[WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III)

I just ran out of gas, for the first time ever . . . . . . . . I was trying to read to the end of this monster & got to post #399. Tried to coast to the side of the PC but couldn't make it. Face smashed into my keyboard, and our housekeeper just ran me over me with the vacum cleaner. It was a horrible site and I'll spare all by not posting the pictures of the gore.

Yea yea yea ... I know ... I should have stopped for a cup of coffee 150 posts earlier - but I was living on the edge and being dangerous. Very bad. I wish Bob could have tried reading 'em all before me, so I could have known how dangerous my behavior was. oh well.


.

 

Re: [WARNING] Running out of gas

It is an issue for many people because the Prius gauge is so monochrome and doesn't have a yellow low fuel warning light like 95% of all other cars from the last 20 years. The blinking cursor-like bar is pretty weak.
The warning beep is so weak that sometimes I don't hear it and there first few times I heard it, I didn't even know what it was. My BMW has a loud chime for low fuel that you cannot miss especially since the yellow fuel warning light come on at the same time.

My Prius is the **ONLY** car I have every driven in the last 10 years where I came close to running out of fuel because I didn't notice the low fuel gauge until it was almost empty.
I now have to make a point of randomly checking for low fuel because it doesn't have the amber warning to easily catch your peripheral vision. It is an unnecessary and easily solvable annoyance that adds stress to driving when you have to constantly think about remembering to look at the fuel gauge before it's too late.

No problem whatsoever with this with any other vehicle other than the Prius. I don't think Toyota even makes another vehicle that doesn't have a amber low fuel light.

 

Re: [WARNING] Running out of gas

I don't have a genIII and could not remember how hard to display is to read. Thanks for the clarification.

 

I've been avoiding this thread since I joint PC. Ok I read the first post and that was it. Today I saw this article What Happens When Your Hybrid Runs Out Of Gas? and I came back and read the whole thread. I must say that alot of people didn't get the point of this thread. And Wth with this thread turned into a metric discussion and US bashing.

Bwilson I'd suggest you update the original post with new informations you've found so that lazy readers who only read your first post won't start the bashing again or saying stupid shit like "just don't run out of gas"

One more question. After you've ran out of gas and limped to a gas station did you stop pumping after the first click? You've claimed that there are at least 2 gallons of gasoline in the tank after DTE reached 0 and that you've pumped approximately 12.1 gallons of fuel into the tank.

Here's my experience. I've driven my Prius about 40 miles pass the 0DTE, nowhere near running out of gas. I then went to Shell to get gas. For that fill up the first click stopped at 10.3 gallons. I was able to fill another 1.8 gallons before reaching the brim. If you stopped fueling at the first click and got 12.1 gallons and I was able to pump another 1.8 gallons of fuel into my tank wouldn't the Prius's true fuel capacity be 13.9 gallons? Just wondering.

 

Re: [WARNING] Running out of gas

The Gen III display takes a step backward in many ways. All of the Gen IIs have a big color MFD, but on the Gen III you only get it with Nav, which means it can't be used for standard warning messages. On the Gen II, you get a big "ADD FUEL" message on the MFD if you choose to ignore the flashing fuel icon. It's pretty hard to miss.

Tom

 

Hey, qbee42,

As you can see in my profile, I own a 2005 Prius. Only 2 times in my 101,000 miles have I ever let the tank get low enough to trigger the "flashing pip" and both times I had to drive about 5 miles or less to get to a gas station. In neither of those cases did I see an "ADD FUEL" message on my MFD, but I will make a point to look for it if the situation ever occurs again.

I'm wondering if that message is only available on the 2006 through 2009 models with the higher resolution screen (that's the year Toyota made a number of changes to the Prius---added back-up camera, different speedo & MFD layouts, different & less reliable HID's, lower rear seat bottom cushion, added side emblems, different headlight & taillight assemblies, & less aggressive traction control programming, to name a few), so maybe the 04's & 05's don't display that message.

Is there anybody out there with an '04 or '05 that has gotten to the "flashing pip" & has seen an "ADD FUEL" message on their MFD?

