This just happened this evening in my 05 Prius with 141K miles. Filled up the gas tank a couple days ago and only put 11 miles on my car since fill-up. Went in my car this evening and the gas gauge was flashing with only one bar lit up and my screen said to add gas! I knew something was wrong since my screen said I only have 11 miles on car since full-up. I looked online for similar problems but was not able to find any except someone said the bladder system fuel bag might be bad and was an $840.00 part [the entire fuel tank]! I saw some video on YouTube about a "2005 Prius reset fuel level inclinometer" but I could not make that work. Seemed more like resetting the 'maintenance required' light after you change your oil. Drove to a local auto zone and described problem to guy at counter and he had never heard of that. He went out to car with code reader and hooked it up but no codes came up. Went inside and he did a google search on the prob but was not able to find anything either. Is there a fuel gauge sensor? Anyone have any experience with this strange occurrence? If I removed the cables off the battery terminals and then put them back on, would this reset the gauge and go back to normal? Just a thought. I cannot seem to find anyone that has made a video on this or actually gave a response as to what the cause and the fix is. Just found this: most likely the sender is bad.if that's the problem, then it's part of the fuel pump assembly located inside the fuel tank.also i don't believe it is available to replace just that part.if i am correct,i don't think you can even get the fuel pump assembly alone.i think you have to replace the whole fuel tank with the pump assembly already installed in the tank.around $800.00 if you buy it and install it yourself. I sure do hope that is not the problem! Big Bucks! Can anyone please help me? Thanks!
This was a great reply and made me laugh. Straight to the point, lol. That's right along with what I was thinking also. @DanGramm Any time 12v power is lost, or very weak, the fuel gage will go to one blinking dot until it recalibrates itself. Normally, like if you disconnect the battery for a few seconds, you'll also lose any radio station presets and your driver window will lose the auto up and auto down function. Hopefully that's all it was, because you're absolutely correct. None of those fuel system items can be individually replaced. It's one big assembly and one big swipe of a debit card.
Thanks for your replies. I called the Toyota customer service number since I read something about this and that it could be a problem in the gas tank and see if Toyota would cover taking care of the diagnostic fee at the dealer. Discussed this prob with the Toyota rep and discussed the poor design of the fuel system parts being integrated in the fuel tank and having to replace entire tank if there is a problem with some of these parts! Gave her the name of the local dealer and she said she would talk to them about this and have them talk with me. Once I talked with the dealer, I was told that the rep never mentioned to them about taking care of the diagnostic fee and that would be a $149.00 charge! Told them that is not what I was told. So, I hung up and decided I would try something else. The battery is two years old.....purchased an OPTIMA battery from Advance Auto with a 25% off coupon, so I went to see them last night and they tested the battery. CCA tested good but they said it could use a charge. So, I connected my trickle charger to it last night and it was charged this morning. Still same problem. So, I loosened the bolt connecting the ground cable to the frame, at the passenger rear quarter inside the hatch area- to see if a reset would correct this prob. Tightened it back up, started the car up,,,,,,,,and guess what?...................The gas gauge reset and it shows a full tank! Amazing, huh? No $$ spent.
Thanks bisco,,,,,,,,,,,,,,hopefully this thread will help someone else down the line.......pay it forward, right?
Had flashing fuel gauge after dropping fuel tank to make rodent repair to fuel line. To drop tank had to pull back seat in my 2008 Prius to access the cover under the back seat that allows access to the fuel tank wiring harnesses. Finally determined that when I pulled up hatch that it stressed the fuel pump plug and had partially pulled two pins out of connector. I simply re-seated pins on main plug and no more flashing gauge.
where is the bolt connecting the ground cable to the frame? passenger side? i think when the car was fairly new the dealer charged us a lot of money to tighten this because it was causing a problem but i thought it was somewhere toward the driver's side and i didn't see anything like that when i took a look just now. had the car jump-started today but the gas engine comes on for only 30-90 seconds at a time so i know that's not charging the battery and i'm afraid to let the car roll out of the driveway. the fuel gauge had been acting strangely for the last couple of months, indicating much faster consumption than we could have been causing.
