How long after "Add Fuel" alert?

"I know what you're thinking. Did I fill with six gallons or only five? To tell you the truth, I myself have lost count in all this excitement. This here, a Toyota Prius, the most advanced hybrid in the world, whose guess gauge could blow your mind clean off, you gotta ask yourself one question. Are you feelin' lucky?"

 

Good one, KTPhil.

Are you asking this to have a "safe" distance you can travel? If so this'll be a case of YMMV. It depends on your last fillup (did you fill it all the way?), temperature and the like. Someone may say 50 miles and another will have 75 and still another would have 10. As for myself I fill up before the last pip is blinking. Welllll, I did get the "Add Fuel" once, but I was on the way to the gas station and was across the street when it happened.

 

Assume "zero" and you will never end up walking to get gas. Anything more, and that long, sore-footed day will come.

Think I'm exaggerating? One mile after getting the warning, I drove up a 1/4 mile hill, accelerating up it. Gas engine sputtered, but as it did, the gas sloshed and the engine ran again. I did a 180 and drive straight to the closest station. I suggest you do likewise.

Oddly, I could only put in 9.5 gallons. Either it wasn't as empty as I thought (but the hill and g-force uncovered the pickup tube in the tank), or it didn't fill close to "really full." But it didn't matter which. I was going to be walking if I didn't fill immediately.

This is in SoCal where shrinkage, I mean bladder shrinkage, I mean the gas tank bladder shrinkage, is not an issue.

Don't push it. Fill on one pip, fill NOW on a blinking pip, and you'll never walk. Ignore this simple advice and you'll join the red-faced many here who post their "I ran out of gas" posts.

Choose wisely, Grasshopper.

 

I concur with KTPhil. Fill up immediately when the last pip starts flashing or have some extra gas handy. I ran out of gas about 1 mile after the pip starting flashing and the add fuel warning came on. I was able to massage a few more miles out with restarting several times, but I won't let it come that close again when I am in the middle of the country.


It really isn't worth risking harm to the battery by completing discharging it to limp to a gas station.


It really isn't that big a deal IMO, to go 460 instead of 450 or 425. It is a big deal to void your warranty for many people.

 

Ahh, OK then. Well, if you take a look at http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=1...=0&#entry222355 you can see that putting anything over 10 gallons is rare. KTPhil mentioned his experience earlier in this thead that is similar to yours. So even though you think it's empty doesn't mean you can put 11.9 (or close to that) gallons in.

 

I filled up today for my fith time. the last bip started blinking and I drove
another 50 miles with manual average of 44.6 and a display average or 45.3
I was able to fill the tank with 9.74 gallons. but then I drive on mostly flat to light
grades. So should I have 2 gallons left in the tank?

 

There is only one thing that is consistant about the Prius Guess Guage.

When it starts blinking it is time to get fuel.

You don't believe it and you will pay sooner or later.

 

Oh man, that was good! ROFLMAO!

 

The Prius uses a bladder - which doesn't have a fixed capacity. Most folks get gas when there is one light left on the gas guage. And "full" is somewhere from about 8.5 to 9.9 gallons added to the tank. Again, "most" folks stop filling when the gas pump first clicks off when you are filling.

When the last light begins to blink, GET GAS IMMEDIATELY (unless you like to walk).

 

...from one who knows. It varies greatly dependent on many variables. Plan to fill up BEFORE it starts to blink. If it blinks, do not pass go; do not collect $100. Go straight to the nearest gas station and fill up.

See the following thread:

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=16765&hl=

Craig

 

When last pip goes off flashing, I fill-up fairly soon, put on average 9-9.25 gallons in the winter. Last summer, I used same tactic, about 1/4 of my tanks were (just barely) over 10 gallons, the rest were between 9.5 and 10.

 

It's nice to know were the fence is.
but I will back off to a safer range.

 

:lol:
Should we tell him about the pull under the dash that releases a gallon of gas when you run out. Makes the gas gage unnecessary.

 

a very good question to ponder :lol:

i have never run out of gas despite going to zero % on CANVIEW a few times. in both instances, my tracking told me i was within a few miles of being empty. my best fill has only been to just over 10½ gallons. does that mean i had more than a gallon left??

noooo....it means that filling TO 11.9 gallons is difficult. many here feel that because they can only get 9½ gallons in that they had over 2 gallons in the tank...noooo no no...

keep thinking that way and you will run out because the case is that you are not filling the tank.

i dont top off and CANVIEW pretty much tells me so. generally on my fillups, i only get 95%. i round off on my fillups after the first click to nearest quarter (need the change for the car wash)

i think that the bladder may stretch over time. the reason, i had my largest fillup ever a month ago. now it wasnt particularly cold out, but its no where near summer either. so that either blows the bladder shrinkage theory out of the water or means that i can look forward to 10½ gal fillups and more as a rule instead of the exception.

now that would be nice, but i am very much satisfied with the range i get now. its about 475 in the winter, near 600 in the summer.

 

Sounds like an old bug to me!

 

Why don't cars have this feature?

 

The old VW Bug did have a lever under the dash that would allow access to about a liter of fuel. Unfortunately if you failed to turn the lever back when you got fuel you would really be empty the next time.

Don't know what year it was discontinued.