Fueling difficulty?

Many people on the forum have related similar experiences with having to have a lot of patience when filling their Prius. I fill up at the same neighborhood station (it has 10 pumps) when ever possible and I don't have the problem until I get close to the last gallon or so. It's been that way since the car was new.

I don't mind having patience to refuel since I only have to do it once about every 8 - 10 days rather then the 3 - 4 for my old car.

 

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I have now filled up my 05 Prius on two occasions and did not experience such a problem.

In the past, I occasionally encountered similar problems with my previous car. Switching pumps usually took care of those.

 

I filled up my '05 for the first time over the weekend. I did have to back off on the flow a bit for the last gallon, but up to that point there were no problems.

 

This is apparently a problem with the pumps when people over fill their tanks with the vapor recovery system. What happens is the pump gets a bit of gas in the VRS, and you'll have to click through it a few times - usually around 10 times. If you're trying to fill your Prius to the brim, to avoid having the next person have to deal with this, make sure the holes for the VPS are not deep into your tank when topping it off. When these holes get clogged, the next person in line will have trouble until it's cleared.

-m.

 

Rick,
Lots of possibilites Given you have a new Prius, I doubt you have the oft mentioned filling problem that was common on earlier '04s and for which they finally put out a TSB to fix it.

There was one station I gave up on a couple of years ago even though it was the cheapest around. The best it could do was dribble in before the first "notch" on the pump handle. Any farther and it would kick off. Not worth the time and aggrevation. They have since rebuilt the entire station and the new pumps are fine. Maybe you have this problem, try another station when it is time for gas again in a couple of weeks

I've only filled my Prius once and it was fine on the second notch, didn't try any faster since word here was that it would kick off if the gas was going in too fast.

 

Ok, I have only had my 04' Prius for about a month now. I have found that each time I fill up it is taking about 9.?? gallons. However, in the manual it says I have a 11.9 gallon tank. The car has been on Empty when I refill. Is this the refilling problem everyone is referring to? Does the car run on empty for 2.? gallons? I am only averaging about 430 miles on one tank of gas too, is this normal? After reading some of these postings, I am beginning to think it is a little low. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer me.

Clint
04' Silver #4

 

My experience, in almost six weeks of Prius ownership, is virtually identical to yours.

 

Define "Empty". I have now filled up twice, both times not more than a couple of miles after the last bar started blinking. I didn't really want to test "how far can I go after 1 bar blinking" and the stations were conveniently on the way home. Both times were 9.+ gallons so it seems that I probably have about 2 gallons left at "one bar blinking".

The first fill at the Exxon station seemed like a normal fill in my Odyssey - set on medium flow, clicked off close to where the computer MPG and miles driven would suggest. I then added more, a little slower, until it shut off again. Based on calcs, I probably could have safely gotten a little more in but I had no idea how full it was from dealer and I didn't want to risk ukeleft: Yipee. No fill problem on the tail end '04s, the only serious annoyance I have seen people have with the car.!

I used the Gulf station (newest in the area) on Saturday. It has the notched plates removed so you have to hold the handle. I expected over 9 gallons but it forced off (medium rate) at about 7.5. I had to milk it in the rest of the way and I do mean milk it; geez. I did not need to do this in my Odyssey at the same station. Hmmm, fill problem! No yipee??

Both were about the same time of day, same temps, car warmed up. I'll try the Exxon station again next time and see if it goes back to 'normal'

I wouldn't say so. Depends where you live, how you drive, etc. Does the computer MPG * 9.xx calculate out to about 430 miles?

As you can see below, my last tank was 429 miles. Sure I would like it to be 530 But it is still 100 more than I could have gone in the Odyssey under the same conditions with a 17 gallon tank. That would also have left about 2 gallons in reserve. Of course, the difference is the Odyssey would maybe go 45 miles on those 2 gallons, the Prius (at least today) 90

 

I have not had problems, but I do fill at the slowest speed, until the last fillup that was at an old fashion service station that has full service (at pump yourself prices). "The Kid" had problems filling it so I helped. His first attempt was a .09 gal fill for $.19. We talked a bit while I helped him fill it. I have to say the auto shut off was very sensitive on that pump. We talked about the car and he did the windshields then asked to check the oil with such enthusiasm that I wondered if he would cry if I said no. So we popped the hood and did the under the hood tour. He was very interested. He asked about the shifter and we went in to the lack of a transmision in the car. He was a very quick study and got ontop of the ideas very quickly. We were joined by a second person slightly older that knew more about the car. I left them with some web sites, Priuschat, Johns and the Toyota site. I think their overview is a good one and then you can move on to Johns. Couple of budding hybrid technitions there. I have found that as a general rule the young auto people get into the ideas of the Prius very quickly.

