2012 Prius 5 Gasoline Issue

The bladder is indeed gone.
Regardless of what the fuel gauge reads, if you are calculating based on fuel pumped in and distance travelled you can go 900 km (45 litres in the tank when full, which will give nine times 100 km). Note that Toyota are VERY conservative when they set up the fuel tank venting system. They do this to cause the fuel nossle to kick off leaving about 20% of the volume of the tank for expansion. Most places in Canada will experience fuel -shrinkage- once pumped out of the ground, most of the time (ground temp of around 10C). I find Pearl S will go 200 km further if I fill up till I see fuel in the filler tube. I have never had a problem doing this. So you are driving around with 36 litres once you fill up and stop when the nossle kicks off. That would give you the 740 ish km range.

It sounds like your problem is with the fuel gauge, not the tank.

 

best bet is to fill up after you're down to two bars. however, mine is so consistent, i fill up when it beeps and the last bar starts flashing. i only have a 10 gallon tank, and with two in reserve, it only takes eight.

 

1) yes
2) yes
3) the DTE and fuel bars are accurate to their conservative estimates. i.e. DTE will say 0 miles when you can still travel 100 miles more. Fuel bar blinks but there is still two gallons left in the tank.

It is frustrating to drive out of the gas station station missing the last fuel bar and DTE showing 400+ miles range instead of 500. I've found different pumps at the same station will shut off at different times. I vary between 7.5 to 8.5 gallons depending on the pump I use. I think of it this way:

It's only frustrating because I have a very small tank and I notice when a whole gallon is missing. But in the scheme of things, on my Hyundai Sonata, I fill 16 gallons each fill up, missing a gallon here or there is no big deal. With an analog fuel gauge and no DTE, I have no idea what is going on. The gauge reads above the F, good enough. Ignorance is bliss. In other words, all cars do this, all gas stations have been doing this. You can choose to get frustrated. You can choose to pump click the last bit of fuel in there. Or you can fill up exactly when DTE hits zero, then empirically find out exactly x amount of fuel and don't leave the station until you pump click exactly that amount.

Or you can just ignore it.

 

Really simple solution to avoid ever running out of fuel: go by the fuel gauge, pick your comfort/practicality level, fill up when it gets below that.

For me, if it's below halfway, and we're going by a Chevron, I pull in.

 

These fills should have been in the 30 - 36 liter range.

Are you stopping at the very first shut-off click of the pump nozzle, or going to the second or third click? With my car, the pump sometimes shuts off many gallons prematurely, based on how much fuel I had expected to pump. When that happens, I pull the lever again and it normally continues to about the expected amount before shutting off again.

But if the pump shuts off promptly on two more attempts, then I'd presume the tank really is full, and the issue is not a premature shutoff. Then the focus turns to gauge calibration.

 

Ok sorry, I didn't read this very well. That does sound strange.

 

have you owned the car since new? how many miles on her?

i think you should be able to put in about 32-36 litres when the last bar starts flashing. does the o/m say how many litres the reserve is? i would think 20% of total.

you may have to use the average mpg to figure out how far you can go, and fill the tank until you can see the gas. this is difficult though, and you don't want to overfill.

if you can't figure it out, i would have a talk with a dealer service manager. all the best!