out of gas, out of battery, added gas but still won't start

leave it in D? does the MFD show battery level? or.. keep it in D... hold the break and press the gas. this is a bad way to charge the battery. what it might do is keep trying to start the engine. eventually it will get gas. make sure you have some battery power though. If the HV battery is dead, you're stuck. the 12v battery can't possibly turn the motors to start the engine.

keep that in mind. it takes turning of an electric motor above 1,000rpm to turn the ICE so it can start.

 

It would be nice to have scan tool. If you run out of gas because of all of the lights and codes that are going to come on when the engine can't start.
Good luck
Sorry

 

variance in the bladder? yeah.. have to add over 3.. but... i wouldn't think this to make a difference to the engine starting. hmm.. check and see. it's interesting to have only 1 bar left.. ad 2.5 gallons.. have 1 bar still.. go add 2 or so more gallons.. still on 1.. you can fill up the tank and sty on 1 bar if you add in less than 3 gallons for each fill up

gee.. that was a little off topic.

give it a try.

i'm still curious to know how much of a charge your hv battery has.

 

When I ran out of gas, I added one gallon and the car started right up. I drove to the station and added 11 more. I have pumped as much as 12,75 gallons into mine and regularly put in around 11.5. My usual tank takes me 650 miles with around 75 and as many as 134 miles on the last flashing bar.

Your Bladder May Vary!

Unless you like to go 650 miles (or 763) on a tank and push the car to it's mileage limits, there is just no good reason to push it beyond 1 or 2 bars.

 

First, you may have drained the HV below the 'safety point', though I haven't heard anyone else being locked out of restarting after refueling. If this is the case, leaving it alone overnight may have allowed the HV battery to rejuvenate enough to signal that it has some more power.

two, there is a condition, known as Hang on Ig-On (it is in the KB), where even though you go through proper steps to go to ready, it goes to Ig-On mode (dash warning lights lit, amber light on power button, and no READY near speedo) and gets stuck. The way out of Ig-On hang is power down (may take a few seconds to respond), then power up normally.

Lastly, it may be true that since the car has already triggered a failed to start due to being out of gas, that it won't try again until it senses more gas. However, it should have gotten into ready mode at least briefly.

 

Hmm, maybe the ECU gives you one or two grace starts, after that it wants nominal conditions to re-attempt. After all, you keep doing this, you'll really be in big doo-doo.

One thing you didn't address in your list was the power mode: ACC/IG/Ready. If you aren't in READY, you can't get ICE to start, no HV.

 

Re: out of gas, out of battery, added gas but still won't st

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Well, no not really. If you carefully examine the ICE on the Prius, there is no conventional alternator or 12 v starter. The MG (Motor/Generator) is responsible for all the high voltage power and is also responsible for starting the ICE. The variable speed electric A/C compressor is also run off the high voltage system.

The tiny 12 vdc battery in the rear hatch is critical though. You need that to "boot" the car when you power on. All the relays, the computers, the CANbus, the brake booster, lighting, radio, and HVAC cabin blower are powered off 12 vdc. So if the 12 vdc battery is dead, it doesn't matter if the NiMH main battery is fully charged, you're not going anywhere.

The Inverter/Converter will take the nominal 208 vdc from the NiMH battery pack and keep a constant charge on the 12 vdc battery, as long as the car is in "Ready" and you're not in N.

This is also why you really shouldn't use the Prius to boost a conventional car or pickup. First of all, the 12 vdc battery is so small you probably wouldn't be able to turn over anything much larger than a Honda Civic. Secondly, you could damage the electrical system on the Prius.

If something had drained the HV battery pack, it would be impossible to "boost" it at the side of the road anyway. You need a special 208 vdc battery charger to charge the battery if the ICE isn't running.

All "boosting" does is allow you to "boot" the car if the 12 vdc battery has run down. Since this is critical, it may pay to invest in one of those emergency booster kits. You don't need much capacity just to bring the Prius to life.

