have you run out of gas in your prius?

You should read this thread: New owner? Want MPG help? Read this first.

 

I have ran out once... on the freeway and only had enough battery to make it over 3 lanes of commute traffic.

I went about 60 miles after getting the blinking light

 

Other than the inconvenience, what's the big deal about running out of gas? I ran out 7 or 8 times in my two Mazdas. I'm always trying to put close to 12 gal in those 12-gal tanks - that means fewer trips to the gas station! I ran out in my Saturn on only my second tank. With the Mazdas, I'd just restart the engine and roll it on down a ways. Only had to walk twice, but one of those times was 2 1/2 miles at 4 in the morning. With the Saturn, there was NO restarting. So I was much more careful after that, but I did take 12.04 gal once! I ran my Prius out on my 3rd tank. MFD said I was getting nearly 52 mpg and it was a 12-gal tank, but she ran out at 544 miles. Not fair! Very hilly terrain and I was restarting from a dead stop when everything went off, so I couldn't make it the 2.5 mi to the nearest station. Did get within 100 yds though. Restarted just like normal. My daily commute is 23 miles total, so the blinking last pip means "will the weather be better for a fill up on your way home tonight, or tomorrow morning?" Diane

 

Never ran out of fuel on any car I have every owned.

One of the main reasons is that with the price of petrol in the UK so high careful planning is required. I know which sites I will be visiting through the week and where I can get the cheapest fuel. I then plan my fillups around this.

I get nowhere near the milage you guys seem to get, 50 mpg average UK (41.6 MPG US), probably because I do too much motorway driving and don't dare drive below 70mph. Not because of what people will think of me or "flip me off" (love that turn of phrase), but because I don't want to be crushed under the wheels of an articulated lorry that has been drive all the way from Poland without a break.

 

Ran out of gas also!

First ..how many people were laughing their asses off as I poured gas into my Prius on Rt 8? Them : Me: Me:

Second.. I don't make mistakes like this.. period. I am very precise. I know my vehicles and I know how far I can push it. I have a new 2008 and upon the first blinking "last bar" on the fuel gague on my first tank I refueled. It took 8.5 gallons. Second tank ran it down a little further .. almost 9 gallons. Like cvstan I did the math and concluded with a 11.9 gallon tank @ 45+ MPG I had plenty of time to refuel.. until the third tank.

It died 45 miles into the blinking light. I put in a 1.5 gallons and restarted. Filled up at the next exit and it took less than 9 gallons.. so 10.5 gallons on an 11.9 gallon tank. I should have been able to go another 75 miles at least. PERIOD folks.. no questions.. no bladder issues, no how cold is it today!

I have driven over 1,000,000 miles in my life and never did I have to question the integrity of a fuel gague. I just put 140k miles on my 03 Jetta diesel and I can tell exactly how far I can go when the light comes on.

A few other important facts in case it happens to you.. the dash lit up like a Christmas tree: Master warning, VSC, Check engine and in the Master display a redish symbol with the car cut in half. I wasn't really sure it was gas or coincidently a major failure. I called Toyota from roadside and they couldn't be sure is was gas but said to try that first.

OK: this is nonsense and we must all press Toyota for a real solution. Either the car has an 11.9 gallon tank or it does not. That can't change with the weather. This is a huge design flaw.

The car is a rollling computer and I was in shock there was not a "miles to empty" readout. Now I know why.. they have no idea either!

The manual says 3 gallons on the last blinking bar. 3 * 40+ is 120 miles.. not 20 or 30 or 40.

I am registering a formal complaint. They should recall the car and fix this.

Other than this, I love it so far!

 

Ran out of gas also!

First ..how many people were laughing their asses off as I poured gas into my Prius on Rt 8? Them : Me: Me:

Second.. I don't make mistakes like this.. period. I am very precise. I know my vehicles and I know how far I can push it. I have a new 2008 and upon the first blinking "last bar" on the fuel gague on my first tank I refueled. It took 8.5 gallons. Second tank ran it down a little further .. almost 9 gallons. Like cvstan I did the math and concluded with a 11.9 gallon tank @ 45+ MPG I had plenty of time to refuel.. until the third tank.

