- #10 of 90
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Foam?!
by 3screwsloose
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Apr 08, 2007 (8:34 pm)
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Replying to: acdii (Apr 05, 2007 5:48 am)
Guess what, if the diesel fuel you are pumping "foams up" you may be pumping fuel that has too much sulphur in it. It used to foam up years ( 9-10 ) ago. Then they removed most of the sulphur. As of 15 October, almost all of the sulphur was removed ( 15ppm from 500ppm ) is all that is to be used in any new vehicle. If yours foams, it may be off-road fuel for construction equipment ( diesel #2 ).
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- #11 of 90
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Re: Prius and filling the tank [jchshade1969]
by mickiede
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Sep 16, 2007 (5:22 pm)
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Replying to: jchshade1969 (Mar 06, 2007 11:00 am)
I have the same problem with my new 2007 Toyota Pruis. I noticed it right away. I took it into the dealership and was told they were unable to duplicate the problem when filling with gas. At first, I assumed it was due to cold weather...but I've had it happen during the summer months too. I'm taking back in to have reviewed again. It's frustrating when you know you need to put in several gallons and the tank shuts off after only putting in 30 cents.
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- #12 of 90
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Filling Tank
by snappycappy
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Sep 25, 2007 (4:19 pm)
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Replying to: pf_flyer (Mar 06, 2007 12:17 pm)
I have had a similar problem to the one "jchshade1969" described. Twice, while gasing up, the pump has cut off prematurely and at about the same time in the gasing process. I had pumped about 8 1/2 gallons when I really needed about 10. There must be an air-lock problem that makes the pump think my tank is full. I do know that if you pump too fast, it can make the pump cut off. But it stilled happened at a slower pumping rate.
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- #13 of 90
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filling the tank
by sherry9
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Mar 03, 2008 (6:02 pm)
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I have a 2007 Prius and have been having problems with the fuel gauge registering correctly. My car will not take more than 6.5 gallons when filling up and my mileage has been cut in half. After having it at the dealer 7 times, having the complete instrument panel replaced 3 times and the entire gas tank replaced once, the problem is still there. After calling Toyota and making my complaint, they tell me it is a regional problem due to weather temps here (WV). They do not want to do anything till it gets warmer to see if it corrects itself. Has anyone else had this problem with this car?
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- #14 of 90
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Re: filling the tank [sherry9]
by yermell
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Mar 14, 2008 (5:08 am)
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Replying to: sherry9 (Mar 03, 2008 6:02 pm)
I have a 2006 Prius with 39,000 miles. I love it. I have started having problems filling the fuel tank this winter. I live in the northeast and in December the tank started taking only 7-8 gals or so when filling up even if it was empty. It has continued all winter. I compared this to last year's fillup records and this problem did not occur, I was able to get 10+ gals in last year through the winter. I took it to the dealer and after two different technicians, the only explanation is the cold weather and stiffening of the bladder tank. They said wait until it gets warmer... They also recalibrated the computer. How frequently is this happening? As I said to the technician this is a loss of 30+ % of the tank capacity. The gas gauge shows full when I only get the 7-8 gals in and the computer and manual mileage calcs match.
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- #15 of 90
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Re: filling the tank [yermell]
by stevegold
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Mar 14, 2008 (5:56 am)
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Replying to: yermell (Mar 14, 2008 5:08 am)
I have a 2004 Prius with no prior history of tank filling problems. This winter has been unusually cold. A few months ago my wife washed the car on a very cold day. From then on, no gas would go in the tank even though the gage read only half full.
I tried 3 or 4 times but the gas would instantly overflow. I assumed the tank was full (and the gauge was wrong) and did nothing more until I had driven about 300 miles at which time the tank took 7+ gallons and the gauge read full. It has been working properly ever since. I think it was some combination of the prolonged very cold temperatures and the car wash.
