problem, our Gen 2 Prius takes the 50 ltr (13 us gal) from the fuel light flashing warning you will be walking within the next 10kms, to full, in one full trigger pull fill. Might need to change the angle a bit at a few service stns, but that's about it ......

T1 Terry

 

it is. there's no bladder outside of north america

 

It is reportedly a bit stubborn due to the design—emphasis on "a bit"—but if it ever becomes genuinely difficult or balky to fill, that's likely not "due to the design" but because some part of the ORVR system has stopped doing its job, and that's a time not for nozzle tricks but just for finding and fixing the problem. More in ➡this thread⬅.

 

Hi
I’m having this problem with my 2008 Prius.
43,400 mikes… Was there a recall for the gas tank ?
I took my car to top off my tank to fill about 3 gallons. Fuel backed ou…. Fuel gauge stayed at 6 squares and mileage on screen stayed at 18 miles. I drive around for an hour nothing changed. took to my mechanic and they were able to reset . I was told do not top off.
this is the first time it’s happened.
Normally I have waited till it was half full.
Moving forward I will pump slowly and wait a few minutes before fueling…
Thanks it’s been quite awhile since I’ve signed into Prius Chat. I knew I couldn’t be the only one experiencing this.

 

The car's ORVR system has a lot of components that have to do their jobs all together, and some of them can stop working right and cause the kinds of problems reported here, especially if there is a history of anyone "topping off" the fuel tank.

If you're experiencing anything beyond the normal slight variability of filling a bladder tank, you probably just have an ORVR issue needing repair, and repairing it will solve the problem. The thread linked in #7 above has more info.

 

I just purchased a 2007 base model with 190k, and a one-owner with every single service record, and I noticed the first 2 times I went to fill it up it would only take 8 gallons or so, which seemed odd, so I came here and read about the bladder issues. Long story short, I fueled up yesterday using your method, and I was able to get 10.4 gallons without overfilling it...

 

Thank you …, unfortunately I’ve put 75 miles on my car and the gas gauge is still showing a full tank.. I called Toyota Motor in Califitnis there is no recall on this….car is driving great just need to get this issue fixed do I do kit run out of gas. I have not tried to see if the car will take gas. Waiting to hear from my mechanic .
It’s been very hot here in NYC .

 

On mine, the anti-overflow valve (not sure which device in the pic is that one) suddenly jammed closed and would not release (its a type of float.) So refueling was not really possible - allowed only tiny amounts of fuel before stopping the pump. I took the device off (inside the rear driver side wheel well under a plastic shield), removed the jammed check valve out of the unit and put the unit back on. Now refilling works again. At some point, need to replace the unit with a proper one that works. Wonder what Toyota wants for that part new?

Also, the Prius has a short cut that allows the user to recalibrate the tank's fuel gauge. Its available on youtube.

 

It's funny how often people discover procedures in the repair manual for calibrating something, and then wildly oversell what the procedure does.

There is a procedure for recalibrating the readings of the inclination sensors that are built into the combination meter, and used to slightly compensate the fuel gauge reading for whatever way the car is leaning.

 

Don't know since I depend on what is in manuals or posted online but when I filled my tank (after I had disconnected the battery and the fuel gauge was way off) I ran this procedure to reset the reading. The gauge said half filled (as before) after filling the tank. So I ran the 'calibration' procedure online and the gauge now read as a full tank.

Now my vehicle has a level sensor but that is solely for the headlights. That procedure (jumping the OBD II port or an advanced reader and using a Prius short cut) will recalibrate that sensor. The two procedures are wildly different.

The repair manual I have suggests one possible reason a tank will underfill is if the seal in the fuel port stem, if leaking/worn, can fail in sealing preventing a slight buildup of pressure from the nozzle preventing the bladder from fully inflating/filling the tank.

 

The headlight-leveling sensor has nothing to do with the two inclination sensors that are built into the combination meter for the purpose of correcting the fuel gauge reading. The repair manual describes the meter inclination sensors here:



If you went through a 'calibration' procedure that looked like this, what you did was tell the meter that the current longitudinal and axial inclination readings are for the car parked on a level surface.



That's the procedure that a lot of online sources mistakenly call a fuel-gauge calibration. Looking in the repair manual, you find the correct information.

Because it is only about the meter inclination readings, it is generally only needed if you have had the meter out of the car, or have had the inclination sensors dismounted and remounted on the meter. If the inclination readings are waay out of calibration, you could notice a bit of difference in the fuel level reading, but the correction effect usually isn't large.

There is no soft calibration for the signal from the in-tank fuel level sensor. If that sensor starts reading out of spec, it has to be replaced.

Can you say more about what repair manual you have? "Repair manual" around here usually means the one from Toyota, but maybe you're looking at a different one.