It died 45 miles into the blinking light. I put in a 1.5 gallons and restarted. Filled up at the next exit and it took less than 9 gallons.. so 10.5 gallons on an 11.9 gallon tank. I should have been able to go another 75 miles at least. PERIOD folks.. no questions.. no bladder issues, no how cold is it today!

I have driven over 1,000,000 miles in my life and never did I have to question the integrity of a fuel gague. I just put 140k miles on my 03 Jetta diesel and I can tell exactly how far I can go when the light comes on.

A few other important facts in case it happens to you.. the dash lit up like a Christmas tree: Master warning, VSC, Check engine and in the Master display a redish symbol with the car cut in half. I wasn't really sure it was gas or coincidently a major failure. I called Toyota from roadside and they couldn't be sure is was gas but said to try that first.

OK: this is nonsense and we must all press Toyota for a real solution. Either the car has an 11.9 gallon tank or it does not. That can't change with the weather. This is a huge design flaw.

The car is a rollling computer and I was in shock there was not a "miles to empty" readout. Now I know why.. they have no idea either!

The manual says 3 gallons on the last blinking bar. 3 * 40+ is 120 miles.. not 20 or 30 or 40.

I am registering a formal complaint. They should recall the car and fix this.

Other than this, I love it so far!

 

And 26% of us have run out so far..

We can't all be that dumb.. after all we did buy this technological marvel..

There is no way that 26% of the gas guzzling population has run out of gas .. don't forget, these cars are only around a few years.. my point here is that is statistically high..

And I know all you have to do is fill up on 2 bars and it won't happen.. not the point at all. I want to trust the information the car is giving me.

 

Who wants to start a petition to loby Toyota to put the petrol gauge in a spot which isn't so hidden from the drivers view?

One would thing with a 10 bar decimal fuel gauge right there in front of your eyes it would be pretty obvious that once the gauge reads 1 bar you have no idea how much fuel is left.
I start looking for fuel at 2 bars, if I get to 1 bar refilling is urgent, stop at the next petrol outlet. This tactic gives me 80km of looking for petrol range, 10% of a tank, and if I get down to 1 bar I fill up right now.

 

I am afraid

at the last meeting of the Prii Club of LA we had a hybrid/Prius expert talk to us about technical facts on the Prius, and he advised that due to the intricacies of the bladder, we shouldn't go lower than the 2nd bar before seeking the nearest gas station.

this is what I've encountered on my 6th and 7th fills: before the 6th fill I was already down to the 3rd bar but then it went back to the 4th bar for a whole day (I have a 45-mile roundtrip commute.) 2 days later, I would
indeed be around the 2nd bar and so yesterday I got to the gas station less than 30 miles since it hit that level.

I only got about 7 gallons and knew it had a lot more to go than that, but the pump kept cutting off every 0.2 gallons so I just gave up after the 4th click and went my own merry way. cue to this afternoon, about 170 miles since yesterday's fillup and I was already down to the 5th bar (normally I'd only get there at about 220 miles) but decided to fill at another station.

It was still the same problem and after the 1st click I tried pumping a little more and gave up at 2.323 gallons. the gas level stayed at 5 bars, though if you did the math, you'd think that it should at least have given me a bar and a half (or maybe I was technically at 4.5 bars -> 6th bar.) should I go take it to the dealer to check or is that normal behavior?

I am afraid I would run out of gas; wonder if anyone else experienced this?

 

Two weather scenarios, same Prius

We are somewhat unique in that we bought a 2006 in SoCal, then moved it to Minnesota. I can speak to the problems with the fuel tank and gauge in both environments with the same vehicle.

