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Fuel Gauge is too conservative?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by hawkmoon77, Jul 15, 2009.

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  1. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    yep, my SO is usually the reason i fillup when i do. other times its done from convenience. last fillup was at like 570 miles (too lazy to look at sig) but did it because was planning an extended trip. could have easily done another 50-100 miles, but oh well.

    as far as Toyota fuel gauge accuracy, Toyota has not changed a thing in DECADES. all their gauges work the same way. they all show the "fuel" light at 1/8th of a tank.

    the analog part not showing makes us have to learn our cars to truly know whats in there and for those occasions when someone who is not the regular driver is driving, it does suck. passing along information is probably the best course of action for those times.

    but this is done for a reason. the reason is obvious. there are simply some of us who dont put gas in when they should. Toyota has determined that giving us the ability to know how far we can go with even vague accuracy is simply too unwise.
     
    #41 DaveinOlyWA, Jul 28, 2009
  2. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    I have to repeat my earlier question:
    I have already been desensitized by almost all my previous cars, not one of which was a Toyota.
     
    #42 fuzzy1, Jul 29, 2009
  3. raidbuck

    raidbuck New Member

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    I'm sure I am unique. My 2010 has a broken fuel gauge. It was at 5 bars, 420 miles and took 8.2 gallons, right about 50MPG. It normally goes 150 miles before losing one bar.

    So at least I know what to expect and not pay attention to the gauge. I wonder if it is fixable?
     
    #43 raidbuck, Aug 6, 2009
  4. hawkmoon77

    hawkmoon77 New Member

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    Well, this time I'm paying attention to the miles to fillup indicator. It was at about 150 with 3 bars left. I just hit two bars and now it is about 100 miles left. Hopefully this will give me a better sense. I would hate for it to indicate 10 miles left, have the light blinking, and then only be able to put 9 gallons (75%) at fillup.
     
    #44 hawkmoon77, Aug 6, 2009
  5. CAR4TWO

    CAR4TWO New Member

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    I filled up today with 22 miles showing left in the tank and the Pip was blinking. It took 9.7 gallons to fill it up leaving me with 2.2 gallons in the tank. Of the 2.2, I would sure like to know how much of that is usable.

    On the last fillup with 47 miles remaining, it took 9.1 gallons to fill it up leaving me with 2.8 gallons in the tank. The difference between the two is 25 miles and 6 tenths of a gallon of gas. Pretty accurate I would say.
     
    #45 CAR4TWO, Aug 10, 2009
  6. hawkmoon77

    hawkmoon77 New Member

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    For the last three bars, I could say that each represented about 50 miles. When the light started to flash, The miles to empty indicated about 40 miles left.

    I drove it until it said 10 miles left. I filled up at that point and it took about 9.8 gallons. For all intents and purposes, it looks like I have a 10 gallon tank (that weighs as much as a 12 gallon tank). Oh well, not everything on the car is going work perfectly.
     
    #46 hawkmoon77, Aug 10, 2009
  7. MidWestGirl

    MidWestGirl New Member

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    I had 3 pips and the car indicated I had 11 miles left to go. I filled up the tank and the car indicated I had well over 500 miles before a filler-up. Not sure why 3 pips left me with so little mileage left unless my fuel gauge is broken?
     
    #47 MidWestGirl, Aug 10, 2009
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