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- #16 of 90
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Re: filling the tank [yermell]
by sherry9
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Mar 14, 2008 (8:09 am)
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Replying to: yermell (Mar 14, 2008 5:08 am)
I knew I couldn't be the only one having this problem. This has been going on since November 07. I have not put more than 6.5 in mine every time, sometimes no more than 5 gallons. This is the only problem I have had with this car. Mine has 19,000 miles on it. I bought it the first of April 07. It was still cold then, too. I have had it to the dealer 7 times over this. They cannot fix it. I have contacted Toyota and they don't seem to want to do anything till it gets warmer. The weather may be part of the problem, but something else is going on too. I have sent a certified letter to Toyota arbitration over this. Look in your owners rights book to see the steps for doing this in your state if you want to pursue it. We do have lemon laws and one way or another, they will do something about this. If nothing else, they can replace the car. That mpg is very hard to give up. I don't think any other car can compare to it. Still, I am not going to go through this every winter. I'll post what happens with that. Thanks for your reply.
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- #17 of 90
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Re: filling the tank [sherry9]
by yermell
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Mar 17, 2008 (4:07 am)
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Replying to: sherry9 (Mar 14, 2008 8:09 am)
I think the problem is more common than we know. I love the car and we plan to get a second one. I think Toyota could be more up front on this. My first technician tried to tell me the tank was only 9.9 gals, that the 11.9 was liters! The bladder tank is the most environmentally friendly according to my 2nd tech and they did have serious filling serious problems on the 2004 year. I am going to wait until it gets warmer and see what happens. As I said, last winter I had fills of 10.7 gals, 9.9 gals etc. so this problem with only 6-7 gal fills is new this year.
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- #18 of 90
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Re: filling the tank [yermell]
by sherry9
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Mar 17, 2008 (7:15 am)
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Replying to: yermell (Mar 17, 2008 4:07 am)
I love this car, too. I will be more than happy to have a new one. I would be happy with fills of 9-10 gallons, I'm just not getting it. With the yo-yo gas prices, I could always wait this out before. Now I can't. It's starting to get warmer now, so we'll see how it does. You would think if they had serious problems before they would have done something about it in the last three years. I did buy an extended warranty, so hopefully these problems will be covered.
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- #19 of 90
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Bladder issue really worth getting upset over?
by chadx
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Mar 17, 2008 (8:23 am)
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This might be frustrating to some, but is it really worth pursuing a lemon law claim? If you are only able to put in 7 gallons, that means your range is 280 miles (at 40mpg). While that may be 80 - 100 miles less of a range when compared to a summer fill-up (plus summer gas mileage is often higher, which is a double whammy), it's still pretty good miles per tank compared to many other vehicles.
Many recent vehicles have spoiled us with 350 - 400 mile range, but on a day to day basis, why carry around all that weight and gasoline? You get worse mileage because of the weight, plus, the gas starts to age if it takes you two or three weeks to use it all. I can see this being more frustrating for those that put a lot of miles on everyday, but on a day to day basis, if that is one of the bigger issues with this vehicles, I'd say things are going pretty good.
Part of it might be just changing our mindset. We are so used to pumping 12 - 20 gallons into past vehicles, that when we only put in 7 - 10 gallons, we feel like we are barely putting in any gas. The fact that fewer gallons gets a prius owner a LOT more miles down the road than other vehicles takes some getting used to. I had to change my mindset similarly on a recent motorcycle purchase. I was used to 5.5 gallon gas tanks on bikes that only got 40mpg. But I bought a bike with a 4 gallon tank. Every time I fill, I feel like I'm just going to run out of gas right away, but since it gets 70mpg, it's range is actually significantly longer on those 4 gallons than my other bike travels on 5.5 gallons.
And if all that fails, consider what others have mentioned. This is an emissions reduction tool. Make up your mind that it's worth the fluctuation in capacity for the good it does. After all, that mind set is likely a large part of the reason everyone decides to purchase a prius in the first place. "Embrace it" as they say.
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