Strong winds keep gas from filling tank?

This is the second report I've read suggesting there may be situations where filling can be blocked by the vapor capture system. The other report suggested just starting the car and driving to another pump (i.e., a power ON/OFF cycle) is enough to get the vapor system to cycle properly. Too early to call it a latent defect, two is not a large sample set. However, worth watching and sharing with Toyota.

Bob Wilson

 

Our 2005 Prius usually filled OK, but I'd say that maybe one pump in ten would keep shutting off every half-gallon or gallon or so. Usually, pulling the nozzle out a few inches and/or fiddling with the angle and/or easing up on the squeeze trigger to slow the flow rate would take care of it.

Maybe one pump in a hundred just would not fill our tank, to the point where I'd give up and try a different pump.

I was never able to correlate the problem with anything else.

(One warning: if you cut the flow down really far, to a trickle, the pump may not shut off at all and you can overflow the filling port which is supposed to be a big no-no. The same thing has sometimes happened to me on rental cars that were other brands. The moral is to resist any urge to top up).

 

I started with a full tank started with a full tank of gas from the dealer 4 days later I tried to fill up and couldn't get more than 2 gallons of gas into the car.

the pump kept shutting off no matter how slow I tried to put gas in.

When I took the pump out a lot (maybe 1/8 gal) spilled out also.

No wind

drove to a pump one over, and it filled just fine.

 

yep, bad sensor.

 

bad sensor in the car or in the pump?


is there a bladder in the gen 4?

thanks

 

Nope. The bladder was one experiment that backfired badly for them. Wasn't on 3rd gen either.

 

bad sensor in the pump, too sensitive. that's why the next one worked.

 

I am not aware of a serious issue " backfired badly" with the bladder...it was superseded by improved vapor recovery technology. Those owning Gen2 with bladders should be proud of all the gasoline vapors they are not emitting during fill-ups. I'd be curious to know if the Gen3 is as low emissions as the Gen2. Gen2 owners unite!

 

It's still May so some areas may have winter gaso until June 1, which I am thinking may contribute to higher back pressure in the tank. Finally as of June 1 we start to get better fill-ups and better MPG and get back up to 400 miles per tank and up.

 

I purchased my Three Touring in March 2016. Since then, There has been three times when I could not put fuel into my tank. After the second time it happened, I took it into the Toyota dealer, but they could not find anything wrong. They thought it might be the "internal valve" not opening sometimes when refueling. They suggested the next time this happens to start and the stop the car to "reset the electronics." Well, the third experience just happened last week, and I did start and stop the car, but it did not work. I then drove the car to the gas station across the street, had did NOT have any problems filling the tank! I am now working with the Toyota National Headquarters in Houston. They are in process of arranging a service specialist to look at the car.

 

You might have tried closing the gas door & hitting the button again to reopen, or just hitting the button. I think the button relieves any tank pressure & opens the tank to the filling neck.
It sounds like either that process did not complete or the car thought you took more than 30 minutes to fill & closed it back off.

 

As above, Gen4 seems to have a different system with a "trap door" so we'll have to see how that behaves or misbehaves.

 

I figured it was just somethiing else to break when I saw the warning about needing to finish filling within 30 minutes.
Perhaps people are not waiting long enough?



Also, Emergency procedure.

 

Am I missing something here:

Is it not possible that the problem is with the auto-shutoff on the gas pump ??......since the next pump you tried worked fine ??

Those things get a lot of abuse, and in many cases scant little maintenance.

 

If I may add something to the conversation. I find this very interesting because I had the same problem with my Gen4. The second time it happened I noticed I never really shut down the car, or pressed the power button to turn the car off before pumping gas. Well, in my old car I used to pump gas all the time with my ignition switch in the accessories position just so the radio will play. For my Prius, I have to turn the car all the way off before pumping gas or those same problems described in the previous posts will occur.

 

Today I opened the refuel door and cap, but didn't refill until after a few minutes (had to run into the store to resolve some CC issue). After a gallon or less, it stops and some fuel even overflows --- the car (2016 Prius) seems to have something shut down inside the refueling hole. I gave up refueling. After reading this thread, I guess I'll just refill again tomorrow and expect everything to just work.

 

The US Prius warns that you must complete refilling within 30 minutes or it can overflow. They say if you need more time. press the fuel opening button again.

 

i can't imagine anyone taking over 30 minutes to fill their car with gas, might as well get a bev.