One of those days: About a week ago I put a gallon of old gas into my 2001 Prius after driving it (half tank left). Very bad idea. Went to start it last night, 12v battery was low but it did start and run normally for about a minute. Then the engine went haywire, stumbling, barely running, etc. Had to drive home on electric power (a mile), and of course the main battery is low. So I charged the 12v battery, disconnected it from the car overnight, then tried the start, then shift to neutral trick which is needed to get the car going. No luck. My guess is the fuel is bad so I want to drain the tank. Question is how; I know where the fuel pump relay is, but where are the fuel lines and where can I disconnect them to pump the fuel out? Biggest problem is it's snowing today (yeah) and will be bitter cold for a week. I'd rather not wait too long as I don't want the main battery to die (in which case I need to hook up the 300v charger....) Thanks! C
…how about adding a stabilizer to the gas? …or some other majik ingredient (higher octane, or a couple of gallons of AV-gas?) I remember when I was in my teens, I had a part-time job pumping gas, and one day one of the regular mechanics drove in with his car belching smoke and running rough, he pulled up to the 5-star (premium) gas-pump and put in a couple of gallons, as his wife had been driving the car, run out of gas, and had used the gallon of diesel which happened to be in the boot (UK). The car was hot, and she managed to get it started, but couldn't understand why it was running rough!
Stabliizer is usually designed to prevent issues. Fuel DeIcer might help if the issue is moisture/water in the fuel.
If the gas is stale, 101 octane booster may help. Worked on my stepdad's Oldsmobile once. A common problem for snow birds in Tucson, btw. A gallon of crappy gas added to 6 gals of good shouldn't cause that problem tho. You may have dumped in some debris that clogged the fuel filter, tho.
Interesting. I was out with the car today, still will not fire. I unbolted the fuel rail, drained a bit of fuel, checked to make sure fuel was getting in (it was) then tried a few starts. Still no dice, even with shifting the engine to neutral, stall, go to park, engine tries starting, engine to neutral, etc... I can try filling up the tank with fuel from some good cans, but my main battery is now at 19%, very very low. Don't have too many more options, perhaps I should wait till it warms up again. This is disappointing. Car's run for 195k miles, rebuilt the whole pack at 150k, and now this stupid issue. Normally when the 12v dies you can restart by doing the park to neutral thing and let the engine figure itself out. But I still think it's the gas because. With a jumper battery the car started right up. Ran for about a minute, enough to get me halfway to the pizza place Then everything and its' mother went completely to hell. Misfires, engine banging, whole nine yards. Very unhappy motor, but I probably should not have shut it down while waiting for the kid to come out of the pizza place. But I did, then it was dead and I had to battery home and up the 45 degree angle hill in front of my house. Aarrggh... Aarrggh.
I feel like if I could drain the tank I could have a chance to fix this. However: 1) The fuel rail has a hard line going back to the fuel disconnect. 2) The fuel disconnect is blocked by that plastic thing which looks like I have to take off the entire engine harness (and break who knows what) as well as take off the entire electric drive controller as that drive controller coolant reservoir has a blind 10mm nut on the bottom that is impossible to turn. Is there another disconnect I can get to somewhere under the car?
Refill the tank to the top with good gas? I appreciate that's risky as well, but hopefully dilute the bad gas enough that it'll run?
Better news: After one final fuel rail purge, throwing 2 gallons of gas in the tank, putting the air box back on, and firing it to Park, Neutral-stumble, Park, Neutral-stumble the engine finally started. Immediately put it in park, got the battery to 30%, reversed off the puddle of gas, put it in Park to charge, then let it get up to 60%. I'm not sure if it was the last purge of water/whatnot or putting in more gas that stirred the fuel but I was able to get the battery charged and the car out a bit. Not much power, the engine stumbles with flashing engine light at high power tries but it is able to idle (that's either misfire or knocking, not sure but no codes remain). No leaks at the fuel rail, so that's good. I shut it down for the day, will try putting in some 100 octane boost stuff and see if I can drive out this tank of junk....
