No gas gauge problem

I picked my 04 up a week ago and the last box was flashing after 380 mi. only added 8.5 gal. So I don't think they have changed anything on the later units.

 

I am still trying to investigate my fuel consumption. I have been dropping down from 3 left to two left to only one left. Thus far, with only one left lit, I am only able to take on 7.55 gal. Seems to me there is a problem with displaying representative fuel consumption. It is frustrating to be given a fuel up cue, when one has only travelled a bit over 300 miles and in reality there is 4.35 gal left in the tank. Incidently, I had to work at getting fuel in the car to get it up to 7.55. So, my prii does not display fuel consumption linearly.

 

I have had trouble with the fuel guage accuracy of my Prius 04 as well (my 03 works fine). After taking it to the dealership and having it throughly checked out, they said I must force the gas into the tank to get it full. They claim that I wasn't getting the tank to full capacity, thereby I received the blinking signal of low fuel at perhaps only 325 gallons + or -. It would be helpful to see a drawing of the this bladder type tank to fully understand this issue?

 

Beautiful!! -- or, it could be interference from an overreved muffler bearing. Gotta watch those.

 

I filled up for the first time this morning. There were two bars left on the gas gauge. I put in 6.5 gallons and had driven 328 miles. The display read 50.0 mpg. The caculator showed 50.7. I probably put a 1/2 gallon of gas in after the pump shut off.

I'm quite pleased with the mpg for my first week. I experimented with the cruise control this morining on the way to work. I set it for 61 on the freeway. The computer is smarter than my right foot. When I got off the freeway after 10 miles, the display read 56 mpg. Not bad.

Have a good weekend.

Jeff

 

Efusco, I routiney pump an additional two gallons of gas into the fuel tank on my classic after the first stop. When you are doing this, you MUST allow for the tank to vent. I usually pull the nozzle out untill only the very tip is in the fill tube. I then trickle the remaining gas into the tank untill I can see the level visually.

 

Uhhh, I'm not Tag, Evan. :wink:

 

I set the pump to the slowest setting and stop at the first click. I figure it's probably full because the first bar goes out at around one gallon used (based on miles driven and average mpg reported). When the last bar begins to blink I get around 7 gallons in. I think it was around 30 degrees last time.

Of course, it's also possible that the pump shuts off and the gauge reports full when there is still room to fit more gas in. So in the end I don't really know if the missing tank capacity is at the top (room to add more after the pump clicks off) or at the bottom (fuel remaining when the gauge asks for more gas). It would be useful to know the answer to that.

I think that John 1701a reports an estimated capacity of 9 or 10 gallons in very cold weather but I don't think he's ever been foolish enough to let it run dry or to fill it to the splash-on-your-pants stage.

 

I decided to top off the last tank and after 3 trys was only able to add .25 gal over the 7 gal fillup. The first bar did not go away until after 100 miles and I'm gettting aroung 47-48 mpg. These last two tanks went from 3 bars to one flashing within miles and the flashing was about 50 miles earlier than all other tanks. I'm currently at 3000 miles and as confused as ever about this tank/gauge.

When I went from 3 bars to one flashing I was out in the Red Rock area around Vegas and very worried that I was going to be pushing it if I didn't heed the warning and find a gas station within 40-50 miles. I just have little confidence in that gauge. The most I've put in after it started to flash without a top off is 8.2 gal and the least now is 7 gal. There just appears to be lots of variability to how the gauge/tank works among the 2004 Prius owners and Toyota's going to have to do something soon.