Ran Out of Gas

I just bought a new Prius and haven't had to fill it up yet. I've read stories similar to yours about running out of gas unexpectedly. The great thing is that he could keep driving after running out of gas. That's very good he got to a safe place to call you from!

I've been thinking about keeping a spare gallon of gas under the rear floor with the tire-iron (finding a tank that's thin enough will be difficult though). Apparently gas goes bad after 6-12 months though. I'm sure I'll be more in touch with the variability of the tank once I fill it up a few times though.

Alan

 

It's NOT great that you can keep driving after running out. That's what makes people think that they can KEEP DRIVING AFTER THEY RUN OUT OF GAS!

Which is something you absolutely should not do. You can kill your battery by doing that, and you'll also void your battery's warranty if it's killed that way.

There's nothing unexpected about running out of gas. There's a gauge that warns you when you still have 100+ miles worth of gas in the tank, and there's your brain, which can easily calculate roughly how many miles you should expect on a single tank.

I say, if you've gone 300+ miles on a tank, that's enough and you can look for a gas station at your earliest convenience. If you keep that in mind, you'll be on the lookout for a station, but not in a rush to fill up. No need to keep extra gas inside the car. That's what the gas tank is for!

So Jen, tell your husband that I said he's a dolt, and then take him out to the car and show him how the gas gauge works! Don't let your car run out of gas for goodness' sake!

 

I thought the car was designed to prevent the battery from charging too high or too low. I've read things here that claim that, and yet other things that imply you've done damage to your battery if you keep driving on it after the ICE is out of the game. Either way, if it were me, I wouldn't worry too much if the car seems to be doing ok. After all, what else could you do? I suppose if the battery didn't seem to be holding a charge, you could take it in to the dealer.

While running out of gas is not a good idea, I tend to suspect (and hope) the computers and systems of the car would protect the battery. Having the ICE die from lack of fuel, or a fuel pump failure or other mechanical problem is not that unlikely of a possibility, and from what I can tell, they seemed to cover a lot of eventualities with the design of the Prius. I'd love to hear definitive info if someone has it. Maybe galaxee knows if anyone.

 

By prediction is that the hubby will need to be replaced way before the HV battery.

 

Well, in his defense, the gauge can go from 3 to 2 to 1 to 1-flashing bar in a hurry...

But, since he didn't claim that's what happened, I'm not sure if this Prius eccentricity is at the center of the problem.

Honestly, I find myself wondering if perhaps your husband doesn't have quite the respect for the Prius (as an automobile) that you have? It's not for me to say, but based on your side of the story there is kind of a pattern of careless -- or should I say thoughtless -- behaviour on his part.

And, as someone fairly recently divorced, I can't help but wonder if he's not like this about other things, too...?

If that's the case...well...

But if he's only like this with the Prius, I'd think that it's still a topic worthy of discussion.

Seems to me there are two things going on:
1. perceived disrespect for the car itself, which might be more irksome than anything, 'cause he's not hearing your opinions.
2. thoughlessness when driving it, which can manifest itself in potentially costly damage to an expensive piece of property, which will *directly* influence both of you (assuming your finances are shared, of course).

Both are valid, but you might have more luck explaining the second, since it's easy to quantify and not nearly as personal as the first point.

Question: How does the mileage compare when you drive the car, versus when your husband drives? The reason I ask is that I'd be curious if he's not 'driving the wheels' off the poor little darling in other ways as well. If he's a fast driver with you in the car, he might be *jamming* when you're not.

For example, I wonder how many miles you'll get out of the tires...that may be another way to tell.

I'm letting my personal bias show now, but -- depending on the outcome of this situation -- you may be faced with jacking up your husband's nose hairs and driving a new man underneath. And, while you're at it, have them do something about those nose hairs!
[wistful smile]

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ichabod @ Jan 5 2007, 03:51 PM) [snapback]371473[/snapback]</div>

Running out of gas is not good, but I have to ask: Do you know this for a fact? I've not heard of anyone anywhere with a killed battery, much less a problem related to the battery after running out of gas. It seems like there are enough folks posting here about running out of gas that there would be at least one case of someone having to buy a new battery, and that would answer the question of how much does a new battery cost.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Jan 5 2007, 04:57 PM) [snapback]371510[/snapback]</div>

if only marriages came with an 8 year warranty.

 

He claims that he just doesn't look at the gas guage?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on now. That is the first thing one should check when starting out.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Beryl Octet @ Jan 5 2007, 02:02 PM) [snapback]371512[/snapback]</div>

That's a good point, but this may be something that shortens the life of the battery so we may not know until later down the line.

