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Ran out of gas

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Russ33, Feb 29, 2008.

  1. Russ33

    Russ33 Older Junior Member

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    70 mph - out of gas

    Hi all,

    Good news and bad news.

    Good news is that while traveling to Florida from Delaware I got 519 miles on last tank.
    Bad news is that closest gas station was 519 3/4 miles and I pulled over just shy of the off ramp on Rt. 95.

    The following lights began blinking when the car died:
    TRIANGLE (master warning light)
    BRAKE (warning light)
    CHECK (malfunction indicator light)
    VSC (vehicle stability control)
    GAS GAUGE (one blip)

    All was going well and I was enjoying my new iPod as well as my new GPS and of course keeping an eye on gas consumption (50.2 mpg). The only thing I neglected to watch was the gas gauge.

    Panic at first when the car seemed to take a nose dive and the multiple lights came on. After we pulled to the side and pulled the manual out trying to determine the cause we found that we could crawl slowly to the ramp and decided that we were probably out of gas and calling AAA would involve a long wait. So, slowly we made the ramp with a couple of tries, and managed to get to the top where the Prius finally said “That’s all I can doâ€.

    Two teenagers hand pushed us onto the grass and I walked to the station to borrow a gas can. With much trepidation I poured 1 1/2 gallons in and crossed my fingers. All went well and with a couple of lights still on we slowly drove to fill up the tank. After starting it again the car started again and all lights were out.

    Thought I’d write this to alert anyone else who runs out of gas what lights come on and how we were able to handle it. Rather embarrassing to have a car getting 50.2 mpg and manage to run out of gas!

    As smart as the Prius is, it would have been nice to have some bell or buzzer come on to alert those like me enjoying the good life and not being alert enough to watch the gas gauge. But, thats my problem and not Prius’.
     
    #1 Russ33, Feb 29, 2008
  2. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    What a refreshing "I ran out of gas" post! Thank you! Most IROOG posts start out mad....angry guy face...blame the car..then go downhill from there.There's quite alot of them here. Lately most IROOG's end up with a tow to the dealer. But I think the Prius "last pip your almost out of gas" does beep at you. Not sure there as never got that low.
    After lurking & reading post after post of IROOG's here I vowed to never allow the tank/odo to go over 375-400miles without filling up. I reset trip odo/mfd with every fill up and at 375 miles it's bingo.
     
    #2 edthefox5, Feb 29, 2008
  3. Eug

    Eug Swollen Member

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    I usually do 300+ (and <400) miles too on a tank before I fill up, but have done over 500 miles before, just to see what the car could do.
     
    #3 Eug, Feb 29, 2008
  4. Danny Hamilton

    Danny Hamilton Active Member

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    Actually, the last pip on the gauge starts blinking before you run out of gas, and the Prius does have a bell to alert you when the last pip on the gauge starts blinking. Unfortunately the bell is rather quiet, and is easy to miss if you have a radio/ipod/CD playing.
     
    #4 Danny Hamilton, Feb 29, 2008
  5. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    I'm going to second the flashing pip and bell comment. The Prius is pretty insistent when you need gas, and it's foolish to ignore it.

    Why didn't you pull safely off the road while you could, rather than having to be pushed by hand? I still don't understand why people try to drive once they are out of fuel.

    Oh well, live and learn. It's a nice cautionary tale.

    Tom
     
    #5 qbee42, Feb 29, 2008
  6. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    A little non-judgmental human factors analysis here: did you not see the flashing fuel gauge pip, or did you see it but ignored it?
     
    #6 richard schumacher, Feb 29, 2008
  7. nakago12

    nakago12 New Member

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    i thought running bone dry is very bad for the electrical system?

    like you will need to repair it, just putting gas in won't do.

    at least that 's what the dealer told us.
     
    #7 nakago12, Feb 29, 2008
  8. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    It's unlikely it would damage the battery. It's possible, but not very probable. If you keep trying to drive on electric only -after- you run out (repeatedly restarting the car after it shuts off) you can run the battery dangerously low. Dangerously because this could drain one or more cells and that can damage them. That's what the careful control of battery charge in the design of the HSD is all about. It -may- be possible to take the charge level down enough it can't restart the engine, but I've not heard anyone report this happening. If it does it's a tow trip to a dealer, then a wait for the regional charger to arrive with the tech. Could take several days.

    So if you run out park the car in a safe place asap using electric power to get you there and walk to get fuel.
     
    #8 David Beale, Feb 29, 2008
  9. Russ33

    Russ33 Older Junior Member

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    Did not hear Prius' notice regarding 1 pip remaining as I said in original post I was listening to new iPod and not checking gas gauge (my fault).

    Drove to top of ramp to keep from having 'help' have to drive on RT 95 and go past us and then return to get to the bottom of the ramp we finally sneaked up. There is where the Prius said "That's all folks" and the hand push happened as we were then blocking traffic coming off ramp.

    Hope my note was of some help to others and I bet that will be the last time to run out of gas.
    Russ
    Russ
     
    #9 Russ33, Feb 29, 2008
  10. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Yea Russ, it was a good note. Thanks for posting it. It's easy to miss something like that, especially when cruising down the highway. I ran out of gas one time in another car pulling a U-Haul trailer. We were on a toll road, and I thought I had plenty of gas, but I had no idea how fast we were going through it with that pig of a trailer attached to our rear end. When the engine stopped, I initially thought we had a mechanical problem. It took a bit before I realized I was simply out of gas.

    Tom
     
    #10 qbee42, Feb 29, 2008
  11. eurosteve

    eurosteve Member

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    From some other posts I had read here, I was under the impression that running out of gas causes a code to be stored in the computer (that Toyota can retrieve) that voids the battery warranty.

    Does anyone know if this is true - or does this code only get stored if you run out of gas AND deplete the battery?
     
    #11 eurosteve, Mar 3, 2008
  12. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Running out of gas will not void any warranty, and yes, it stores a code. Abusing the HV battery could be cause for voiding the battery warranty, which is another good reason to not drive after you run out of gas. Common sense is the first reason.

    Tom
     
    #12 qbee42, Mar 3, 2008
  13. rexg

    rexg Junior Member

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    one of the reasons why i bought the prius was i thought i can go more than a full week without filling up (approx. 500 miles.) i can go 420-450 in my yaris on an 11 gallon tank. oh well. ill just have to justify that the prius is quieter thats why i bought it. :)
     
    #13 rexg, Mar 3, 2008
  14. clintd555

    clintd555 New Member

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    It's bigger and it's in a much higher class than than Yaris.
     
    #14 clintd555, Mar 3, 2008
  15. nakago12

    nakago12 New Member

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    agree with last poster, PLUS yaris is BUTT ugly, and will not fit anything.

    I was able to put 4 guys and 4 BIG suit cases in the prius. try to do that with a yaris.
     
    #15 nakago12, Mar 3, 2008
  16. ny biker

    ny biker Member

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    450/11 = 41 mpg. If your 500 miles/week is mostly highway, you should easily beat that with the Prius.
     
    #16 ny biker, Mar 3, 2008
  17. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    Oh dear, another one.
     
    #17 patsparks, Mar 3, 2008
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