My daughter texted me today to inform me that her gas gauge indicator no longer reliably displays the fuel level. She's filled it up 3 times this week and the gauge still shows 1 bar. There are no other display anomalies: the speedo and other indicators appear to be normal. This 2008 has never had the combo meter changed and it's out of warranty since it's a salvage title. It has been cold down here (for Georgia) but nothing below 30 in the last few weeks. What do you guys think...another combo meter failure? Any troubleshooting tips that would work long distance? I can't touch the car until about 10 days from now. And when I do get my hands on the car, what troubleshooting can I perform to confirm? Thanks in advance.
not sure i've heard of a gas gauge only, combo meter problem. maybe it's the sending unit. any idea what damage it incurred to get salvaged?
I've inspected the car pretty carefully, but can't say that the sending unit ISN'T the problem. The car was in a front-end collision and went up over a curb scraping the underside of the car. We've owned it for about 3 months and this is the first indication. I had the OBD on it about a month ago and it wasn't throwing any codes. When I get it back, I'll get the codes from Techstream.
it could be the bladder, but i've never heard of it being stuck on one bar. how many gallons has she put in each time, and how many miles driven?
Don't have the exact numbers, but she's filled it 3 times and it hasn't moved after numerous restarts. Driving has been relatively minimal since it's just around the town where she attends college.
Small fillups aren't always "seen" by the car. Maybe just drive it til it runs out and have someone bring a 5 gallon gas can (I believe it takes 3 gallons for the car to accept that its been filled after driven to empty) to fill it enough to get to the gas station to top off and see if that fixes it.
I'll investigate Also found this: Fuel gauge never moves even when out of gas. | PriusChat So I may have her try this Seafoam treatment while she's away.
Everything I've read warns against running the Prius out of gas, but I suppose we could do that in a controlled situation. I think she's been very careful not to run it anywhere close to empty.
