driven 128 miles on Empty

I wouldn't personally do this, but it is your property. What would happen is you would run out of gas, run down the hybrid battery to dangerously low levels as you continue to drive it, and cause damage not covered under warranty to the most expensive part of the car to fix.

There's always the fuel pump and system to consider, too.

Third option is to have it towed when you run out.

I'm not seeing any good reason to try something like that.

 

By the way, the Scangauge distance to empty is near meaningless on any car, especially a Gen II Prius, it's just performing math like the automaton it is, not actually measuring anything in the gas tank.

 

Don't EVER-EVER run your Gen II Prius with the tank empty. This can cause major problems with the fuel pump and/or the fuel bladder. Owners have reported costs of over $1000 to replace these items.

 

i ran out of gas and drove on the battery till all the lites came on and she wouldn't go no farther. triple A put in a couple gallons and i was on my way.

 

I ran out of gas when I was testing my 5kW Enginer system going pass 900 miles.
Big mistake! Gas station were readily available on my route, so I was able to refill easily.

The problem that persist since is the fuel bladder.
I normally fill up with 10 gallons (+/- 0.5 gal).
But since the incident, I rarely can put 10 gals in. Several times only 6.5 - 7 gallons go in to completely fill my tank.

Now I use iPhone App GasBuddy GasBook to track running average. IMHO it's much more accurate than one or two tank results. I had couple tank with 120+ mpg but the fad soon wear off cause everybody and their sister was passing me in local roads.

 

The Gen 2 Prius manual recommends the user to keep refilling the gas tank as soon as it reaches a 1/4 of a tank. There must be a good reason for this recommendation.

EDITED 11/6/2011

 

That is really getting some miles out of a tankful! Congrats!

 

And the point of doing that was for ....?

It's nice that your enginer kit allows you to drive it as a plug-in hybrid and all, but I still don't get the concept of pushing the tank to the last drop, possibly risking expensive repairs on your primary means of transportation, just to see some arbitrary number on your trip meter.

 

Couldn't agree with more with Nerfer. Maybe it's cause I own few things, and since the car is by far the biggest financially, I care for it quite a bit. I could never do something potentially so damaging. Without tracking kilowatt-hours the numbers also don't serve any particular purpose.

 

brilliant! bob wilson used to do these things all the time. strictly for scientific study of course.

 

People always push the limit.

 

Why would anybody risk running out of gas on purpose? If you're driving on a track, OK. If you're in real traffic, you are a danger to yourself and others.

 

For those that don't know, I'm going to get my 2000 Insight battery pack refurbished.

Love that car, but the one thing I'd change is to have the software and NiMH batteries up to the resiliency of Prius IIs - they are waaaay more reliable. Toyota made sure the traction pack would be 40% charged minimum for a good reason.

You WILL have another chance to break 1200 miles or more.

I'd hate to see you shorten you traction battery pack's life to achieve this short term goal

 

At least Bob was prepared with extra fuel waiting in the trunk. I agree it is a danger and completely not worth trying. I think the Gen3 and Gen2 prius responds to "out of fuel" scenario very differently if I remember correctly. The Gen2 allows you to drive on the battery, not sure about the Gen3.

 

Hey, I think that you have to try the gas tank limit, at least once and for the records.
If you take things with precaution, be prepared for the event and in a safely maner, it's a no brainer.
In my 5 years of continuos daily PHEV I tryed the same thing once a year.
Until today, I NEVER had a problem or a negative mechanical consecuence. I'm by the 75K miles on my 2004.
Amen