Has anyone run a Prius out of fuel?

I googled that after I got mine and ran into so much conflicting info that I gave up. I went to FAQ sections of shops that specialize I'm hybrids and a few others that seemed to be gurus (or at least wannabe's) on the Prius. One said, no problem, just limp along for a couple of miles to a gas station, another said if you did that Toyota would have to come out and reset your computer, another said to immediately pull over and put at least 3 gals in or the car won't even know you added fuel.

I'm curious to here what others who HAVE ACTUALLY DONE IT say, because I have pretty much heard it all.

Being someone who is schooled in analogue and digital electronics and computer systems, I have seen many times in my 30+ years of working on the stuff, they can be so smart that they are illogically stupid.

 

Not me (run out of fuel)....but it was a right of passage for many Gen2 owners in the good ole days.
I think the answer depends on your model: Gen2's out of-gas switched over to battery power until you drained the HV battery, which tends to kill your HV battery. So I am thinking Gen3's stops when gaso is gone.

 

They seem to have a pretty good safety margin built in (at least my Gen3). I was coming home from a long trip once, just clicked down to the last PIP on the guage and couldn't find a station for about 25 miles. It was my first tank and I was sweating bullets about how embarrassing it was going to be running out of gas in a Prius. Finally found a mom and pop station and it only took 8.9 gals to fill it up so on the last pip I still had a full 3 gals of gas in the tank and the indicator said I had less than 40 miles left on it.

 

Bob Wilson has done it many times in both GenII and GenIII Prii, for fun and sport and engineering curiosity. And if 'Search' worked correctly, I'd post a link to his primary GenIII thread.

But your Plug-In may work a bit different.

 

So what happened??? Give us the short version.

 

I think I remember reading that thread and the 3rd gen Prius (don't know about the OP's PiP) didn't limp along on its battery. It just slows down to a stop... no puttering or anything.

 

Ah. Thanks. I had just gotten mine when I was looking up the info and didn't know to differentiate between the different generations. I can remember when the CVT trannies in the hybrid civics were dropping like flies on their first generation. I did some research and found that out for a work mate who had his replaced. I read about folks that were on their third and fourth tranny on their 04 models. It got to where Honda didn't even question it. They just swapped them out for free after the second failure.

 

I've tried to drain my tank twice but always chickened out after it said 6-15 miles left.

 

I too have read what Bob Wilson posted on the Gen III. IIRC, I do agree that the Gen III will not limp along. It will shut down. I do not know the exact amount of fuel it takes to get it started back up. I seem to think he mentioned he put 1 gallon in and the Prius started back up, but please do NOT quote me on that amount.

To the OP, do a Google search on the subject. The search engine here on PC does not work as well as Google does. Google will reveal all of the post's on this subject that have been posted here in Prius Chat as well as other forums online. I suggest you follow Bob Wilson's post's and also Patrick Wong. There are many good knowledgeable posters here on PC, but IMO Bob and Patrick rank in the Top 5.

Ron (dorunron)

 

I remember something like 1 gallon, too.

 

Here it is. Read the first post of this very long thread:
[WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III)

The real story of what happened was found later, thus is buried very deep in the thread. The first post has most of what folks need to know.

Elsewhere, Bob has mentioned that he has run out of gas somewhere around 50 times total (two different Prii) for a variety of engineering tests. And while some other drivers has experienced other problems caused by accidentally running dry, Bob appears to have experienced none from his deliberate tests.

You probably had a couple gallons left.

After running my new Subaru out of gas a few months ago (intentional run-down test, then wimped out, but it still ran dry seconds after arriving at the pump), I gave the fuel pump a full minute to re-prime the line before actually cranking the engine. It started perfectly.

Several Prius owners (but not BobW) have reported failures to start after running dry. Subsequent findings indicate that the ECU counts restart attempts, and allows only a small number of tries if sufficient fuel has not been added. Exceed that limit, and further retries are locked out until the dealer resets the ECU.

 

I did. I found out here AND when I filled up. Lol. But there's still that tickling feeling like I'm going to be hiking with a gas can.

 

When I first push far past the dashboard warnings on a new car, to see what it can do, that gas can is pre-filled. No hike necessary.

 

I didn't want the kids to complain about the odor so I keep mine empty. Hiking inevitable. Lol.

 

Kids in the car? That isn't the time to be testing the bottom of the tank. I do it only in benign conditions when and where the consequences of screwing up are minor.

And no spare gas when not intentionally doing this test. It is too hazardous to regularly store inside the cabin.

 

90% of the time I've driven my new Prius was from my apartment in Queens to my house in Long Island, so when my wife and kids are in the car and I happen to be running low, I get tempted to "try" it.

 

This was what one of the others I googled said. He said it takes at least 3 gals before it recognizes any fuel was added. Maybe under fueling doesn't guarantee a start and this is what he actually meant. You get locked out by the ECU after a set numbet of retries to start and there isn't enough fuel to guarantee it gets pumped. This is one of those instincts I mentioned above about being so smart it's illogically stupid.

Just a side note. I wonder how long it takes for the ECU to time out locking you out. Every retry starts the countdown all over again if you don't wait long enough. I've seen this many times. Electronic locks where the password is entered incorrectly a number of times and it attempts to scare you off by saying its disabled when in fact if you waited 10 minutes you could start the process all over again.