Prius Fuel Tank

Right, it must be a problem with the 2004 Prius. I have filled my 2005 Prius tank twice, both at the slowest possible pump setting when the gauge shows 2 bars. I stop when the pump first shuts off which ends up filling the tank with 7 -8 gal- no overflow. I make no appempt to try to sqeeze anymore gas in. All bars are lit on the display thereby showing full. The difference between the MFD average and my own calculated mileage (miles driven / gallons to fill) is always about 1 gallon in favor of the MFD. I'm in some cold country in upstate NY so I am happy about averaging approx 50mpg this time of the year. Of course, I am a slow driver and always pulse on local roads or cruise control on the highway whenever appropriate.

Here's hoping for $5/gal gas and a squeeze on the government to push auto makers to mass produce more fuel effiecient vehicles using alternative fuels, i.e. natual gas or hydrogen.

 

Sorry forgot to mention that it's a 2005, purchased last March. I've filled it up 40 times, and that's the first time it didn't show full when it was.

However by this morning it did show full, so the problem with the meter corrected itself.

Note that almost no self-serve gas stations here have working latches for the pump handles. So it's hard to get a slow-but-not-too-slow fill rate. And filling too slowly has been problematic for me: the two times (at different stations) that I've put in gas v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y it has overflowed without the pump switching off.

 

ooooh ok... ya frequently, i notice it take more than a few minutes for the gauge to register. On the CANVIEW, the gauge registers immediately, but it also fluctuates up to 10% from one stop reading to the next mornings start up reading.

 

My experience has been somewhat different from several of the posts. I have had my new 2008 Prius for just about one month and just filled it up for the second time. The first time I filled it, I put the pump on auto fill and shutoff without paying attention to the speed of the fill. I had no problem that time. I did this just after the gauge went down to one bar, not flashing. It took 9.33 gallons before shutting off when full. Everything seemed fine. About two and a half weeks later, it was time to fill up again (again at one unflashing bar). I returned to the same pump at the same station and repeated the above procedure. I was expecting the tank to take about the same amount of gas as it did the first time, so I was surprised when it kept filling up and didn't turn off until the pump had registered 10.5 gallons. I removed the nozzle at that point, and suddenly my tank was gushing large amounts of gas onto the ground and down the side of the car. Not knowing about the Prius bladder problems yet, I told the attendant that there seemed to be a problem with the pump. Of course, he just gave me a blank stare. It was frustrating in at least two ways: I paid for gas that was pooled on the ground and, the bladder, which is supposed to protect the air from fumes, was responsible for a spill which is, I'm sure, worse for the environment. It was quite a hot day here in California. Might that have had anything to do with it?

 

I have a new '09 and have experienced some problems refilling. Bladder or no bladder, this is a serious design flaw at best. No customer should expect to have to fill their gas at the slowest possible speed and hope for warm days or blue moons!!!!!

I was down to one bar and had driven a little over 400 miles. I decided to stop at the Shell station and I could only fill the tank with 5.3 gallons. When I turned on the engine it registered full which was absolutely incorrect. I then proceeded to call the dealer since this was my first visit to the gas station with this new car.

Unbelievably, the service advisor proceeded to tell me the strangest BS. First, she said that I should not let the tank get below 1/3 and second she said that because I only had one bar left it could take 3-4 refills before the tank would get back to normal again. She also gave me this BS about certain gas stations, time of day, amount left in tank, etc.

I've NEVER had a problem filling up ANY other car I have owned. This is crap and I can't believe all the excuses I am hearing and zero complaints. No one can tell me that this is acceptable especially from Toyota ...

 

Is this problem consistent? How many times have you refilled?

I just finished a 4,700 mile driving trip through 12 states, refilling 13 times, and had trouble with two pumps. In my case, it was clearly obvious that the two problem pumps were mis-adjusted. The other 11 refills I just put the nozzle in and pumped until it clicked off.

The small size of the gas tank may be influencing your thinking. Your 5.3 gallon refill is not unusual, if a bit on the low side. With two bars showing yesterday, I was able to add only 5 gallons before the tank was truly full.

Tom