PLEASE POST TIPS- FOR LIVING & SURVIVING WITH AN INACCURATE GAS GAUGE

carry 3 spare gallons with an appropriate nozzle that fits the gas tank valve

 

Your odometer still works, right? So just get more fuel every 150 miles.

I've owned old cars that never had gas gauges to begin with, it's not that hard.

 

I would not carry 3 gallons in a normal plastic gas can but you could carry a couple of the canned gas sold for lawn mowers at a hardware store.

Realize it may take time to get an engine running after running out of gas.

In reality you should be able to get 300 miles easily on a full tank. Everytime.

Always fill the tank, no exceptions.

Always reset and display a trip meter so you know how many miles since the last fillup.

If this kind of rigor isn’t likely, get a new or junkyard tank and have someone put it in. Its not that hard for a shop with a lift.

 

Reset the trip meter at fillup too; keep an eye on it.

 

I use my Trip A to track tank mileage and Trip B for maintenance intervals. Yes, I do get maintenance interval warnings - but I like to know how urgent it is. They go off every 4500 miles, if anyone is interested and requires acknowledgment once you surpass 5K miles. Between 4500-5000 it'll cancel itself once you get moving.

 

Even getting four mileage you're going to get 300 mi a tank so that's a no-brainer If you feel your gas tank up a couple of times I mean fill it up until it burps and spits at you and then keep filling it up until when you pull the nozzle out of the tank the gas is sitting right there ready to spill over I've done this to my '09 for about a year and a half and it stretched the bladder back out I hope it seems to have worked now I can fill the car pretty fast a flashing pip yields 10.4 gallons going in the car The tank is right around 11 and some change I believe and it does it consistently. Before it was all over the place trying to fuel the car. Sometimes I take a rubber mallet and tap the bottom of the tank all around the flat part of the bottom of the tank especially if I think my fuel pump is intermittent or something in other vehicles like Corolla did that to the '09 too while it was full slam full trying to stretch the bladder or do whatever needs to be done to it. And the 09 is working perfectly not a care in the world with that car. Many times banging on the bottom of the tank will also free up the sending unit whatever kind is in there I haven't cut one of these tanks open to look at the sending unit and or the fuel pump I know what the fuel pump will look like but not sure about the sending unit It looks like I'm going to have to get straightened out on some other kind of tank for some of my other cars like not a Corolla but the matrix or something like that is more of the body style of this Prius so I'm thinking something like that could be made to work fairly easily

 

Run some high test "top tier" fuel in it, and or buy a container of Techron (complete) or PEA additive to mix in your tank.

Oh, and don't forget to take off the CAPS LOCK before filling up

 

Was this a one time event or is it repeatable?

I would wonder why you're getting around 30 MPG.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Sigh…

 

You had the answer in your question. But you can’t calculate mpg based on empty to full of 5.3 gallons. The bladder is a known problem and often causes the fuel gauge to be incorrect. The right fix is a new tank.

But you asked for “opinions” on how to live with a failed tank causing inaccurate fuel levels.