 

You know what, Jen? I wouldn't worry about this situation one bit.

First: Toyota did not build the Prius so that a driver can run out of fuel, and ruin the big battery by continuing on until the thing stops. It may not be a good thing to do, but it will not "ruin" the battery.

Second: If your car is under warranty, the battery will be replaced at no charge to you anyway.

Cheers!

derkraut

 

Yeh... I wouldn't worry about the battery. Unless you keep trying to turn off the Prius after exhausting whatever charge you have left, you shouldn't worry about the battery life being shortened. There have been some reports of people having to manually charge the HV battery, but that's because they kept trying to turn on the Prius after it auto-stopped.

I've ran out of gas 3 times. No biggee.

 

Didn't mean this as an attack of any sort; sorry if it came across like that. Guess I'm not *totally* over things yet.

One would think that the car would be smart enough to protect itself...but from the tone of the posts here I'm not certain if that's completely true. I think that some folks have had the car run out of gas, then they drive on electric until the car comes to a stop, power off, power on again, go a bit more, stop, repeat...

Perhaps this is what actually causes the problems...?

Anything that takes the battery below its the normal range of charge can cause damage, the question is how much...and I honestly don't know.

You might want to try the search feature on this website, I know there are lots of threads on just this topic.

Symptoms of a damaged traction battery might include not being able to run 'electric only' as far as you usually would without the ICE coming on to recharge the battery (indicating diminished capacity, which is usually what happens to batteries when they extreme service). You might see a reduction in mileage, for the same reason.

Also, I'm quite familiar with 17; remember that the Prius isn't the best handling car out there (and the tires are small for a car of its size), so when the other cars are 8 over, to the Prius it may feel like more, capablility-wise. I trust you don't see the little skidding car icon on the dash coming on too frequently?

Oh gosh, my ex and I used to argue about stuff like this...only I was the one who wanted to drive faster. But I didn't, even though I felt quite certain that it was safe...because *HE* wasn't comfortable.

Sorry, I'm editorializing again, but isn't that what one does for a loved one?

Stepping down from soapbox now.

 

I'm out of gas every moment that I drive our Rav4EV. And I just keep on driving like I haven't a care in the world. And I've driven the vehicle until it wouldn't drive any more. Then I've let it rest, restarted it and driven a few more miles. I've gone 135 miles past where I had no more gas. But I digress...

Same battery chemistry, a bit different configuration than the Prius. Please. Don't try driving 135 miles on Prius battery power... yet.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Jan 5 2007, 02:57 PM) [snapback]371537[/snapback]</div>

The Prius is smart enough to protect itself, but not against human stupidity. If you keep trying to turn the car back on again, it will first try to run the ICE to see if there's fuel going through the injectors. If it finds some then it will run the ICE with the load of charging up the HV battery. If there's no gas, it will just shut off again. If you keep trying to turn it on, you might roll a few feet, but you're just wearing out the HV battery.

When the Prius runs out of gas, and you drive it on EV until that runs out, for the love of hybrids, don't turn it back on again till there's some fuel in the tank!


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Jan 5 2007, 02:58 PM) [snapback]371538[/snapback]</div>

smug bastid...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jendbbay @ Jan 5 2007, 07:12 PM) [snapback]371568[/snapback]</div>

Welllllllll...

This is getting me in *way* over my depth, but I'm not sure it's as simple as, "the accessories are connected to the little battery and the motors connected to the big battery."

The Prius also has an inverter, which is a crucial part of the car (and whose function in the Prius is one which, sadly, I don't fully understand, yet). The little and big batteries are connected in a system along with the inverter...and I believe that sometimes the power from the big battery is actually used to charge the little one...

Also, the headlights could be the HID ones; these have some sort of transformers used to 'light off' the bulbs which demand very high voltage; I'm not sure but am wondering if perhaps somehow even these can draw down the big battery?

Dr. Fusco? DanMan32? Galaxee? These are the people who actually have the answers...I know just enough to be dangerous...
[laughing]

Generally speaking, the car's systems are quite interconnected.

Anyone who takes comfort in their understanding of how 'conventional' cars work might do well to develop a strong distrust for even some of the most basic of these concepts (which have been true for over a century and remain so for most 'conventional' cars).

Honestly, I'm continually confounded by Prius; delightfully so, in fact!

 

I'd be unwilling to believe he went a "couple of miles" on battery
alone, especially up a significant hill. A couple hundred yards,
maybe. But that's one nice thing about the prius; it *does* give
you a safety margin, however small, to get the car out of danger
where a regular car would become an immobile lump right away.
.
_H*