remove gas bladder

The number of changes you'd need to make to the fuel system, it's sensors, and to the numerous onboard computers, and the electrial system, would be overwhelming.Might be cheaper to buy a Generation 3!

 

I believe gen III tank is plastic.
Is it legal to remove emission control device, such as a catalyst?

Ken@Japan

 

No. Tampering with or removing emission control devices is a federal offense.

Tom

 

it would be a great idea to get rid of it

 

You'd probably have to import a European or Japan spec Prius fuel tank along with the engine ECU for those regions (since the NA engine ECU can check integrity of the bladder system.) However the Europe or Japan engine ECU might not work well with the other ECUs, and as previously pointed out, this would be an illegal exercise...

 

There must be something wrong with my 2007 Prius. The feul tank bladder has never given me any greif at all. Please help me. Am I doing something wrong?

 

Pearl works just fine as well. Yup, you have to be careful when filling with fuel. You can't just shove the nossle in and release the hounds!

But there are two "problems" here. An upitty fuel gauge with a mind of its' own as well as the fuel tank bladder.

Pearl has only spit back at me twice now, so I don't let the systems work on their own. I -carefully- put fuel into the car without relying on the nossle shutoff. You do it so infrequently, it's worth taking a few minutes more to do it right!

 

I'm not sure that the conversion would be illegal, in fact I doubt it would be at all. This is not a mandatory pollution control device instead it's an optional one. Putting in another tank that met regs should be legal. (The cat converter was mentioned, but the analogy would be in replacing it with another kind of cat that also met the regulatory requirements.)

However, as others have noted there is a bunch of sequencing and computer control around the tank space venting systems, so as a practical matter the conversion might not be doable.

Owners should be happy that we don't have to report a spill when the tank burps fuel. That would dampen the already thin enthusiasm for the bladder in a big hurry!

One of these days I'll get around to making the emergency venting device that I believe might fix "refusal to fill" situations.

 

Actually the way the law is written it is illegal to replace any part of the emission control equipment with anything BUT stock parts or in California, with -CARB approved- parts. It was worded that way to stop "street tuners" from swapping in stuff that didn't perform as well re emissions.

If you replaced the tank with a European one you WOULD increase emissions, even if you got all the other evap. stuff working to the satisfaction of the car's computers, so it would still be illegal. The car is sold in the US and Canada as, I think it's worded, a ULEV. It wouldn't be with the other tank and evap. system. You can improve it but you can't make it worse, even if it still meets regs. unless you want to go through the approval process.

 

I don't believe that is correct. As I pointed out as long as it meets the reg one would be fine. GenIII should meet the same regs, sans bladder.

I've done tuner part swaps before and they were still emissions legal parts. I purchased from California shops.

 

As this is my first post I might as well say "hi".

All very valid points David.

Some people seem to work on the principle that it's not illegal unless you get caught (not I, I may add) so... in California the Prius is not required to have a Smog check performed - which is where the kiddies get caught failing the visual inspection with their non-CARB certified parts. The only way you'd be required to undergo an inspection would be if the Police stopped you under the belief that your emissions systems had been tampered with, as they do with Civics with the coffee can sized mufflers and eBay intakes, or if your Toyota dealer got on their highhorse if you ever took the car in for a future problem...

Personally, I don't really see the point of swapping this part out.