Refueling problem poll for all Prius owners

Thanks, the PDF was useful. I'm concerned that this is only going to get worse over the winter. I really don't want to have to fuel up every day, because my car won't let me put more than 2-4 gallons in it. If anyone has experience with this in a cold climate (I live in Michigan), and has suggestions, useful or otherwise, I'd appreciate it. Oh and for the record I have 19,475 miles on my Prius as of yesterday.

On the other hand, so far, each time this has happened, the price of fuel went down the next day, so maybe my car is really smarter than I already think she is!

-V

 

A pump did not shut off once in 2.5+ years/ 31000+ miles. I did not vote.

 

I've only had trouble at one station twice and I am blaming a pump that may be pumping a bit too fast.

 

Newbie Owner of less than three weeks. Thanks to all who have inputted on previous threads, when gas cap is opened, i wait a few minutes for it to vent, and then fill slowly. An attendant at the first station I had pulled into seemed to know of Prius being fickle at times and prewarned me to point the nozzle down. I do this on a slow manual fill and fill at half a tank ( not sure how many pips ) and have not had any problems...Usually takes about 6 gallons. In a previous post it was mentioned it might be better to have results from Prius with 5-10k on them, so I will not fill out the survey...dont want to hurt everyones results....Thanks for everyones great info and answers!

 

vapor recovery has been required for over say 15 years?? now around here, when it became mandatory, there was a grace period for stations to comply that did drag on for a few years, but then they put their foot down and that caused about 20% of the gas stations in my area to close. (this was also in conjunction with the "spill containment" system that was also mandated) these were mostly pumps attached to small convenience stores that did not have sufficient volume to justify selling the gas

 

I have a 2006 and I have the problem most of the time. I fill at 2 or 3 bips, always on slow.

My fuel gauge sits at full for almost 120 miles, and then falls fairly fast. At 2 bips, I usually took 7 to 8 gallons at or around 350 trip miles. Refueling once on a cold day following a very hot day, the tank shut off at 4 gallons. The gauge inside was not full. Turning the pump on caused it to quickly turn off. I left the station and only got about 180 miles before I was at 2 bips again.

Many fill ups, and again, I got 4 gallons each time and it shut off. This continued for many more fill ups, I could never get my car to "full" now. I took the car to Toyota a few times, once when it was at 2 bips, and asked them to come to the station with me. They said no. They denied anythign was wrong and refused to do anthing, tellign me that "...not all gas guages are 100% accurate.") They also told me, now three times, three different service writers that they have "NEVER heard of this problem."

On a hot day, I filled up and after it shut off at 4 gallons, I continued to slowly add gas into the car (turn pump on, shut off, pump on, etc.) and it NEVER overflowed. I continued to do this until I reached about 7.5 gallons and could hear the gas in the pipe (I took the nozzle out after each "pump" and listened.) Yea, I know, should not force fill it, but at this point, I was tired of filling up every 200 miles or so, and Toyota refused to address the problem. Amazingly, this time the guage showed full, and I got my original 350 or so miles on that tank before getting to two bips on the guage.

After that, the next time I filled up, it worked just fine. I assumed adding the gas in slowly expaned the bladder? It continued to work fine for some time until the next VERY hot day, and the next fill up after that. Once again I was back to around 4 gallons. This time, I simply continued to fill until I put in 7+ gallons, (none spilled) and again, it remained working for some time.

It is starting to happen again, my warranty is almost up, so this time I will go back to Toyota and insit they come with me to fill it so they can see. Also note that they NEVER documented my complaint, only telling me that it "does not happen."

Believe me, it is a royal pain in the butt when it happens like this.
FYI, I tried many different statsions and pumps.

 

I have 5700 miles on my Prius and just had issues this past weekend. I was at Costco with just one PIP under a half tank and thought I'd fill up for the week. Well, the pump stopped after 0.25 gallons, started again and it went to 0.6 gallons. I forced in about 1.5 gallons before I gave up since there was a line of cars behind me. I pulled out of the station, waited about five minutes and went back to a different pump at the Costco station and had the same issue. I managed about another gallon but it kept stopping every 0.2 gallons or so. Between the two pumps I put in about 2.5 gallons and drove about ten miles in which the PIP never moved. I went to a different gas station and had similar issues but managed another 3 gallons. After starting the Prius it quickly showed full PIPS, usually it goes up PIP by PIP. Strange.

 

I had this problem a few months after I purchased my 2007. I started a thread on 8-13-07 because of this. To this day, I still have the problem "sometimes", and that is how I voted. I have learned to live with it, since even a gallon or two of gas goes a long, long way. I learned that if it shuts off soon after I start fueling up, I just pull out the nozzle a bit and continue, of course, one has to know how much one can fill as to not to over spill. Also, what helps if one starts slowly, but I found that that is not always the case.
Glad to see that the majority that voted do not have problems, I just wish I was one of them.

 

I agree pump dependent. In Central Texas we might have some stations with aggressive flow rates. Don't pull pump trigger all the way. You may have to rotate the nozzle to upside down or sideways positions. Good luck.

 

we don't recommend that you turn the pump sideways or upside down. doing so can adversely affect the operation of the automatic shut off valve

 

I have an 07 pirus. I would have occasional shut off problems at certain stations. It got more and more frequent until I had to hold the nozzle so it was barely was in the tank. It then overflowed to the ground. Not good. Toyota dealership replace the fuel tank to the tune of $876.00. First 2 fill ups after that, no problem, 3rd, it started clicking off again. I will met will Toyota rep, but I suggest being careful about spending that kind of money without a guarantee that you get your money back if it doesn't work. It is hard to document to the dealership. This has really been a nightmare.

 

next time you get gas, look at the nozzle. you should see two holes; a big hole for the gas and a little one which is the overflow sensor. some nozzles are abused and you will see your overflow sensor can be smashed to where its not a nice little round hole.

these can fail to function properly. as far as the shutoff issue. it happens to me about 1 on 3-4 fillups. its a pain but i usually restart it and dont have an issue. there is also the "one in twenty" event where it continues to shut off over and over.

this happened on my 2004 and 2006 infrequently but i don think i can remember the last time it happened on my 2010 but it does not have the bladder so that helps

 

Sorry to necro this thread.... but I have a 2008 Prius, which has less than 30k miles. I fill up between once a month, to every 6 weeks. (I only work 5miles away.) I go to the same station. I'm in CA, so we have the vapor traps, and there's only one way to put the nozzle in the car in order for the pump to work.

Since Jan of '08, I've never had a problem.... until today. 3 pips. I put the pump in, and it immediately shot off without dispensing a single drop. I tried three different pumps at the station, repeatedly, and they all did the same thing. No gas for me.

I'm taking it in tomorrow, since I have the steering recall notice anyway.

That said, this situation is completely unacceptable.

 

I had a rental 2008 for just two weeks, and experienced it on the very first fillup. That is why I discovered PriusChat, thanks to a pointer from the very next Prius driver we encountered and cornered for interrogation.