gas fillup in ready mode

Its your ice cold stiff gas tank bladder. Its a common complaint in the winter.

But I have found something that really helps gasing the car up.
Its all pressure related. Everyone always complains about the constantly clicking off gas pump.

I have found if you remove the gas cap and let the tank vent for a minute it really helps. Its becasue of the strict gas fume recovery system in the tank together with the flexible bladder it stays pressurized for quite a while.

I get out at the gas station..lock the car...take the gas cap off....go inside and get a soda or whatever.. Come back in a minute or 2 and fill the tank on slowest click fill. First time it clicks off hang it up. It will usually be 7 to 8 gallons as I fill up on 2 pips always. Been doing this for more than 2 years and no overfill or gas belching drama or pump clicking off.

Try it!

 

It is surprising that in the cold temps you see each year, you haven't
experienced the typical Gen II fuel capacity reduction each winter.

Since you aren't seeing any warning lights, things can't be greatly amiss.

This probably isn't going to help get back that now missing fuel capacity,
but there is a chance that the fore/aft, side/side inclination sensors that
are used in calculating fuel in the tank/blader have gotten out of
calibration. See page 3-2 here:
http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/Hybrid13.pdf

You might want to talk to your service writer/tech about a re-calibration
next time you're in for service. There is reason to believe you can do a
DIY readjustment. I can't find a procedure specifically for the '08. But
here it for the '04, it is item 15 on page 5:

http://greenhybrid.com/images/news/tsb_gasgauge.pdf

 

Chuck,

In the 3 years that I've been here, I don't recall anything being brought
up on changing the volume of the fuel bladder. Replacement of the
tank/bladder is ~$700 + labor.

The first cite I gave clearly says that fuel capacity is reduced in cold
weather due stiffness of the bladder. The 2nd says that recalibration is
the easier of the things for a tech to do for complaints of reduced fuel
capacity. On the face of it, this may seem like a strange thing to do.

My take on the recommendation is that when the inclination sensors
are not calibrated, the readings from the fuel level sensor in the
bladder/tank do not show the fuel at the bottom of the tank. The gauge
may be showing and alarming a low fuel condition, but there is more
fuel there. The only way to confirm this would be to run your car out of
gas. I'm not hung up on mileage per tank, so I am not going to do this.

It has been reported many times that when the "guess gauge" show low
fuel, it takes at least 3 gallons before added fuel is registered on the
gauge. It is assumed that this is true across the range of the tank.
From this comes the general recommendation to fill as much as the
bladder/tank will accept all at one time.

All this is to say that when it comes to the peculiarities of the Gen II
Fuel and Evap System, owners have to like it or lump it, tough beans.

Since ~2006 the Camry hybrid has had the same PZEV air pollution
rating as the Prius. But it doesn't have the bladder. So Toyota had
some other way to control fuel tank emissions but didn't put it in the
Prius. Why? Who knows.

 

My God! It's been like 2 Zillion Degrees below normal in the Midwest, be greatfull that you don't turn into an icicle while refueling. Remember spring is only 8 months away!!