Car ran out of gas, won't start

Page 5-8, near the bottom of the page:

"The software logic on the '04 Prius has changed to help prevent customers from running the HV battery low enough to where the charger is needed. The vehicle simply will not crank after the customer has tried several times after running out of gas for example."

 

I never ran out of gas in my Prius. However, I did have the ICE quit on me when my dealer had the car, and forgot to tighten the TPS ( I could write a story about this, but not here). I was less then 1 mile from home, so I tried to limp home on the battery. I got 1/2 way there, and the car died. The battery was on the last bar. I towed the car the rest of the way with my van. When I looked under the hood, I found & fixed the problem. The car then started right up. Based on this experience, it seems that the Prius is designed to have enough charge to start after it shuts down from being drained to the limit.

 

That wasn't the case with my 2006, and I was working at it on more than one occasion. :embarassed:

The first one I will try to blame Toyota for. With the 2005 Prius, you could go 50, 80 or so miles before it DIDN'T run out of gas. So when it started blinking on the 2006, that's what I thought. Well, exactly 25 miles later, the dreaded triangle. Now, I was probably a mile away from a gas station, and would have been just a few hundred feet if they hadn't closed another one. But unfortunately the battery was only on 4 bars. I had no choice but to go for it, and ended up getting about half way there. I would have kept going, but the Prius shifted into neutral down at one bar, and coasted to a disappointing stop alongside the road. It was burning hot, and I had to call my father-in-law, tell him his beloved grandchildren were in the car that was heating up fast, and that no, he couldn't just bring one gallon of gas, he had to bring at least three gallons. That time, I put the gas in, pushed the starter three times, and the Prius started back up.

Now, the other time I suppose it could be considered my fault, but who would know that in Florida there was a spot where it was 45 miles between gas stations? The Prius binged and blinked just 100 yards past a gas station, but I didn't want to turn around and go back, I only wanted to keep going forward. And besides, there must be another gas station within 20 miles. But NO. And at 10 miles I wondered if I should turn around and go back, but that would have been really admitting I was wrong. And besides, there must be another gas station by 10 miles up the road. But NO. Now this time, 22 miles after the blinking pip, when it died I pulled right into a business that was right there, and knew enough not to turn it off. I explained that yes, I had a Prius, one of the most fuel-efficient cars around, and yes, it was out of gas. They were good sports, and he said he knew a guy THREE MILES down the road who would have some gas. Now, this would have been impossible the previous day, but as luck would have it, I had just had the Hymotion kit installed that day and had turned it off early in order to go easy on the new battery.

I turned the Hymotion back on and drove at 25 mph down the road, much to the chagrin of the other drivers, but I even pulled over once so everybody could pass, and once again I couldn't destroy the hybrid battery, it shifted into neutral just as I was pulling in to his place. Now he was beyond a good-summaritan. He stopped his work, got the gas and put it in. It was in a big can, so I wasn't sure how much he put in. I offered to pay him for it, but he wouldn't hear of it. I tried to start it the three times, and nothing. So I then had to tell him that the Prius is not your ordinary car, if it runs out of gas you can't just do the logical thing and put gas back in, you have to put at least three gallons back in, and that while his generosity was appreciated, it wasn't enough to get the car going again. Once again I offered to pay for the gas, but he wouldn't hear of it even after adding another five gallons. So now I was set, just push the button three times and get going. I said thanks, and he got back to work. Unfortunately, after three and then six pushes of the button, there was still nothing. So by now the sun was setting, and there seemed to be no chance the Prius was going to start. I was thinking then too that the hybrid battery could be wrecked, maybe even because of the Hymotion kit that was just installed. But then I thought, disconnect the battery and give it a fresh restart. So now, for a third time, I had to bother him again, not for more gasoline but for a tool set. This he didn't have. So I was stuck. Then he said he did have a pair of pliers, if I could use them. I was desperate, so I opened the back and got to the negative cable's 10mm attaching bolt. I don't know how I did it, but I finally reached in there as the final rays of the sun disappeared below the horizon and got it loosened. With a spark or two I took it out, waited a minute, and put it back in. Once installed tight enough with the pliers I then pushed the button, and the Prius was alive again. :whoo:I handed his pliers back and drove home.

And the moral of the story is ... One pip is really the blinking pip to me now. I wish I could reprogram the gas guage to actually do that.

 

Since you've noticed some strange behavior from your car, I think you should start by replacing the 12V battery.

 

Guess what. Your gonna have to replace it again. You deep drained it and it got sulfated and pretty much ruined that 1 year old battery. It will be unreliable from here on out hence Patricks suggestion to replace it.

 

+1

 

you can reprogram the window yourself by holding up for like 10 extra seconds after it hits the top.

This window setting is lost if the 12v battery dies.

 

I've always wondered -- just what does one have to be thinking about to run ANY car out of gas (never mind one that will go 300+ miles on a tank)?

 

And doing it once is bad, but running out 2 or 3 times is asking for trouble.

 

A few breaths taken.

Running out of gas in a Prius is not excusable. You don't get warned you're going to lose your keys; you can get forewarned about important dates; "rocking" at Word,Excel or Powerpoint is irrelevant.

You DO get warned by the Prius well ahead of actually running out of fuel. Choosing to ignore the implications can have serious and costly consequences.

 

Mostly I agree, but not all parts of the country are well served by gas stations. In this area, many of them keep short hours outside of tourist season. I've never run out, but I've cut it close when the only station turns out to be closed.

Likewise some parts of the west have very long distances between services. I was taken by surprise the first time I drove through Wyoming. You need to buy gas there every time it is available. Once again, I didn't run out, but I spent some tense time on the highway wishing for a fuel stop.

Tom

 

I had one of my kids run out of gas. Payday friday. It's thursday. Thought they could make it. It was a Bi+ch to restart and didn't run correctly until it got into the dealer which meant towing it and damage from the tow which meant it was in the shop. A good lesson overall.

 

What was the lesson: not to have kids, not to be financially responsible for the kids' cars, or ??

 

Kid paid for it all.....:cheer2:
They get a car and the boot.
It was their lesson.