Help! Car died after battery replacement. Dealer now claiming "out of gas"!

Hey all,

The hybrid battery on my 05 Prius died last Thursday. Took it to dealer, they pulled the code, and wound up replacing it for free, as it was still under warranty (yay!).

Cut to today, 2 days after getting the car back. I left my house with the gas gauge on 2 pips. Car died while on the highway 15 miles later (had trouble accelerating, warning lights came on, the car slowed and I was unable to accelerate). I pulled it over and had it towed back to the dealer, assuming that there was some error due to the recently replaced battery. (note: this is not the first time I've had to had it towed to the dealer after their first attempt at servicing it.)

The service agent just came out and told me my problem was that the car ran out of gas! I am floored - not only have I never let that happen before, but it wasn't even on my radar. There was no warning and I had only gone 331 miles on this tank! Not that I do it a lot, but my car has always given me the flashing indicator and beep when I'm low, and I still manage to get 40 miles out of it before refueling. I am flabbergasted.

I'm presently at the dealer - is there any way to see if he's telling me the truth or pulling my leg? Is there a way to confirm that there really is low gas? Are there codes that show up specifically indicating low fuel? This dealer has tried to sell me on a cleaning the MAF sensor and other services before, so I don't have a high level of trust here. This could well have been me, but I'd like to really make sure they are not trying to hose me first before I accept responsibility for this.

Have done some tooling around the forums on this, but couldn't seem to find any answers addressing this specifically (engine trouble after battery replacement) and time is of the essence! Any help is appreciated!

Thanks - Tara

 

Thanks both for the codes!

I do realize there's a chance the car could have been out of gas, but I'm suspicious since it's been less than 48 hours since the new battery was installed and the usual low fuel indicator didn't kick in, trip mileage was low, etc.

 

Haven't gotten the codes yet (my guy has disappeared into the back) but will post as soon as I get them.

 

The code they pulled is P3190 - which they wrote up as "poor engine power code due to vehicle being out of gas" on the service statement. About to go add more fuel (they only put in 2 gallons). Will let you know how much I can get in there!

 

Just got done at the pump. Added 5.615 gallons to the dealer's 2 to bring it to 7.615 gallons. Indicator is now full. Am going to keep an eye on it and refuel as you suggested Patrick around 3 bars or 300 miles, whichever I hit first.

 

(tangent) - I actually followed Hobbit's MAF sensor cleaning guide after this same dealer suggested to me at 35K and again at 55K that I needed it (there was no indicator light for it, no noticeable change in mileage, etc). I cleaned that and the throttle body (so well I could eat off the latter - not a speck of carbon on it!), and the next time I serviced it they STILL told me both needed cleaning. When I pressed the service agent on it, he said "well, that's just what the mechanics said when they looked at - I haven't seen it". I showed him HD pictures of the cleaned sensor and throttle body, and he didn't know what to say. Once I hit 90K, I started taking my car to an independent shop for servicing, and until now haven't looked back. And this is the best dealer of the bunch I've found in the LA area.

Car is long out of warranty on anything other than battery. Going on 8 years and 4 months, and just hit 120,900 miles.

 

I would say it typically takes between 7 and 8 gallons at 2 bars, so I feel it's still pretty likely there was a nice reserve of 4 gallons give or take in there when it died. If the car had really been empty when I brought it to the dealer, I would have expected it to take closer to 10 gallons of fuel, not 7.6, no?

Thanks for the full list. Am hoping this was just a one off problem and won't recur, but will be keeping my fingers crossed. I'm just suspicious of getting a code so soon after having the big battery replaced, and this comes only a month after getting my car serviced at 120K!

This is Marina Del Rey Toyota here in SoCal. They only charged me for the gas (<$8), probably because I probably had a wild look in my eye (or maybe a book tracking my car's mileage and gas history in my hand).