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Fuel Tank Suddenly Takes No More Than 7 Gallons...

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by pre~us, Jan 29, 2013.

  1. pre~us

    pre~us Maverick~

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    2006 Prius
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    Greetings~

    We have an 05 with 160,000 miles on it. In December, we took a trip from SW Wisconsin to New Mexico. Along the way, in some situations where it was very cold, I noticed that the gas pump would automatically shut off as if the tank was full, even tough I knew it was near empty, and this was happening even at very slow fill speeds. I also noticed that I could never get the tank to take more than 7 gallons or so. The auto shut off issue happened several times on the trip but now rarely if ever happens, but I still cannot put more than 7 gallons of fuel in, and this last time I filled when my gauge was at one bar, I got to 7.2 gallons, auto shutoff of the pump occurred, I tried again very slowly to top it off, auto shutoff happened right away, then when I started the car the gauge still read one bar shy of full. This is maybe the first or second time this has happened. Generally the gauge reads full after 7 or so gallons up from reading at one bar after filling. Also, in the summer we were easily driving over 500 miles on a tank. Now we are lucky to drive 300. I have heard the the tank is not solid, but is a bladder of some sort? Or contains a bladder? Makes me wonder about air displacement, or if the bladder is too stiff in the winter, or is somehow defective? The car was in at Toyota recently for a couple of recalls, and they couldn't find anything wrong with the fuel system without charging me the $99 to go in and reset it. Anyone have any thoughts?
    Thank you,
    Peter.
     
    #1 pre~us, Jan 29, 2013
  2. RedskinPrius

    RedskinPrius Junior Member

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    There is a bladder in the tank that is impacted by cold weather. My 2007 never takes more than around 7 gallons. I usually fill up when there its two bars left so it is not totally empty.

    I get a little over 300 but could push it if I had to, but running the Prius empty is bad.

    SCH-I605 ? 2
     
    #2 RedskinPrius, Jan 29, 2013
    xpcman likes this.
  3. KK6PD

    KK6PD _ . _ . / _ _ . _

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    Your car has bladder problems brought on by the cold. This is one of the most common topics on this board.......
    Learn to search...
     
    #3 KK6PD, Jan 29, 2013
  4. maestro8

    maestro8 Nouveau Member

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    Obvious solution.

    You drove to New Mexico. Probably picked up a hitchhiker unbeknownst to you and yours, looking to get away from the border after an illegal crossing.

    Sorry to say, he's lying dead in your gas tank. Picked a bad place to hide. Totally explains the lost capacity.
     
    #4 maestro8, Jan 29, 2013
    PriusGuy32 likes this.
  5. pre~us

    pre~us Maverick~

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    I know how to search quite well thank you. I ran a query for fuel tank and found very little, hence my post.
     
    #5 pre~us, Jan 29, 2013
  6. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    FWIW, the search feature here on PC doesn't work that well. Try Google, and you will have no problems finding information posted here on PC as well as other sources online.

    Google

    You are not the only one who questions the fuel capacity of the Prius.

    Ron
     
    #6 dorunron, Jan 29, 2013
    pre~us likes this.
  7. pre~us

    pre~us Maverick~

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    Thank you~ I have found that out by accident a few times! I did just search the forum with only the search term "bladder" and got quite a lot on the subject. It was not the first word that came to mind when wanting to learn more about this.
    Peter.
     
    #7 pre~us, Jan 29, 2013
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