Running out of Gas

I agree, I have filled our Prius up to the brim a few times and nothing ever happened. No lights, sirens,
or anything else happened except my range was now increased by 100 miles per tank....

 

Some had code problems to be reset. But which ones required fuel pump replacement, carbon canister replacement, or hybrid battery replacement?

 

Oh, so since the damage that you can cause is not in your list, it doesn't matter that running out of gas can cost you hundreds of dollars?

 

re: LA gas prices. Just filled up this afternoon, $4.54 at Costco. First time I paid $40 for a tank of gas for this car.

 

Your mileage may vary:
out of gas , getting out of safe mode | PriusChat
Nooby help! Ran out of gas and dealer issue | PriusChat
out of gas, out of battery, added gas but still won't start | PriusChat
2005 Prius Ran Out of Gas Now Car Wont Start | PriusChat

 

That isn't my list. That is the list in the posting to which you shouted "WRONG!". Please show some specific examples where rwyckoff's list is wrong.

A very respected technical contributor to PriusChat has intentionally run his cars out of fuel many times for fun, sport, edification, and technical investigation. He has reported none of the issues that you wave around as fears. Why should I believe you over him?

Many other PC users have also run out of fuel. Most report no problems, a very few have had some. The ones I recall were related to trying to restart the vehicle too many times without fuel, triggering a protective reset that had to be cleared by the dealer, or continuing to drive the vehicle to traction battery exhaustion on versions with less battery protection. Both are avoidable even after running out of fuel.

You shouted 'WRONG' to a specific list. Examples? "Pictures, or it didn't happen."

 

WRONG.

I pasted in hyperlinks to four separate incidents reported on PriusChat in which the Prius had to be towed after running out of gas, even though more fuel was added.

So obviously it is a very bad idea to let your Prius run out of gas.

Your friend didn't have this problem? Well, guess what? I know a 95 year-old woman who's smoked two packs a day for over seventy years, but that doesn't mean smoking is harmless. Maybe running a low tank won't harm your fuel pump, but you can still be out hundreds of dollars if your tank runs dry, so his inference that running a tank empty is harmless is proven false.

If you would like to run your Prius with only two quarts of oil, go right ahead, but I won't agree with you that your data prove that it's harmless to do so. By the same token, it's my understanding that the vehicle's design does not support overfilling the fuel tank or running the fuel tank low. Go ahead and operate your car outside of the design parameters, but if you want to recommend the practice to others, I'll continue to dispute the advice.

 

Did you read all of those 4 threads in their entirety?

The first just need to have the codes cleared after filling up and being towed in.

The second one needed a new ECU allegedly, but the OP never came back to state what the actual problem was.

In the case of the third one, while they did get towed to the dealership, ultimately it wasn't necessary, it just needed more than 2 gallons of gas put in, and the dealership never touched it.

The last one was actually a failed 12 volt battery that ended up not being towed in.

We all get that running out of gas can be a bad thing in any car. But I don't think that it's nearly as bad as you state for a Prius. It's something to be avoided, but if it does happen, and you are smart and don't try to restart it a b'zillion times, just putting in a few gallons of gas should be no problem to get you back on the road.

 

I think fuzzy1 is referring to bwilson4web, who I've met before.

Here are some references (not sure if they're the most current) to him running out of gas intentionally on his NHW11 and ZVW30.
Planning gas-out experiment | PriusChat
"Running on Empty" | PriusChat
[WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III) | PriusChat

I even posted some links at Running Out Of Gas | Page 2 | PriusChat, the thread title is the same and that thread is also in the PiP area.)

 

Sorry, I did something wrong in trying to quote lensovet, so my post shows up as part of his.

 

Thousands of Prius owners visit PriusChat because this is where the experts are. I don't want these people to walk away from here thinking that they read here that it's harmless to let a Prius run out of gas, because you might need to get your car towed to a dealer and that person might be out a few hundred for the tow and the service.

Is the Prius a bad car? No, it's awesome. I've owned two. Big fan here. Are they bad cars because of what may happen if you run out of gas? No, but a Prius owner should know that it's a bad idea to run out of gas, and that if you do, you need over two gallons to refill it, and if it doesn't start the first two times, put more gas in before you try again or else you might need to have the car towed.

The experimentation is very interesting, but the conclusion that it's safe to run out of gas is not one which PriusChat should get behind. Until my membership here is canceled, I will continue to say this when the issue comes up.

 

Our posts crossed in the ether, yours didn't arrive here until after I posted mine.

Devprius already addressed this, but I'm going to hit it again. Did you actually read the four threads you linked? Not a single one of them supports your shout of WRONG! with regards to replacing the pump, charcoal cannister, or ruining the hybrid battery.

Two did go into a protection reset after continuing to drive, going too far on the traction battery alone. One clearly reached battery exhaustion, and may not have added enough fuel for it to recognize a refueling. These were not consequences of running out of gas per se, but were caused by the driver's subsequent actions. Both fit squarely into the avoidable post-fuel-starvation category that I mentioned, but that you snipped from your response.

On one, the car was just coincidentally low on fuel, probably not really empty. The very old 12V battery died while it was parked, and even showed a common low battery symptom as it was being parked. It was eventually restarted with only a jump start (though not the first try), and was never towed. After getting home, her plan was to replace the battery.

The remaining case is not sufficiently described for us to draw any conclusion. A couple weeks after throwing another code, it is reported as "running out of gas fried the computer and relay". Which ECU, which relay? We don't know, and the boyfriend was already suspicious of the dealer. We have had numerous reports from others of dealers making unnecessary repairs, and this one smells similar.

So I am dismissing all four of your examples. How about linking four more?

 

But the bottom line is this: If your Prius runs out of gas, you may need a tow and you're out a few hundred. What the mechanic fixes is irrelevant.

 

I would rephrase this as:

If your Prius runs out of gas and you continue driving it towards a gas station, you may need a tow and you're out a few hundred.

We don't yet have substantive reports that running out of gas, per se, causes other problems. But we do know about problems caused by driver's subsequent actions. Avoid those actions.

 

This is normal and as expected. At speeds greater than 62mph, EV mode will not function at all. So if you are trying to push the limits, do it on the side streets to avoid a freeway incident.

 

I don't think we've ever implied that it was harmless to run a car out of gas. And I agree, a tow to the dealer because you ran out of gas definitely doesn't fall under the term harmless.

I totally agree. I'm on my second Prius. I love the car and the technology. The first one is still running, being driven by my son and his wife up in Washington state. 170K miles on it now. And your advice is spot on and exactly what I would tell other people to do if they ran out of gas.

I don't think we ever meant to imply that it's safe or harmless to run out of gas in the car. But it's certainly not a total disaster if you do, and if you follow the above advice, then you are likely to not need a tow to the dealership. I'm certainly never going to deliberately run out of gas, but if for some reason I misjudge things, and do run out of gas, I know the minimum amount of gas needed, and i know not to try to constantly restart the car before I get the gas.