Gas tank took 11 gallons!!! Then puked it back out

Go to the picture you took, in the "options" you should be able to send the picture to your email address.

 

I've seen this mentioned before.
I had this same thing, albeit with less fuel loss, at one particular pump.
I was blaming the pump until I realized it must have been the bladder.

Did you notify the people working at the pumps?
I believe they are responsible for getting out there and cleaning the mess up ... EPA reg's and all that. They are required to have spill cleanup kits available.

Also, did you clean off the side of your car?
I have no idea if the finish/paint on modern cars holds up well against gasoline, but I always grab paper towels or the window squeegee and clean off gas spills on my car.

 

Yesterday when I filled up at 2 pips, I got 9.56 gallons in there no problem. Hmm!

 

wow, i fill at 2 pips and can only get in 6.9-7.6 gallons

 

Yeah I was standing there wide-eyed waiting for it to erupt like a volcano at me, but nope! You better believe I didn't try "topping up", and screwed on that gas cap as fast as I could. Ha!

 

And this is the reason that I stand there & hold the pump handle while I'm fueling up. In previous cars I could hear the pitch of the gurgle change to let me know that it was almost full, but no gurgling from Fiona & her bladder. I figure it doesn't take that long to fill up a Prius, so I stand right there with my hand on the pump & use a slow/medium speed. Even if I set the pump to run automatically, I never leave Fiona's side until the auto shut-off.
Result: no "puking", no wasted gas, and sometimes (in the dead of winter) cold hands, but always worth it.

 

I never trust the automatic shut off enough to walk away. I stay with the car to monitor the fill.

 

I find it irritating that a feature designed to improve air quality has, in many cases, resulted in a fuel spill that defeats its purpose many times over. Even if the pump should have cut off, fuel wouldn't dribble, stream, or gush out of the tank under pressure if not for the bladder. I really hope Toyota ditches it in the next model because it seems worse than useless.

Watching the pump would be a good call, though. I never leave mine partially because I've read so many stories just like this.

 

ive posted before my opinions about the fuel bladder.

i want to go to a wrecker yard and get a real prius bladder to see how much liquid that bladder actually holds.

i believe when toyota says the fuel capacity is 11.9 gallons what they really mean
is 10.71 gallons at 90 % ullage and 1.19 gallons of vapor

its hard to imagine the prius holds 1.19 gallons of gasoline vapor "in the system" outside the bladder, and i dont think gasoline vapor really burns anyway it just goes
back to the gas stations tank to be picked up by the truck, hense "vapor recovery system"

run dry the most ive ever been able to put in the tank and not take a chance of overfilling or damaging the charcoal canister is coicidently 10.75 gallons

 

and also the prius manual says:
the given fuel tank capacity is measured on EPA/CARB orvr testing conditions which is approved for nominal capacity measurement condition

on page 9228 of http://www.epa.gov/otaq/url-fr/fr24fr98.pdf it says something about either 85% ullage or 95% ullage of the tank, and unless your in -10c or 14 degrees f) i think were risking a lot of damage to this car by following all that "stretching the bladder to restore capacity" advice.

 

This was a fault with the auto-shutoff on the pump, which is why it's illegal in most areas to walk away from the pump while refueling. It's not much fun, and shouldn't happen with good equipment, but ultimately you can only blame yourself for leaving the pump unattended.

Tom

 

F8L- The exact situation you are describing happened to me, and a spill was averted. I'm used to getting maybe 9 gallons in when it's on the last pip and I decided at 10 gallons that the pump was misbehaving. I left the nozzle in for a few seconds for things to settle and carefully removed it.

 

Keeping your hand on the nozzle also removes the possibility of static discharge starting a fire.