 

maybe its a NY thing, but the pumps i use have no clicks. there is no autofill feature. also most of the pumps are non vapor recovery. there is only one with a vapor recovery system which prevents topping off and it still does not have an autofill.

is NY the only place that has "clickless" pumps?

 

I've had my '04 Prius for about a month now and it has around 2,500km, and am averaging around 5.5 litres per 100 km (51 MPG CDN or mid 40's U.S. gallon). I've fueled it seven times now and have learned the hard way to break my old habit of topping-off when the gage hits 3/4. The car is IMPOSSIBLE to fill then, unless I let the fuel dribble in. If I wait until below 1/2, especially down to 1/3 or lower, then it's fairly easy to fill. Also, when I restart, the gage will stick at 3/4 bars, then after about 20-100 metres of driving, will show all bars full. I gather this appears to be a common complaint with the Prius, though I'll refrain from the TSB. That seems to cause more problems than it's worth!

 

:iagree same type of results with mine as well.I did sort of "stumble" across a quasi-solution to a slow fill scenerio. When i fill up to the top, or the first pump cut off, then i slowly start to top it off, until it starts to "bubble up", then at that point i quickly put the cap back on for 10 seconds...then open it up slowly and put 2 more gals(US)(approx 8L). I can routinely put this amounts in after fuel shut off with out difficulty,nor spill.

 

Perhaps the Returnless emission system (Vapor control) has a lot to do with this too? My old Ford truck was a snap to quickly fill. When I would park my old 1984 Ford truck with camper package and Canadian "Emissions" (Factory EGR block-off plate, no vapor canister, no cats, leaded fuel filler, open vent on gas tank, open vent on carb, etc etc) in my insulated attached garage, the gas fumes would become so strong after 3 days I was afraid to turn on the lights in case the fumes exploded. For as often as I have to fill up the Prius, I can live with the quirky fueling.

 

Hey you guys with the 9 gallon fillups. Consider yourselves lucky. I've only had one of those in 9000 miles. My average is 8.1 gal.

Now after the complete TSB I got 8.47 gal for the first tank after driving about 25 miles after the last bar bliinking. So not much difference so far. And I don't top off or fill at any special rate. I think the one 9 gal fillup I had I did try topping off and driving about 50 miles after the last blinking bar.

 

I had my third fill up yesterday.

I drove no more than five to six miles after the last bar started flashing. By the time that I got to the gas station, the trip odometer read 459.3 miles. The car took 9.134 gallons. I tried to top off, but on both attempts the pump shut off after a minuscule amount of fuel was pumped in.

Last time, I also filled up at a similar distance after the last bar started flashing. I was able put in 9.296 gallons after driving 427.1 miles.

At my first fill up, I was down to one bar, but it was not yet flashing. I don't have the receipt with me, but I recall that I was able to put in 9.1 gallons.

 

I had my first gas "spit back" last night!

The car was new at the beginning of August. VIN outside of the gas TSB range. The first 5 or 6 refills were perfect. No problem. I was able to add all the gas I wanted and the pumps wouldn't shut off early. The last time I went to refill, about 2 weeks ago, at about 3 bars, the pump clicked off after adding a smallish amount. Driving away from the station, I noticed that the gauge didn't even come up to 10 bars, it just came up to 8 bars and stayed there. I hadn't added nearly enough. So last night, again at 3 bars, I went to a different station (and the weather was completely different from last time -much warmer) and tried again. This time the pump clicked off after 13 liters! Now with 3 bars left I should have room for around 30 liters in there, so I slow milked the gas in...as everyone reading this knows how to do. At about 30 L I got the famous spit back and about a cupful or so of gas came back out at me and all over the ground. So I've joined that club.

My question would be, why did the car work perfectly for the first two months, with many numerous pumps/stations and fill conditions and only these last two fills act strange? A simple solution would be to blame the wether, but yesterday was quite warm (at least 17 deg.) so I cannot credit that as the proper explanation. I am puzzled, but I definitely would like to avoid future spit backs. That was nasty.

Thanks to all the posters on this board who have (once again) prepared me for every Prius contingency.

 

Probably a good plan since your car is too new to be in the VIN range and theoretically doesn't have the problem anyway. I can't really see any reason to regularly fill at 3/4 tank anyway. All you are doing is hauling around extra weight.

 

I was taught to top-off at a young age. In this part of Canada, winter temps can dip to -40 C, and if you routinely get into the habit of running the tank down to 1/2 or less, the condensation will cause a fuel line freeze. I've rescued folks stranded due to fuel line freeze and it can be a life-threatening situation. Can always try fuel line antifreeze like STP, but most of that crap causes far more trouble than it's worth, as it tends to knock the dirt loose and plug everything up. A lot of that garbage is isopropyl alcohol - though not the STP - and that is lethal to most fuel injection components. It will destroy o-rings and tank fuel pumps.