Gas Pump Keeps Shutting Off at All Stations

i haven't experienced, or read about any problems. the only thing i can think of, is the manual states you have to wait for the tank to depressurize or some thing. but, i think that is taken care of automatically, when you hit the gas door button, it won't open, until it is ready.

 

...did you see some of the very recent threads under Gen2 etc?
This is about the 3rd of 4th instance of this behavior in the last month or so, on various prii models.
Several of us have started filling up by turning the gaso pump nozzle to 90 degress and some have tried inverted 180 degress (upside down) with success. Right now I am using the 90 degrees option...seems to help but have not had a good test case yet where we were down to 1-pip. I my case we usually get ~7.5 gals in winter, so I just trying to gain a gallon more or so.

 

^^^well not cold weather per se but maybe winter blend fuel makes more back pressure

 

this is not known in any of the gen III that i recall. there is no bladder.

 

At what level on the gas gauge are you filling, and are you tracking distance travelled between fillups. I'm just kinda wondering, if you're not tracking mileage, maybe your tank is in fact fuller than you think and there's something wrong with the gauge, ie: the tank's not that empty?

 

Is it possible that you have a "calculation error" possibly related to a fault with the gas gauge, such that the tank really IS getting full and you are expecting to put in too much ??

 

Hahahahaha.........sorry that's really not funny.

The shut off on the pumps is triggered by liquid fuel getting on the sensor passages at the end of the nozzle.
"back pressure" has nothing to do with it.

 

I have had this happen before on two other vehicles with Denso sourced fuel vapor recovery systems.
The problem in both cases was a plugged fuel vapor purge valve that is supposed to allow fuel vapor to be purged from the fuel tank as it is being refueled.
Most modern smog controlled vehicles except some diesels have closed fuel systems to collect unburned fuel vapor in the fuel tanks to keep it from being discharged into the air.
The problem occurs when refuelling. As fuel is added to the gas tank, the vapor and air mixture in the tank must be allowed to go somewhere to make room for the as you are adding. There is usually a valve within the "neck" of the cars fuel filler that is "tripped" when the fuel nozzle is inserted. This manually opens a valve that allows the fuel/air vapor mixture from the fuel tank to vent through a small hose that is connected to the fuel filler that is normally closed. If that manual valve is plugged or the hose from the top of the tank is obstructed or kinked, the fuel vapor has no place to go and usually escapes up the fuel filler neck until the fuel quantity in the tank gets to the point that the incoming fuel starts to cause bubbles as the fuel and vapor mixture start to mix and choke up in the filler neck. This causes the fuel to start foaming and back up into the temperature sensitive "bulb" in the fuel filler nozzle causing it to trip off.
The best short term "go around" is to refuel with the fueling nozzle set to the lowest possible flow rate, but the vapor recovery system does need to be checked soon. The vapor recovery system is part of the vehicles smog control system so it should be covered by the vehicles emissions control warranty.

 

Wow, that explanation was fantastically detailed.

I filled up for the first time at 0 miles remaining (last flashing pip I think), and the pump shut off after just 3 gallons. I told the attendant I had no idea how much fuel the car would take since it was my first fill-up, but said it had to be more than 3 gallons; perhaps 10. The attendant squeezed the trigger again and the pump filled normally after that.

I'll have to check the vapor recovery system if this becomes a common issue.

 

Interesting...I'll have to remember this if I ever have this problem in the future.

 

You vent line may be clogged. Worst case you over filled your tank, The carbon gas recovery filter expanded and exploded and now carbon is filling the vent line. So when you pump gas bubbles up and trips the overfill sensor.

 

these are the only 2 cases i recall, i wonder what happened to pipLA?

 

dupe.

 

My second fill up went off without a hitch. It took almost 9 gallons before clicking off. How many gallons does the PiP hold, anyhow?

 

I forget exact # but PiP is roughly about 1-gal less than regular Liftback

 

Prius liftback: 11.9 gal, PiP: 10.6 gal.