The only time our Prius ran out of gas was in SoCal about 6 months after we bought it, and it was a huge pain in the tuchus. My wife drove it back and forth to work ~15 miles each way. She got home one day and said that the last pip started blinking about 2-3 miles from home. About 1/2 mile from home she got the "Exclamation Point of Death". To this point, we had gone 20-40 miles consistently on the last pip so I wasn't too concerned. Since we lived about 500 feet from the exit ramp, and our assigned spot was two floors underground, she just coasted in and casually told me the light and warning were on. I volunteered to go put gas in and see if fuel was the problem.

We had two options for close gas, each about a mile away. One was on a very mild constant incline. The other route was a steep incline for the first 1/4 mile then coasting mostly downhill for the rest (assuming I made the lights). I chose the slight incline because I thought the heavy load for the first 1/4 mile would kill the gas/battery faster. I stalled out about 1/4 mile out of the garage (after exhausting the battery). After stalling a couple times, I put on my hazards and kept restarting and using the initial gas startup period to push myself a bit further. I made it another 1/4 mile but the only place to stop was just past the bottom of a blind ramp near the end of a merge lane.

I walked the remaining 1/2 mile to the gas station, bought a container and about 1.5 gallons. Being in CA, even the portable containers have to meet regulations, si I could not get gas to pour from the container into the tank because of the pressure differentials. I stood on the side of the road for at least 30 minutes with cars passing at 50 mph trying to get enough gas into the car to make it the last 1/2 mile. Finally I got the angle just right and most of the gas poured in. I made sure that my wife kept a much closer eye on the tank after that.

Now that we're in Minnesota, the performance is completely different but the gas tank is acting even more freaky. First, we've been driving it much less because the bus system here has been much more convenient. It has sat for 2-3 weeks at a time because usually only one of us is driving 2-3 miles each way to the park n ride and the other walks to the bus stop. But in any case, the weather has been on average about 50 degrees colder than typical SoCal temps over the last two fillups. Both times, though I was on the blinking pip, I could barely get 8 gallons in. The last fillup, the pump shut down at 7 with the blinking pip. I knew from reading this site about the bladder and I could tell from the readout that I had burned at least 8 or 9 gallons, so I was able to coax another 1.5 gallons in by dribbling it in. Plus, after driving 100 miles, I'm already down two pips when in SoCal we would barely be down one, if that. I still have no idea how much gas is in the tank at any moment. I was 1000 ft from a station across a parking lot and was not sure I could make it once the pip started blinking.

And let me add just one more thing. If you're in a cold climate, absolutely get a heater and block your grill. I blocked the bottom in early November, put the heater in late November (h/t Burnsville Toyota) and blocked the top in early December. I went from 35 mpg to nearly 45 (on longer trips) over the course of a month despite temps in the teens or lower. If anyone wants tips, I'd be happy to offer advice, but I learned everything from the good folk here. Thanks efusco, FireEngineer and everyone else who put up their info. I'll second the complaints about the car taking its pound of flesh during the installation procedure, but it's well worth the trouble.

 

I ran out once. Had shopping to do and put off getting gas a little too long. I ran out on the freeway but had enough electric power to get off and park on a surface street.

I had to walk about half a mile to a gas station, bought a gas can, filled it up and walked back to the car. Once the Prius had some gas in, it started up right away.

I didn't notice any real problem.

 

1 blinking light = 36 miles

I was on the AC expressway when my fuel gauge starting blinking on the last bar; I drove it another approx 36 miles to the gas station and filled the tank up (9.65 glns). I could have probably gone further, but I was not about to run the tank dry!

 

Not yet, have gotten down to the flashing pip once, dived into a readymart station and put in 1 gallon! Next day filled up when passing Costco. That 1 gallon is the only one that has not come from Costco. Here, the local gas wholesalers tell you all the gas comes from the same pipeline and tanks at the distribution center, with branded additives put in when it goes into the tanker truck, so I always get Costco which is always the cheapest.

