Hello all, Happy Prius owner for two weeks now.. 2011 trim 3.. Two fuel ups now... Both times I was showing zero miles to empty so I thought the gas tank was empty.. But I was only able to barely fill it to 9.5 gallons before it stopped on its own then barely to ten gallons after clicking the pump a bunch of times before stopping as I was afraid of it spilling out.. So my question.. Why on earth do the specs say it has an 11.9 gallon size tank when I can barely get ten gallons in there? Lastly I use 87 grade fuel as it seems the consensus is it is best for our cars... I'm about to take a 650-700 mile round trip to Vegas.. Is using a fuel injector cleaner a good idea for our hybrid cars or is there something regarding our engine that doesn't make it beneficial just like I've read that 91 fuel is actually not better for our cars compared to 87. Thank you!
From what I understand, folks here who have run the tank dry say there are about 2 gallons in the tank after the gauge starts flashing and the display says 0 miles. Apparently, Toyota is very conservative when making sure we don't run out of fuel. So far, my biggest fill-up has been 9.743 gallons.
Why in the world would you in only 2 weeks drain your car to zero miles remaining? If there were no fail safe from Toyota, you would have been stranded. This hybrid is not like a regular car. If you run out of gas, it switches to battery power and immediately drains that as well. Many stories here have this event lead to HV battery failure, which runs $3000+ in repairs.
congrats and welcome to priuschat! how many miles on her? most of these cars run perfect for over a hundred thousand without cleaning the injectors. all the best!
There is no benefit to Premium (91) in general, and especially in Ca. since you (like me) have reformulated gasoline so that pretty much takes away any chance of energy content variations between grades. Once you get into Nevada I think they are outside of the Ca RFG zone so you might see better MPG on the Nevada fuels, and probably cheaper too. See also TopTierGas.com list of stations which reportedly add adequate detergents to all grades. PS: welcome to Prius Chat!
Having run our 2010 Prius out of gas 6 or 7 times: The only way you tell the engine is finally out of gas, the power-flow arrows go away. The car switches to battery and this provides about a mile to find a safe place to park. Repeated attempts (3?) to start the car without gas sets code that has to be cleared by Toyota OR disconnect the 12V ground for a minute or two for a Power-On-Reset I've had no HV battery failure from any out-of-gas test My rule is 2.1 gallons remain when the "ping" and "flash" begins. I reset a tripmeter and when down to less than a gallon remaining, I get serious about taking a break to fill up. Bob Wilson
Bob, You're a seasoned pro, he just bought the car and is familiarizing himself. Not sure he should be pushing the limit so quickly.
Personally, I can't imagine any automaker setting a gauge in such a manner that when it read 0 miles you were "actually" out of gas. I just assume all of them provide a pretty good margin for error. Plus, we don't know that the OP isn't testing his car and doesn't carry some gas with him to avoid getting stranded.
I've driven another 45 miles when the gauge was flashing and DTE read 0. My rule of thumb. You can drive until your total milage this trip is 10 times your average consumption. That is if you reset the trip each fill up. The ten in 10 times is your ten gallons. Average changes slightly but stays somewhat consistent as your driving habits usually don't change too much over a tank. 54.8 avg should allow you to drive until the trip is 548 miles.
not to get off track, but if you run the HV battery down and ruin it...cant you just disconnect the 12v and get it warrantied?
not to get off track, but - Welcome to the world of Prius. It is one of the most if not the most heavily computer controlled cars on the road today. This means most of what we've learned with the simpler cars sold by others is no longer accurate. if you run the HV battery down and ruin it - The +200 volt, traction battery has its own, dedicated control computer that makes sure it stays within a narrow charge range, 40-80%. Regardless of how hard we try, we can't force it beyond these limits. This makes it nearly impossible to ruin the battery. However, there are ways to overheat the battery and that won't kill it instantly, the car will complain and slow down to nearly a stop, but it will shorten the life to about 1 mile over the traction battery warranty. cant you just disconnect the 12v and get it warrantied? - We can disconnect the 12V battery at any time and reconnect it too. That is not a problem. However, this won't affect any warranty. If the car is towed in with a 12V battery disconnected, the Toyota technician will test and reconnect it. Then they will give you a bill for ~$250 for your failed 12V battery. Even if it is in the first 3/36000 period, at most you'll get a service charge, the labor, for reconnecting the 12V battery. No, if you want to destroy your car, just reverse polarity connect the 12V battery to burn-up all of the control computers. However, the Toyota service technician will notice this, even if you reconnect the 12V battery correctly, and and then charge you about 2x the cost of a new Prius to repair it. I would not recommend taking it to court to assert a warranty claim unless you have a lot of time. GOOD LUCK! Bob Wilson
