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Fuel Goes From Low to Empty in 20 Minutes

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by agrapes, Aug 11, 2014.

  1. agrapes

    agrapes New Member

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    2006 Prius
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    II
    My 2006 Prius has 165,000 miles. I haven't had any major issues but twice in the last 2 weeks, I've had my fuel gage go from low (2-3 bars), to one bar, to having the "add fuel" message in less than a half hour. The second time I actually did run out of gas so it's not just that the gage is faulty. When I ran out of gas, my battery also appeared on it's last bar. After putting gas in it, the car ran fine and the battery perked up. The only recent maintenance was break pad and disk replacements but I've not noticed any drag or difficulty braking. Any ideas?
     
    #1 agrapes, Aug 11, 2014
  2. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    My idea is that you should purchase fuel when you see two bars on the fuel gauge unless you enjoy 1) running out of gas and 2) having to buy a new traction battery sooner than you otherwise might.
     
    #2 Patrick Wong, Aug 11, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2014
    Mendel Leisk likes this.
  3. Easy Rider 2

    Easy Rider 2 Senior Member

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    After 8 years and 165,000 miles, things wear out; gas gauge mechanisms included.
    Nothing you said sounds like anything BUT a faulty gauge.

    I'm with Patrick on just filling up sooner; problem solved.

    You can also reset a trip odometer at each fill and do the next fill based on mileage.
     
    #3 Easy Rider 2, Aug 11, 2014
  4. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    That sounds well within the normal range of behavior of the GenII's fuel bladder. So follow Patrick's advice.
     
    #4 fuzzy1, Aug 11, 2014
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    something must have changed if you have owned it since new and it's changing.
     
    #5 bisco, Aug 11, 2014
  6. taylor_priusII

    taylor_priusII New Member

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    Recalibrate the fuel gauge
     
    #6 taylor_priusII, Aug 11, 2014
  7. Easy Rider 2

    Easy Rider 2 Senior Member

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    It's all electronic.
    That's going to be pretty tough.
    Unless maybe you know something that the rest of us don't.
     
    #7 Easy Rider 2, Aug 12, 2014
  8. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    #8 Britprius, Aug 12, 2014
  9. RobertK

    RobertK Member

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    I found this calibration procedure searching PriusChat:

    Calibration might not solve the problem, but the procedure is free and easy to complete.
     
    #9 RobertK, Aug 12, 2014
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