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

just filled up the tank a couple days ago. It was down to 2 bars. A check of the "miles to empty" showed 71 miles. The gas pump filled up and stopped automatically at 8.9 gallons. That meant there was roughly still 3 gallons in the tank. I had driven 25 miles prior to pulling into the gas station so I'm assuming there is some expansion factor to take into consideration. So even if there was 2 gallons of gas left in the tank in reality, that should have brought me to approximately 100 miles to empty instead of 71. I think from now on I will rely more on the gas gauge than the "miles to empty" given this experience as it was the more accurate indicator.

 

I believe it is safe to say that you have a least 1 gallon left when the tank gauge is blinkling and the miles to refill zero - 1.5-2 gallons is what you probably really have

 

I fuel up whenever I can after the first "beep" and the last bar is blinking. Typically there are still 10L of fuel in the tank when I fill it up (45L total, 33-35L put in).
When the indicator shows a range of "0km", if I remember correctly, the fuel gauge beeps and starts blinking.
I find it in any case overly aggressive. If I am left with 5L, with an average of 5L/100km or less, I can still drive 100km before I "die". Plenty of km to find another gas station (I don't know if this still hold true for the US, e.g., but for EU 10L to empty "beep" is a bit too much). The manual says it will blink with 6L left, but my experience says otherwise (I fuelled up at very different places and they are all quite consistent - so either in Germany they are all nice and give us fuel for free, or what?).

 

I still had 2 bars on the gauge. I had decided to fill up at the time because of the discrepancy between the gauge and the "miles to empty". There must be some strange way the computer calculates the "miles to empty" because with two bars it should still give me over 70 miles easily. From all the other posts, I don't think I want to ever go below two bars to prevent any damage to the car.

 

Keep in mind the fuel pickup is not at the very bottom of the tank. There will always be some fuel you simply cannot use! Do not plan on using the last gallon of fuel without sucking air!

 

Hi All,

On my last fill up, the light started blinking a few miles from the gas station. When I filled it used 10.013 gallons, after several reclicks, nozzle pullings (to let bubles out) and more reclicks (nozzle inserted all the way). So, it appears the usable tank volume on the Gen III Prius is 10 gallons.

 

I drive a Prius Gen 3 and believe it is the easiest car I've owned in 40 years to let run out of Gas! Here is why.

Owners manual says fuel capacity 11.9 Gal. Computer says Prius is getting 50 MPG (or similar). Soo I'm thinking 500 miles no sweat. Last Fuel Gauge pip is blinking at 400 miles.

 

You are running a risk of running out of fuel if you only rely on the distance driven instead of the fuel gage to determine how much fuel you have remaining.

 

Please read my post above.

Remember that the average MPG from the MFD is 6-8% optimistic. So you need to take out 6-8% from that 50MPG you see and calculate accordingly what you have used so far.
When I get the first beep (*after* the fuel range is already down to 0...), I calculate how many litres I have consumed. Then make an estimate based on what is left, my expected type of travel and fuel consumption i would expect and take out a good 10% margin (to be on the safe side).

E.g. 700km @first beep, 4.5L/100km average FE for current tank, 7% error estimation --> 600*4.5*1,07/100=33,7L consumed --> 45L-33,7L=11,3L left in tank.
Assuming bad fuel consumption (or good fuel consumption with lots of error and buffer) of 5L/100km --> 11,3/5*100=226km/h to *true* empty.
It is not uncommon, actually quite the norm, for me to get the beep, when I still have 10L in the tank...rather than the 6L as per (german) user manual...

BTW: I am not too sure about the fuel pump topic mentioned above - is the fuel pump really located in the tank in the Gen 3? where is that documented/pics? I have never heard/read about that...and I have also never heard of people overheating a fuel pump - what usually happens is that the fuel ends much faster (and the car stops) before you overheat anything...

 

Bob Wilson ran the gen III out of gas intentionally at least twice and found that once the low fuel beep and flashing final bar starts flashing, you have about 2.1 gallons left. I have taken it 90+ miles after the beep on several occasions and have not yet run out of gas.

What was your calculated MPG for the tank when you ran out of gas?