Canadian Tire here had a sale on those emergency booster packs last fall, so I picked up a 700 amp capacity one. So far I've had to use it twice to assist other motorists, and it started them up just fine. I didn't have to worry about damaging my Prius either.

As far as running out of gas, your tale is just one more good reason not to run the gas so low that Mr. Blinky turns on. We've all noticed that thanks to the bladder system used to control evaporative emissions, there appears to be a lot of variability in how much fuel we really have onboard.

Once Blinky turns on, do you have 75 miles? 50 miles? Maybe 10 miles? Who knows!

There have been some TSB's out for the tank and the fuel gauge, but the results appear to be iffy. Since the bladder appears to be having so many problems, I hope we don't have to put it on prescription medication.

I suppose I could always borrow some FLoMax off my Old Man, they appear to work for him. Maybe toss a pill a week in the tank?

The computer is quite paranoid in how it protects the hybrid system. Once it senses the ICE has stalled or won't run, it does appear to block any further attempts to restart. The 2004 Prius had a TSB where it was too paranoid, and sometimes it would conk on you for no good reason.

Mine did that in traffic last fall, they reflashed the ECU and cured it.

 

Thanks Jayman, I thougth I saw someone saying they thought the 12V battery started the car, but when I posted, I couldn't find it.

As for the ECU re-flash, yes some have gotten the triangle for no good reason, but they were able to get going after a reboot or two. Sometimes the problem never reappeared after the reboot.

 

Re: out of gas, out of battery, added gas but still won't st

This must be the only car where so many people have so much fun running out of gas.

In most regular vehicles, grinding the starter for a while to get the car started is usually the best way to tell if you're really really low; not on the Prius!

 

Re: out of gas, out of battery, added gas but still won't st

I learned a few lessons when I ran out of gas last week.

1. Do not wait until the last bar starts flashing. I ran out of gas 4 miles
after the flashing started. From now on I will refill at 2 bars.

2. You can not go very far on the battery alone. I was only able to go about one mile up a slight grade.

3. If the ICE shuts down due to low fuel there may be some fuel left in the tank. After running on battery alone until the charge level dropped to one bar. I was able to shut down then restart the ICE and drive the last one mile to a station. The tank took 11.2 gallons to fill.

 

Re: out of gas, out of battery, added gas but still won't st

Reading these boards one gets the impression that Prius owners are forever running out of gas! Why is that?? I was paranoid of running out of gas in a "normal" car, with the Prius, I double that paranoia. Am I the only one? Is it normal for a Prius owner to say, "Gee, the car is telling me it's almost empty. Should I just keep cruising in a Kramer-esque quest for knowledge?" Would the people who do this also drive on blissfully in a "normal" car if the gas gauge needle was on "E"? Or is it just with the Prius and its calculation of mileage? Or is it that most people assume (and perhaps rightly) that the flashing bar is equivalent to the "add fuel" LED on a normal car and only then do they need to add gas? But who drives their car to such a low level of gas anyway?

I am honestly curious about this very confusing behavior.

 

Unless I know I am going on a long trip, I have always waited until I got down to E, OCCASIONALLY with the amber fuel light going on if I'm near home. With the Prius, I do the same, wait until I'm about 25 miles into 1 bar, or even get to 1 bar flashing and fill within a couple of miles. Fingers crossed, no problems yet.

Knowing that my Prius' long term computer MPG is about .5 MPG high compared to long term 'actual', I am confident in filling when I do.

 

Re: out of gas, out of battery, added gas but still won't st

:lol: I think testing the limits of "empty" is part of the game some people play driving the Prius...trying to eek out every mile. I personally don't have the personality to allow my tank to get down that low, but my husband is a different story! I can't tell you how many times he has aggravated me by passing up gas stations, telling me we still have at least 30miles to empty (in a regular car). Why not just stop and fill it up and avoid any possibility of a problem?! I am really worried about him driving the Prius! Too much temptation!