Gas tank question

The tank will not implode. The danger of letting the tank get too low is you will RUN OUT OF GAS. You may be able to limp to a gas station on electricity, but you risk damaging the big battery.

Maybe you should should let her believe that the gas tank will implode. That way you will make sure you don't run out of gas.

 

And note Doc's emphasis. This risk is much greater on Priuses with bladders than people are accustomed to on other cars. The bladder makes refills and the gas gauge very erratic.

 

I regularly run mine until the first bar is blinking. It still has a couple of gallons in it.

 

Did he also tell her not to let it get wet because she might get electrocuted? :madgrin:

 

The Gen I/II bladders are predictable, just non-linear. I seem to notice a bell curve in the consumption rate as indicated by the fuel gauge. When I fill up, it stays at 10 bars for a very long time. Bars 9 and 8 stay around for awhile too, but then it drops from 7-3 pretty quickly. 3 and 2 stay around for awhile, and then it's 1 for even longer (though not as long as 10).

I almost always fill up right after the warning starts flashing. It's usually around a 9 gallon fillup, so there's still plenty of emergency gas left when the warning is flashing.

 

The OP has a 2010 so I would disagree about moving the thread here. But whatever.

No the gas tank won't implode. But if you run out of gas you -can- shorten the life of the traction battery. Once probably won't hurt, but don't make it a habit. If you do run out of gas don't drive it very far in "EV" mode. This is how you can shorten the life of the traction battery.

From fo0bar:
"I almost always fill up right after the warning starts flashing. It's usually around a 9 gallon fillup, so there's still plenty of emergency gas left when the warning is flashing."

Unless the emergency requires more than 1.5 gallons of fuel. I still don't understand why people run the tank so close to empty. Maybe I'm just too "Swiss like" (always ready for anything, never caught short).

I fill up at 1/2 tank whenever possible.