I learned how to keep from running out of gas from driving my '71 superbeetle with the broken gas gage. Actually back then I carried a 5-gallon gas can sitting on the back seat just in case, but never had to use it... I know, I was young and invincible... but fortunately the gas can was not in there when the back seat springs shorted out the battery and caught the seat on fire... Only time I've ever had to use a fire extinguisher.

 

I had an argument once with a few of my students. The story I told was designed to be educational, and it went like this:

You wouldn't believe the argument I had with the kid who swore up and down my car was a bomb on wheels.

~ dan ~

 

He had seen all those movies and TV shows where the car goes off the cliff and explodes half-way down before it even hits anything. Yes, the vapor is what causes an explosion. If the tank is full and it ruptures in an accident you just burn to death

 

I ran out of gas because I did not believe the fuel gage, instead believing the miles per tank. I should have been able to travel another 80 miles, or so I thought. I think I reset the trip gage, causing my error.

Lesson was - believe the fuel tank indicator!

(And I did run out of gas twice before: once during the oil embargo, on the way home from college, on the BQE in Brooklyn (many happy drivers behind me) and once in Arizona, when I took a wrong turn, leaving me a hundred miles from a gas station by the time I realized my error. I ran out of gas that time just before a highway exit with a gas station.

 

just slightly off topic

How many gallons do most of you get in your tank when you fill up? I always fill up just after the last pip starts blinking and I only get 8.4-8.9 gallons. I haven't even gotten close to a 500 mile tank. My current tank is looking to be about 350-375 miles even though my gage says I am getting 45 mpg! I would love to be able to use a full 10 gallons of my tank. I almost wonder if one needs to run the car dry and fill it back up for it to figure out how to use the full volume of the bladder? This is probably my only complaint about the car so far is that I get great gas mileage but am only utilizing about 3/4 of the tanks capacity!
Fernsmom

 

Less gas each time we fill up

I think eventually, the tank won't take any gas..it is like recharging a battery.. each time it takes less and less of a charge.

Again, we need to get this message to Toyota. It is not right..

 

Re: just slightly off topic

I am getting the same 8.5 - 9 gallons which led me to believe on a 11.9 gallon tank I had almost 3 gallons left when I got to the last bar on the guage.. 3 gallons @ 40+ = 120+ miles left and I ran out of gas at 35 miles after reaching last bar.

 

(I must preface this bysaying it happened a couple years ago0 Well it happened, Yes my friends i ran the Prius II out of gas. Partially on purpose, but i wont do it again. Comming home on 294 (chicago guys will know) about 12 miles out of the Ohare oasis (northbound) it kicked and started slowing down, (let me preface this by saying the last gas bar was flashing) all the lights on the dash lit up like Christmas. It slowed to about 40mph and ran well at that for about 4 miles or so then it slowed to a crawl and then stopped. I sat with the flashers on for about 5 min then started it up again, and away i went up to about 25mph or so into the tollboth and asked how far to the next gas station,? she said can you make it 10 miles to the oasis,? i said i do not know! lol but off i went. about 8 miles later it died again this time the batteries were pretty much spent. I waited 5 min again started it up and proceeded about 10 feet. My prius was dead! so after walking about 1 1/4 miles each way to gas i finally put in the gallon i had gotten. 1 problem, the batteries were so dead the fuel pump wouldnt kick on, Rhut Rho..so i dug out the book and started to readit said turn the car to the off position and start......HUH? thats what i said. well anyway after about 5 min of messing around the engine started but was so weak it wouldnt go into drive. So i sat there watching the battery bars like a school kid waiting for the clock to tick once more to go home. finally i saw the battery bar click up another bar, and i yelled out YEE HA !!! and popped her into drive and slowly pulled away wondering what would happen. All the lights were off so i drove to the gas station filled up and drove home after that like nothing happened. Lesson learned? after the last bar beeps and starts flashing on the gas guage you have about 35 or 40 miles left (at 60 mph) then onece it shuts down you can drive slowly 25 mph or so for about 12 miles on the batteries. I hope this helps people in the future. good luck (by the way the whole ordeal took about 2 hours)...... Dean