Ran out of Gas, Now Prius won't start...

Unlike the original Prius in this thread five years ago, this thread refuses to run out of gas.

 

Re: Ran out of Gas, Now Prius won't start...

I just picked up my first Prius yesterday. Is this running out of fuel thing an actual issue, or as long as you put fuel in by the last bar, you should be OK? Last thing I want is my wife calling me saying she is out and can't get it going again.

 

Yes put fuel when the car tells you to, the last pip should fine, when it flashes then you should seriously consider fueling up. Once you get to know your car better and you get a good range, MPG, and fuel used average you can push it further, but for now put fuel when it says to and you all will be fine. Enjoy your Prius!


Posted from my iPhone via the Tapatalk app.

 

Re: Ran out of Gas, Now Prius won't start...

The Gen2 Prius has a bladder in the fuel tank which leads to some unpredictable fills. So people recommend filling at 2pips just to be sure.

 

Re: Ran out of Gas, Now Prius won't start...

In that case you should tell your wife to refuel no later than when she sees two fuel gauge bars appear. The fuel gauge is popularly referred to as the "guess gauge" for good reason.

 

Disregard my previous post I did not realize that this was the Gen II forum, sorry.


Posted from my iPhone via the Tapatalk app.

 

Re: Ran out of Gas, Now Prius won't start...

Good to know, thanks.

 

I thank all of you for your wonderful suggestions...after nearly 160k miles I finally pushed the gas warning to the edge and lost (in my defense I went by Costco to get gas and it was Labor Day...figured I could make it home to my fave station...not so). Ran out on the freeway, rode the batteries off the exit (alas, one of the 3% that lack gas stations in San Diego). Stalled out under the overpass...got it back on a few minutes later and then it went bone dry about 1 mile away from the nearest station.

AAA brought me gas...added at least 2 gallons. No luck. Read this wonderful forum and cajoled the AAA guy into a couple more gallons to be certain we reached that "3 gal magic point" still no luck. Pulled the negative on the battery...nope (note, I did not heed the 1-3 minute suggestion, which may be key...noticed that the trip odo's and clock reset, however the radio presets did not...maybe aux power from the hybrid batteries?).

AAA ordered up a flatbed and I went to work on pulling some of the fuses...seemed like the best thing to do while killing the time. Pulled the 22 under the dash (nope). Then pulled (under the hood) the 30 (nope), 31 (nope) and 33 (Yes!!!!).

Honestly, I think it just takes time for the fuel to trickle down (Reagan-era reference aside) and all the whiz-gigging with the fuses and terminals is time for that to happen. Regardless, I would recommend heeding those of us dumb enough to have run out of gas...and just fill up when she beeps (even though we all know it happens with 3.5 gallons left in the tank...). For a moment I yearned for my old 64 Mustang...at least you could drop some gas straight into the carb when you ran it dry.

 

We may as well re-learn as much from each lesson as practical. Can you answer a few more questions to possibly tease out more useful details, or maybe illustrate the car-to-car variability?

* How far down was the fuel gauge when you ran out? 2 bars, 1 solid bar, or 1 flashing bar?
* If on a single flashing bar, about how far did you drive before it ran out?
* (If this was a GenIII, I'd also ask how far past DTE = 0 it went, but don't think the GenII has anything equivalent)
* How many restarts did you attempt before adding gas? Before adding the second 2 gallons? Was it more than the 3 tries that Prii (or some certain Prii model years) are limited to before disallowing more restarts?

 

Read Dglauz's post. Worked a charm for me today. I tried a cold disconnect and waited 10 full minutes and had the same problem - Car wouldn't get into drive. Tried the HOT disconnect and turned the car back on. After a minute or so, the gas engine kicked back in and car drove no problem. I also had also put 4 gallons of gas in by this point fyi.

 

What is a COLD or HOT disconnect?

 

Hot is when the sparks fly.

 

What is cold?

 

Has anyone heard from kraziewilly??

 

he called the other day, he's good. plenty of gas.

 

I have a feeling he is not driving his prius anymore. He didn't have enough money for gas, so he probably didn't have $$$$ to pay the dealer to fix it.

If you google for kraziewilly looks like he is from Nigeria and he has some interesting friends, LOL.

 

I also run out of gas quite frequently. Last night was the worst ever. It happened in an area I didn't want to be. I actually tried turning my car back on three times and made it safely to a parking spot. I walk to a gas station back-and-forth filling my car up. To about 3 gallons. It wouldn't turn on. Exhausted my battery. Flat lined it. The car was not acknowledging that I had gas. I tried everything on this forum. The only thing that actually worked was:
Press the power button on your car. The lights will come on but your car will actually not turn on. This is power ready mode.
Open your trunk/hatchback. Take out the trunk paneling. The car battery 12V is hidden on the right side underneath. Uncover the battery. Disconnect the plug from the battery. (Yes while the car is on mode. A hot disconnect.) I left it off for about five minutes. I reconnected it. And everything came back on. I went and turned on my car and it turned on. You have to reset everything including your radio stations and your clock etc. but works like a charm. You're welcome!

 

Lucky you most idiots who ran out of gas on this site years ago kept driving on the hybrid battery till it killed it. Had to get a charger from Japan in those days to charge the hybrid battery back up. 3 week wait plus big dealer $$$$$

Same posters would come on this site complaining what a crappy car it was that wouldn't go 100 miles with the gas gauge blinking empty and the car beeping empty.

Ah......good times.....

 

<MEGA SIGH>

• ~40 times - ran out of gas in Gen-1
• ~10 times - ran out of gas in Gen-3
• 1 time and more pending - ran out of gas in Gen-4.5 (Prius Prime)

Running out of gas terrifies some but is just an often, poorly understood vehicle behavior. So I investigate it the only way I know how ... run the dang thing out of gas and see what happens.

Bob Wilson

 

Bob you have been running your cars out of gas on purpose for over 10 years now and now your running your brand new Prime out of gas.
Driving around with a gas can in your brand new car.

Why? To calculate how far it can go after it starts beeping? That's never a definitive number

What does that serve? Not to mention it's extremely dangerous as you cannot determine when the car is going to die.
Don't know about you but there's highway areas around here you would get killed if your car stalled. People drive like maniacs around here.
You stall in the middle of a six lane interchange at night and get rear ended hard and people get hurt. What would you tell the cops? Hey I was just trying to see how far my car would go with no gas in the tank.
That would probably make national news.

Less drama the better when driving. Not to mention it stresses the fuel pump out when empty.

I mention this because you always seem concerned about your health but yet you put yourself in danger routinely. For nothing.