Ran out of Gas!

Hmm... Even though it shouldn't do any damage, I'll never risk running mine out of gas. I fill up as soon as the empty light starts blinking.

Having run out of gas once in my old car, in the middle of a bridge, downtown, in rushhour, I swore that I'd never do anything that stupid again... Even if I have a battery to move me to a safe location.

Dave

 

lucky you were near a gas station. how many gallons did it take to fill it up? (just curious since it died on an empty tank, and because of the bladder issues)

 

i never run my tank down that low because of damage to the longevity of the battery, but i still love the fact that i have options about a mile wide if i do!!

 

A Prius in Hutto; that is so cool. I'm outside Dripping Springs. I skydived in to a Hutto High homecoming game about six years ago. The crowd was awesome. Good luck with your car.

 

Very interesting (and happy) to read that the electric motor still powered the car after the ICE had quit due to running out of fuel. In the latest issue of Bottom Line (4/15/05), on the bottom of page 13, the columnist* states in no uncertain terms that both the Prius and the Insight will STOP moving the instant the fuel tank runs dry. To quote: "These cars are not designed to run on pure electric power if the gas tank runs dry. The computers will shut down all systems - which means you'll be as stuck as you would be in a conventional car."

* the columnist is Eric Peters, automotive columnist in Washington, DC, and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love To Hate.

 

You are lucky she did not administer the dope slap! :lol:

 

As an aside, don't expect the fuel gauge fix to be anything grand - as far as I know, I'm one of the lucky few to have the gauge fix actually help my gauge, but very minimally.

To me though, if you calculated having the ability to go 500 miles and it cut out at 439, either you got a bad pump on the last fillup, or something. Usually best to calculate amount of gas previously filled x current mpg to figure out about the max distance you can go. Hope if it happens again, you're without the wife!

-m.

 

I've run out of gas twice.
I really like to see how far I can go on a tank.
The key is to have the gas stations poi's ready and always be within 5 miles of one when you know you're running low on gas. I live in LA so there are gas stations about every 50 freakin feet.
Both times it happened on the freeway and I just coasted until my speed dropped below 40 miles per hour and then drove normally the 3 miles to the gas station. Both times the SOC never dropped below two bars, since I am aware of the possibility of over draining the charge.
So no need to baby it and go super slow, like 10 MPH, just drive city normal with gradual accelerations until you reach about 35 MPH and then coast when you can. The acceleration is the big battery drain.
And yes you still shouldn't run your Prius out of gas but with a fuel tank that can fluctuate by almost two gallons depending upon temperature it is bound to happen.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hytec\";p=\"79091)</div>

Maybe that's why we are having the fuel tank bladder problems. A small corner of the tank is preventing fuel from completely draining fooling the computer into thinking the tank isn't empty yet. If the tank can't go completely dry the electric will still work. Clever Toyota. :roll:

 

Wow! Just read this and all I can say is that I'll be filling up at lunch. I'm at 430 miles on this tank and my gauge is blinking one green light. MFD is telling mt I'm getting 57 MPG so far, so I fugured there was at least 80 more miles in the tank. Not taking that chance, though. Thanks!

btw, would someone with knowledge on it please expand on the fuel gauge problem.

Regards.

 

The real question is why didn't Toyota put in a more accurate gas tank and gauge, one that could actually calculate the REMAINING miles you can drive? Some cars have this feature, and yes I'll grant some inaccuracy to any such device due to unforseen driving conditions, and say yes I can do simple math, but hey this car has nearly everything else, why not this feature?

 

Running out of gas in a Prius for fun is stupid. Not to mention that the incident is recorded and will be revealed to the technician when you take the car in for service. "You let the car run out of fuel, sorry, damage not covered by warranty."

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jamarimutt\";p=\"79901)</div>

I doubt that would hold up to either an arbritrator or a court. Wih as many reported problems with gas gauge accuracy Toyota wouldn't want the bad publicity.

 

For those watching out for the 'last' few miles on a tank of gas, be aware that mpg can take wild swings along trips, then averages to be what one might expect. That being the case, one could run out of gas sooner if on the lower mpg part of a trip before the high mpg part.

 

I ran out of gas on my second fill. Trying to hit that 500 mile mark on a tank fill. I didn't understand the bladder system well enough and did the calculation in my head that a 12 gallon tank at 48 mpg would get me 576 miles ... so I'm safe at 500 miles right. I got to 477 miles. See my post on Fuel Economy. Stopped about 500 feet short of a gas station. Really had to stick the snout of the gas can into the neck to keep gas from spilling over the side of the car. Had some weird thing going on with the car where I could not shut it down. Finnally shut it down and got it started again. It took 9.3 gallons although I lost a little on th ground.

When you get to one bar and it's really low the last bar starts blinking. I thought it would turn red or something. The Red triangle came on and the engine check light, however, after the next start-up they mysteriously cleared themselves. At my 5,000 mile check-up I'll have them give it a going over just to make sure there is not damage. It appears everything is working normally. Lucky I guess.

Once shame on me ... twice and your an idiot. I think I've learned my lesson and I'll pay attention to the gauge.

 

You didn't hurt anything. Nothing

 

I had the "running out of gas" experience last week while driving on an interstate. I noticed the fuel gage had dropped to one bar an began looking for an exit. Before I could find an exit the add fuel light flashed on and the one bar on the fuel gage started blinking. Four miles later the RED TRIANGLE and the yellow PROBLEM lights came on as the ICE shut down. I slowed to under 40 mph and moved into the breakdown lane. After about 2 miles on a slight uphill at 25 mph using only the electric motor the battery monitor dropped to one bar. I coasted to a stop, powered down and could see a gas station at the next exit 1 mile ahead.

Before getting out to walk I tried the power button to see what would happen and to my suprise the ICE fired up. I was able to drive the 1 mile to the station and add 11.2 gallons of gas.

From now on I plan to add fuel when the gage drops to 2 bars.