Car Won't Fill Up

how do you know it was near empty?

 

cold weather does that. resin bladder contracts, causes much lower volume for filling up.

 

This is a well known issue.

Get use to it. You have to fill slow, and once it appears full you can usually squeeze another couple gallons in. It will take you as long as a hummer to fill up though. It is really irritating, but I just gave up on trying to get 600 mile tanks and just accept that my 11.9 gallon tank will only get about 9 gallons or so and just live with 450 miles tanks.

 

If you search this forum you will find that this is an on going topic of discussion with new Prius owners. Filling the tank is a learning experience and once mastered you will find your own technique for getting the most gas in your tank. Basically the expandable blader creates a back pressure that causes the nozzel to activate and cut off before completely full. As your Prius ages, the blader becomes more pliabel and does not cause as much back pressure, however each gas nozzel varies in diameter, from the amount of wear and tear, and the the fill up results vary between pumps.
You will eventually learn to live with it and find a technique, mine is either fill the tank myself or let my wife fill as much as she can and then go back and top it off.

 

I've had this problem once or twice, at specific filling stations. Try a different station. The fill tube is tight and tends to trigger the vacuum-sensor that shuts off the nozzle. If the pump nozzle shutoff mechanism is too sensitive, it will trigger immediately and you won't be able to put any gas in.

Also, there was a TSB affecting certain '04 serial numbers about a poorly-designed fill tube. This was not a recall, so there was no notice sent out, but people who complained got it fixed for free. I didn't think it affected any '05's, but you could ask. Maybe someone here knows.

However, you SHOULD be able to get 7 or 8 gallons in once the last bar begins flashing. Maybe 6 in bitterly cold weather. Use the LOWEST pump setting. It's not all that slow. By the time you've cleaned the windows it should be full.

Forcing more gas in can over-fill the tank and plug up the vapor trap. I don't think this hurts the car, but it definitely increases pollution. You should stop filling as soon as the nozzle clicks off. Then the test is, after you've driven for a few minutes, does the gauge read full? If so, all is well, and the tank was not very empty after all. If it reads less than full, try a different filling station, and if that does not help, take it in to the dealership and ask them to fix it.

I eventually had the TSB work done (my '04 was in the affected range) and since then I think I've maybe gotten one more gallon in on average. But I also had the gauge replaced, under a related TSB, so I have no idea which was really responsible, or both to some extent.

 

Do you have the VIN range? Do you know if it affected RHD aswell as LHD vehicles?

 

It has taken me 3 or 4 fills to understand what works. 1) Fill fairly rapidly until the first or 2nd shut-off. Then fill as slowly as you can. (realy SLOW) Continue 'till it shuts off again a couple times. It could take a few minutes to completely fill at that slow speed. Note: if the nozzle is not a good fit, switch to a station with newer pumps. Sams Club works for us quite well here in Michigan. Hope this helps. ('06 level 4)

 

Sorry. I do not have the VIN range, and I do not know if it affected cars sold in Australia. However, a call to your dealership should be all it takes to find out. I didn't think it affected any '05's, but I mentioned it just in case.

I think the most likely problem is an over-sensitive shut-off at the pump at that particular service station, as the tolerance is close on the Prius fill pipe.

BTW I just got back from 2 weeks in NZ and 2 weeks in Australia. Both were active guided trips. Hiking, spelunking, a surfing lesson, kayaking, and best of all, three fantastic days on a live-aboard dive boat, snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Second-best were 3 days hiking in the rain forest of Fiordland in NZ (the Hollyford track) and a 6.5-hour hike on Frasier Island, through snake and spider infested rainforest. The Australia trip started in Brisbane and worked its way up to Arlie Beach, where we kayaked around the islands on the last day. The NZ trip covered a fair bit of the South Island.

Fabulous countries, both of them!

 

Gas pouring out means you over-filled it. That can easily happen when you force gas in by the method you described. I very seldom get 8 gallons in. Either the tank really holds a LOT less gas than they claim, or there is a BIG reserve of gas when the gauge reads empty.

But the only way to know for sure is to run out of gas, and I don't want to do that. I think I generally get around 7.5 gallons in if the last bar has been blinking for a while.

As I mentioned above, I'd suggest trying a couple of different gas stations, as I've had the problem you describe at one or two stations where the pump sensitivity was set too high for the Prius. If that does not work, maybe you need a replacement filler pipe, though I thought that problem only affected early '04's.

 

At least on my '06, the gas guage lags slightly, especially on faster pumps. After the pump shuts off, the guage will show about 8 bars, but if I wait a few seconds, the guage creeps up to full. Any further attempt to top off results in the pump shutting off immediately (several gas stations).

I found the lag misleading until I learned to watch for it. It's something for new owners to be aware of.

I'm in mid & S NM where it is relatively warm, so bladder expansion is not a major issue (not the gas one, anyway :lol: )

I get 75-100 before the first bar drops, so I suppose the tank is as full as it's going to get. I don't usually get below 2 bars, so I have no experience of large tank mileages.

I do think there is a need for a reliable tank volume indicator: even if it only told you the "full" volume at "reset". Then you could calculate what you have left. I don't have a clue what volume 2 bars indicates. Is it likely to be approximately the same irrespective of the car and temperature? Who can tell me a 2-bar volume?

 

Unfortunately the fuel gauge in the Prius is non-linear. So any 2 given 2-bar volumes can and will differ from each other and there's no way to calculate precisely how many gallons or portions thereof are contained within a 2-bar volume.

 

I understand adjacent bars are non linear: my question is:

Are the last 2 bars likely to indicate a similar volume between fills and between vehicles? It seems to me bladder distortion is less likely at the bottom of the tank - but it's just an assumption.

I'd like to know the range of volume drivers have calculated for the last 2 bars anyway. Miles at known average speed would be helpful, too.

We need a way of estimating remaining range, without driving out of gas.

Maybe I'll have to put a measured can of gas in the car and find out the hard way.

C

 

That's my biggest beef about this car. I usually do a quick calculation when I fill up to determine how much gas it should take. One time, that was almost 10 gallons, but the pump shut off at 6. I had to do the pump and click to get it anywhere near full. If it does it from the start, I put the nozzle back on and drive to another pump. Usually that works better. I might add that I don't try to fill it to the gills....just get a full tank. I had the gas shoot back one time, so I don't ever try to overfill it. But c'mon...if I quit when the pump shuts off, and I had 450 miles on that tank and the fuel light is flashing, and it stops at 6....

 

John1701a recommends assuming a 9-gallon useful tank volume. Thus, when you get to two bars, look at your average mileage for the tank and your miles driven, for the tank. (Both displayed on the consumption screen.) Multiply your average mpg by 9 to get your projected miles for the tank. Subtract your actual miles for the tank from that to get your remaining miles before fill-up.

Example: If you are averaging 50 mpg and you've driven 350 miles when you get to two bars, then you've used 7 of your 9 gallons, and you have 2 gallons, or 100 miles, remaining.

I consider John a very reliable source of Prius information. However, he drives a 2004 Prius. If the gas tank characteristics have changed in later models, his system would not work. But I doubt the've made it any smaller, so it should work well. Unless you filled up at the top of a mountain pass and drove down, and upon reaching your two bars you turned around and began going back up the mountain.