Hello all, it's been a long long time since I have posted anything here, LOL. Evey now has ~ 163,000 miles on her and my driving for work has slowed considerably. So, she will never reach the 512,000 miles I put on Ema. The Gen 2 Prius is one of the greatest cars ever made, IMO. Anyway, the Shell Fuel Rewards program pulled a fast one and now requires 10 gallons minimum at a refill for the transaction to qualify for the program, it used to be 8 gallons grrrrr. Well because the Prii Guess Gage has been and always shall be "not your friend" (Star Trek, LOL ... I'm in a mood.) It is very hard to qualify to increase your tier and get more money off per gallon. I recently pushed the guess gage to "---" and drove an additional 18 miles after that but when I filled up I maxed out at 9.6 gallons of gas . Anymore and I overflow the tank even with a short click top off. This is actually a pretty common occurrence. I thought there was a way to "Reset" the fuel gage so it would relearn what full and empty were but I can't seem to find it in any of the old threads or by using search. Maybe it was something I dreamed with all the discussion we used to have about the "bladder"? If anyone knows if you can re-teach your fuel gage and how to do it please post the procedure here Thanks!!! Christian Barr
I had a similar problem recently. After I ran the tank down as far as I dared, I refilled without topping off and it seems to be working now. That said, I read somewhere else that you could reset it by disconnecting the small battery for a few minutes but a reply to that post said it was not true so not sure I'd trust it.
IMHO; I wouldn't reset the gauge. You know where it is now; just drive it to no bars. You should already have an idea of how much further you can go before running out of gas. If you reset the gauge readings; all that goes "out the window" and you'll have to recalibrate your brain. You'll need 3 gallons of gas to get restarted, after you run out of gas. If you push it and force it into EV mode, you may have to disconnect the 12V battery for 10-15 minutes to make it forget what you've done to it. Hope this helps..... You can buy a 3 gallon gas container and fill that along with your car to get you to the 10 gallon mark. Then dump that into the car when you burn half the tank. For me, that's too much trouble to save a few pennies.
Biomed01, Unfortunately, I don't think the algorithm works like that. It is actually basing the "Miles to Empty" on the tank level and the MPGs it has calculated. I'm just not sure which MPG calculation it is using and don't have access to the Toyota program. Could be the "since last fill-up" or it could be the "lifetime" ... not really sure. There are times when I have had 37 miles to empty but have needed 10.1 or more gallons to fill up. So, it is variable and your eMPG effects it as well, if you can recharge at a hotel or somewhere and get an extra 26 miles from electric that throws it off. Do that a dozen times over the tank instead of once or twice and it can be VERY different. As for "saving a few" pennies, leaving a gas can in the car is a thought but it stinks and doesn't seem safe. Also, half the fun of Prii ownership is squeezing out MPG and having fun with it while putting on all those miles. And I can put on some miles, see Ema's history, LOL. Over the years cash back from Shell has made me several hundred dollars. Several hundred dollars invested in Palantir at $8/share is now worth what exactly, LOL. Happy driving, Christian Barr
Yes, adding up pennies over the years can become significant - time value of money. As you stated; it's neither safe or pleasant having a 3 gallon gas container bouncing around your trunk, and was debating mentioning it - but some people will put up with almost anything to save a few pennies. I'm just too old to put up with something like that. FWIW; gas prices out here is much higher than NC; but you won't hear me crying about it. You know you can run your 'miles to empty' to zero and still have a 1 - 1.5 gallons in reserve???? At least that's how it works on mine. I use Trip-A to track my gas usage by the tank. I rarely use any those other gizmos, since I noticed some of those calculations are way off. The human brain is a terrible thing to waste...... The MTE calculations is based on historic fuel economy plus a margin of safety. You can restart that calculation buy going to the main odometer readout and resetting the lifetime mpg calculations. Just hold the trip button til it zeros. One caveat; if there are multiple drivers to that car, their driving styles will throw off the accuracy of those calculations. Shell, Chevron, and Exxon stations in my area are usually the highest priced gas in the area. They're usually $0.15+/gal higher than local stations Sam's Club n Costco gas are lower and the lowest are the few independent mom n pop gas stations still surviving. I tend to go to them, if I'm in the area, to support the local economy. I've also seen $0.75+ - $1.00+ more per gallon of gas at small out of the way gas stations, out in the 'sticks'. I would've been very desperate to touch any of that gas, probably stale and contaminated.
