fuel guage with blinking 1 left, how many much gas left?

I recently bought a 2007. I went until the little light started blinking but only had about 360 miles on the odometer. I filled up and it was 8 1/2 gallons. The specs say that my tank should be almost 12 gallons. That leaves 3 1/2 gallons left. What does that mean?

 

In North America, Gen 2 Prius like yours, have a flexible bladder in side that theoretical 12 gallons. Outside air temperature is going to determine how flexible and so how large it is.

In Mississippi, at 105F, I have gotten 10.5 gallons. At 20F, 7.5 gallons. My advice is get gas at two pips left.

 

The flexible bladder in the tank was an idea whose time still hasn't arrived. For too many customers, it caused more problems than it was worth, with short tanks and difficulty refueling. That is why the idea was abandoned for the next generation, starting with the 2010 model.

The Owner's Manual calls the blinking light "nearly empty", not "empty". Even when the bladder works as intended, as it does for some owners, it starts blinking with 2 to 2.5 gallons remaining, set aside as a reasonable safety margin. But for others with problem bladders, it can mean much less usable fuel remaining, some have run dry just a few miles after the blinking began. And a very few unfortunate drivers have run dry before getting down to the blinking light.





If you managed to get 8.5 gallons in, yours was doing reasonably well. If an out-of-fuel stranding will cause you significant inconvenience, then be sure to follow the advice of Toyota, Jimbo, and others by refueling at 2 bars.

 

My wife and I both drive 2008 Prius. When the gas light blinks we fill up ASAP but only get 8.5 gallons. So we have shrinkage. You know shrinkage. We live in Colorado so getting 45 mpg at 6,120 ft above sea level we still feel pretty good. The expansion tank is a balloon. Winter 45 mpg is worse than summer 52 mpg. And the only time shrinkage is not an issue is when there is a hot tub involved. Lesson learned.