ONLY 270 MILES ON A TANK OF GAS

I have a 2005 pkg 5 and a 2007 pkg 2 and both cars are loosing range. We used to get 490 to 500 miles per tank and it would take approx 10 gals of gasoline to fill when the gas guage showed near emply.
Now both cars, when near empty, will only take about 6 gallons. We are only getting about 270 to 300 miles to a tank.
The dealers are seeing this as more people are discovering it and when they are able to identify this happening. I am told that the bladder is shaped like an accordian, and if the car has less that 30K thay will replace it under warranty.
I have noticed that when the tank was half full, I crawled under it and tapped on the metal tank and is SOUNDS empty. When the tank is full, it sounds full when I tap on it. It would appear that the bladder is not keeping it's shape. It sounds to me like the time when people were replacing vented gas caps with non vented caps and collapsed the gas tanks, on american cars.
I'm over 30K on both cars. We are waiting for a recall. They are waiting for summer to see what happens when the weather warms up.
If you have the problem, get it logged into their systems before you are out of warranty.

KC7MTC

 

Hi all. New Prius owner as of three weeks ago, first post. My first dealer tank had similar low miles on it (+/- 275), despite the MFD showing 44mpg. I was a bit confused/annoyed myself having to fill up after only 8 days of ownership.

When I filled it up, I was able to get 10 gallons in the tank. Now, 260 miles later, I am one pip over half a tank, so things seem to be getting better.

I wonder if the dealerships either inflates the bladder on purpose, or use a cheaper type of gasoline before putting them on the lot?

Oh, my last car was a 2007 Chevy Avalanche that averaged 14mpg!

 

There has been a lot of discussion on these issues. You should take the time to do some reading through the past posts here. The bladder is a minor annoyance, but its benefits in terms of reduced gasoline evaporation and emissions far outweigh that in my opinion.

Because the bladder gets more stiff, its very common for tanks to get smaller in colder temperatures. It should stretch right back out again when temperatures get warmer. As mentioned, filling slowly will help it stretch as much as it can before clicking off.

Its tricky, as the gas gauge has to try and figure out how big the tank is each time you fill up. Its not an absolute measurement, so it can get tricked. I have heard of it taking a couple of cycles to figure itself out sometimes, particularly when brand new. Part of what you see is the variability in the tank/bladder, and part is probably the variability in when the pump shuts off.

For the same reason you can't really calculate mpg on a tank. How much gas you put in doesn't necessarily have anything to do with how much you took out. Neither can you equate 1 pip to a certain number of gallons or miles. The MFD is quite good, but usually 1-2% high. A long term average of many tanks is the only way to compare actual to MFD.

BTW, just to clarify 11.9 gallons is the size of the empty tank w/o the bladder. It will never actually take this much to fill it. The most I have ever personally seen is 10.3 gallons in hot weather.

Rob

 

I think I have no badder in my UK Prius, I quite often get 500 miles to a tank before the 4KWH enginer kit I fitted, I haven't filled up since. I just want to know what is the advantage or reason for fitting a bladder? I wish we got the thermos and heated rear view mirror over here, not sure I miss the bladder though

 

It was designed to reduce fuel and air mixing which would improve emissions. No one likes the bladder. I generally only get about 360 to 380 miles on a tank. I could push it to 400 if I wait till the fuel light flashes. This is assuming my normal 48-50mpg average.