i came home on 2 bars last night, and stopped to get gas in my new 08 prius. judging by my first 2 fill ups, i was at a little less than half a tank, but i wanted to fill up sooner than later. but when i filled up, it only took 3 gallons, then stopped. the gas gauge read half. i went to the station down the street, where it took another 3 gallons, stopped, then read full. is this something i should take it back to the dealership to have them take a look at? or is this just a quirk of the weird gas tank system they put in these?
minkforce1 - I bought a new 2008 Prius 2 weeks ago. It now has 410 miles on it. I filled it a few days ago when the fuel gauge was down to 2 bars. I had a hard time filling the tank. The automatic stop on the fuel nozzle would not stay on. I had to play with the nozzle and put the fuel in slowly to get the tank filled. I think it has something to do with the tight seal around the fuel nozzle due to the rubber gasket or o-ring that is on the filler tube. With that tight fit there is no way that the air can escape from the fuel tank as the fuel goes in. Other Prius owners have complained about this and some owners have not had this issue. I am going to hold off any complaining to the dealer until I fill the car one or two more times at different gas stations.
Try a different pump. The Prius puts a little more back pressure on the pump than most cars. The pumps are supposed to work with it, but some of them are poorly adjusted or just plain broken. Tom
As crazy as this sounds the problem seems to go away if you power down your Prius while refuelling rather then leaving it turned on.
that sounds pretty reasonable. i wouldnt be surprised if the pump i used was broken, but since it did it twice, i'm going to blame the seal. i tried wiggling it around, so next time i'll do that again
I think this is 60% a pump problem, and of course the bladder system also Ive had this happen more then i can count. Seem's shell stations are my friend with fill ups, most pump's are in great working order and fill me up past 10g. the tank will always have about 1 gal in "reserve" my worst luck was with arco pumps and some chev pumps..if the station is old , good chance the pump will not work right. hopefully the 09/2010 model's will improve the tank system some, while a good idea..i think some credit of fault need's to go toward's the filler neck on the tank, back pressure.
That isn't crazy at all. The valves in the fuel system are configured differently for driving than fueling. When you power down, the valves switch to the fueling mode. Fueling while powered up is just asking for trouble, as well as being illegal. Tom
Two bars is probably about one-quarter full. But the real capacity is less than advertised, and it's best to not try to get it all the way full. Six gallons pumped when on two bars sounds about right to me, though some people do better. The shut-off after just 3 gallons is a confluence of the bladder, the filler pipe, and the pump shut-off sensitivity.
As has been mentioned here in earlier posts turning the gas nozzle upside down (handle up) Does help.
really now. i definitely missed that one when i was looking around. i'll try that if i cant fill up normally next time.
Not only 'may' this help you add more gas to your tank, but sometimes the problem is due to some idiot who overfilled their gas tank and ran gasoline back into the vapor return section of the nozzle and hose . . . where it gets trapped at the bottom of the loop - thereby clogging the vapor return system and causing premature shutoff problems for the next guy. Next time you have a gas nozzle prematurely shutting off, turn the nozzle upside down while inserted into your car's filler tube - then lift the hose to allow any trapped gasoline to run from the hose and into your tank.
Just a clarification for the rest of the world living outside of big cities and California: most gas station pumps do not have vapor return lines, so this will not be an issue unless yours has one. Tom
Yes I had a problem late Friday night at the Shell station in Moorestown NJ. The pump kept shutting off so the attendant turned the nozzle upside down and that solved it.
Good point! I should have been more clear. But, on the other hand, I didn't know Vermont had any big cities. In fact, come to find out, Vermont has the smallest "big" city (Burlington pop.39,000) of any state . . . . . . yet Vermont requires Stage-Two Vapor Recovery. So shame on me for including everyone, and shame on you for excluding Vermonters, amongst others, who neither live in California or a big city.
I do my first fill up today. It show 2 pip when i start my car and i able to put in 7.2 gallon --->$29 $4.09 per gallon here I was abit nervors after reading so many horror stories about fill up here Nothing unusual happen, it click, i stop and the gauge show full now. Does Prius reset the milelage show in MFD after each fill up? I dont remembred i click RESET, the MPG is still there but mile is 0 , i did reset the trip B, dont think it cause it.
it wouldnt even let me trickle it in. im guessing it really was just a quirk, judging by the responses and advice i got on this thread, but it was just a little weird since i had filled up twice normally before. i was wondering if i had done something weird to it without even realizing it.
