Gas Guage not responding after fill up

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by osiris12, Jan 19, 2012.

  1. osiris12

    osiris12 Owner of 3, yes three priuses

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    This happened a few times on my 2006 Prius but never for this long. I had a half tank of gas. Filled it up (maybe a little too much). Now the gauge is stuck on a half tank even thought it is actually filled.

    I drove 55 miles and it still reads a half tank. Is this indicative of a systemic problem or normal operations? It is cold here in the North East US. So I'm sure that has something to do with the gauge not resetting?
     
    #1 osiris12, Jan 19, 2012
  2. firepa63

    firepa63 Former Prius Owner

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    #2 firepa63, Jan 19, 2012
  3. osiris12

    osiris12 Owner of 3, yes three priuses

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    Excellent! Thanks firepa63. I'll perform those steps after work tonight and let you know what happened.
     
    #3 osiris12, Jan 19, 2012
  4. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Re: Gas Gauge not responding after fill up

    How much fuel did you purchase? If 3 gallons or less then the fuel gauge probably won't register the change.

    You could disconnect the 12V battery negative terminal cable where it connects to the body, for a few minutes. When the 12V power is restored and you first turn on the Prius, the fuel gauge will blink one bar and eventually show the correct amount.

    Otherwise, you'll need to drive a sufficient distance so that the tank is at least half-empty, before the fuel gauge will start to register further decreases.
     
    #4 Patrick Wong, Jan 19, 2012
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  5. osiris12

    osiris12 Owner of 3, yes three priuses

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    Hi Patrick,

    I believe it was 3.8 gallons or so (1 bar before half). I'd rather drive it than disconnect the 12v battery. I'll lose my radio stations and whatnot with that process... I've done that before when I needed a new ICE battery.
     
    #5 osiris12, Jan 19, 2012
  6. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    That might not have been enough to trigger a recalculation of gas volume. It should be close, but not a sure thing. I'd wait until you can add five gallons or more and try it again.

    Tom
     
    #6 qbee42, Jan 19, 2012
  7. Photo Ninja

    Photo Ninja New Member

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    This happened to my '05 in the summer. It wasn't more than 4 gallons put in at the time.

    It ended up eventually dropping below the half way mark after a bit of driving on it's own and not sticking again when I filled up afterwards. At the time, I had reset the miles since it didn't do it automatically to track how much I had on the tank... just in case... so I could judge how many gallons were used based on the average mpgs. I've only had it happen maybe twice though...
     
    #7 Photo Ninja, Jan 27, 2012
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  8. jebko

    jebko New Member

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    This was an easy fix on my 06. In 2010 my dealer charger me 106$ even tho
    I have the 100,000 mile extended warranty. That wont be my next dealer.
     
    #8 jebko, Feb 20, 2012
  9. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Don't blame the dealer: resetting the fuel gauge is not covered by the extended warranty. Read the fine print about exclusions.
     
    #9 richard schumacher, Feb 20, 2012
  10. Moadeeb

    Moadeeb Junior Member

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    Clarification Please.
    When ODO/Trip button is pressed 3 times, does the dash indicator show a change to "Trip B" then "ODO"?

    My 2008 is not responding as written.

     
    #10 Moadeeb, Oct 2, 2012
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