How far can I drive after the "add fuel" message?

Also consider: even though the on-board computer has given you an accurate indication of how much fuel it has consumed, that's not the only way fuel can leave the tank. Fuel also evaporates.

 

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Not in the Prius, that's the whole point of the Bladder and the PZEV designation. Zero Evaporative Emissions.

But, regardless, when the last bar disappears and the car starts telling you to get fuel, it's time to get fuel.

How far can you go after it starts warning you? Until it stops moving.

 

Re: How far can I drive after the "add fuel" messa

Ack! Do you all have a phobia about pumping gas?!

Why would you risk running out of gas?

I've been in blackouts (where you can't pump gas out of the ground) and in riots where you really want to get out of town... FAST...

I always keep a quarter tank of gas in the belly just for such an occasion.

 

Next time you think of going past the blinking pip, just keep this little scene in mind...

I know what you're thinking... did he fill up with 6 gallons or only 5? To tell you the truth, in all the excitement, I lost track myself. So you have to ask yourself just one question: "Am I feeling lucky today?" Well do you? DO YOU, PUNK?!

 

not so fast, infoguy...

If you search around enough on here, you'll find a few people who have run out of gas even before they got the 'add fuel' warning - one such person went from 2 bars to the engine cutting out and being forced into 'limp' mode.

However, that being said, I think that it depends on the individual. If you want to push your car such as myself or Ray Moore does to get every mile possible off a single tank, you have to take a small risk of running out of fuel. If you are someone like majordude, who obviously never wants to be caught with less than 100 miles of gas available - then you go that route.

My suggestion is as follows, regardless of your type of driving. When you fill up, keep track of how many gallons you put in the tank. Multiply that by your tank mpg - and that number is a number you know you can safely achieve - but after that, realize no one is really sure how much more gas is in the tank. Dealers "filling" the tank might only put in 9 gallons, or they might fill it to 12.75. But if you always keep track of how many gallons you fill, and how many your car burns, then you'll at least have a general idea of how far you can go without concern.

-m.

 

Re: How far can I drive after the "add fuel" messa

I fill up no more than 20 miles after the last bar starts to blink. It's curious that Prius owners seem to run out of gas more frequently than owners of other cars.

 

your MMV for sure but i have noticed with my car that as my mileage increases (at 13,600 now) it seems my tanks are getting larger and part of it i think has to do with the bladder possibly being larger. (increased mpg's has been part of it too. last year i had one tank over 59 mpg, this year i have 5 tanks in a row at 59+mpg and counting) last year, my one big tank had the last bar start blinking at about 520 miles so i filled at about 550. my last tank which was only ½ mpg higher didnt start blinking until 585 miles. i have not changed my filling habits (in fact i only get gas at one of two different stations) so the fill is about the same.

but the stress i feel when the bar starts blinking isnt worth it to me so i fill up as soon as i can get to my prefered stations.

 

So far, I believe the furthest I drove on blink is 87 miles. I say 'believe' because I drove quite a bit on blinking with the last tank, but didn't track it. I wanted to at least get 600 miles on the tank, even with the lower MPGs than what I have been used to. However, when I approached 600, I was in an area where gas prices were 10 cents higher than where I was shortly planning to go. A decent priced station was further than I had expected.