2008 Prius Gas Tank Failure

Well for some folks it stops within a few seconds and can repeatedly refuse to fill properly. (Fortunately not for me, so far <knocks on wood>.) So unless your plan is to stop at every filling station along your route, this might not be very convenient if you experience the problem.

 

Then, this explanation how the pump shuts off automatically must be wrong, no?

How does the nozzle on the fuel pump know when to shut off to avoid...

 

Are you saying that the air that is between the bladder and the steel tank is vented out through the filler neck? Or, just near it as shown in the Bentley manual?

 

Yes, I can see your problem and fortunately there is an answer.




Move to a warmer place, humans were never designed to live where the temperature is -20 celcius.

 

No, the explanation is correct. In the case of the Prius, the air in the tank does not vent up and out of the nozzle, since the displaced air is on the outside of the bladder. If the bladder is stiff, you can easily displace the small amount of air in the filler neck long before the bladder fills with fuel. If the nozzle is sensitive, the first bit of gas that gets to the detection vent will trip the nozzle and stop filling.

Tom

 

I had this problem with certain fill up stations on my trip to California. I either had to feather the pump, hold the pump at a weird angle or use a different pump....my old supra was worse and had to fill it with pump inserted upside down

 

Thanks Tom. As I am trying to understand all of this 'filling' problems and over filling issues, it seems then that the pump shuts off either when the fuel reaches the nozzel, or, that sensing hole is blocked somehow that would signal the same as fuel reaching that hole, and shuts off?

 

I'm not an expert on fuel filling nozzles, but it appears that they sense liquid at the sensor hole. They also have an over-pressure shutoff switch to keep from pressurizing fuel tanks. This can be a problem with the Prius.

You are correct that plugging the sense hole it would signal a full tank.

Tom

 

I do not go below 2 pips.I do not over fill. No problems.

 

a lot of the times, the auto shut off valve wont work for 2 main reasons

1) the valve is bent. frequently, you will see the filler tube is slightly deformed. this will obstruct air flow

2) the person before you, topped off his tank too much. overfilled it, causing gas to backup the filler tube. gas gets into the valve and then takes time to completely drain. do this enough times and the valve eventually gets residue on it, causing the valve to stick. now this can cause the pump to not shut off causing a "gusher" or the opposite, where you have to dribble in the next several tanks. just all depends on what position the valve sticks in.

 

My 2008 Prius takes about 20 minutes to fill with gas in the wintertime. Gas tank thinks it's full with every 20 cents pumped in. Drives me nuts. Dealer service has continually said that there's absolutely nothing they can do about it.

 

You may have to do what I do. Pull the nossle out a bit further. Beware of filling slowly. It can cause pressure to build up in the tank, which can then result in a gusher when you remove the nossle. If it gets to this try pressing down on the nossle to make a gap at the top so the vapour can escape. Had this happen on my last fillup, and it was not a slow fill. Didn`t spill any fuel by using the above method.

It`s a baby, and has to be `burped`sometimes.

 

Trust me, I've tried that...unfortunately doesn't work in my case - I've tried pulling the nozzle out to every degree...nothing helps

 

Never had that happen in out old silver pine prius...

 

this is weird. since i posted here last summer, my 2010 has clunked on my last 3 fillups. granted, no where near as bad as others here. but had to restart a few times. first shutoff within 2 gallons, but only really took maybe an extra minute. i simply restarted at about half flow and finished filling. now my 2006 has been perfect the entire time.

 

My 95 Ford Contour had this problem. Some pumps are more sensitive then others, so try different stations, maybe you will find one that works better. My 2006 Prius never does this.

 

Many Gen II owners are experiencing this problem to one degree or another. Now that we better understand Toyota's tendency to cover up problems rather than deal with them, and the fact that a faulty fuel tank design is not as dangerous as a "sticky accelerator pedal", it's easy to see why this problem has never been solved. They would rather blame you or faulty gas pumps.