It seems that shortly after I fill up with gas, could be the same day or the next, the dreaded triangle pops up and the engine stalls. Sometimes it takes me a few tries before I can start my engine. Where as other times, it will happen in the middle of me driving. Luckily, when the latter happens, I'm only going about 35 mph, and the car slows down to about 15 mph. Oddly, the car will be back to normal in no time. This seems to happen every once in a while, but I have noticed that it seems to happen the day or day after I refill my tank. It's possible this is just a coincidence. Has anyone had a similiar incident?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cartrouble @ Jan 31 2007, 05:00 AM) [snapback]383154[/snapback]</div> This is a shot in the dark but it does rather sound like condensation in the fuel tank causing water to get into your petrol. I'm pretty sure that would stall the car. Nikki.
I've been having the same problem with my 2001 Prius. It originally started with cold weather starting, no big deal, I'd reboot and drive. Had the hybrid computer replaced on a recall. I was driving without trouble for a couple of years, then last fall the "big hand" returned, this time while going 70 on the expressway. Not good. I replace the 12V battery and all through the winter the car behaved, until a few weeks ago. I will get a check engine light shortly after filling up, then a while later the big hand. Usually the check engine light disappears as the tank empties.
Try some E10 fuel (it will absorb any water in the tank). If that doesn't help you may need to have the fuel pump serviced/fuel filter cleaned/replaced. You could even put a few gallons of E85 in then fill with "normal" gasoline to get enough alcohol to absorb any water in the tank.
If by "big hand" you mean that the engine does not respond as you depress the accelerator pedal, I think it is likely that the accelerator pedal needs to be replaced. It contains two variable resistors that tend to get corroded over time. To test this theory you can try rapidly depressing the accelerator pedal around 50x while the car is IG-OFF, to clean the variable resistors. Then see if you still have the problem. This is only a temporary fix.
This happened to us also -- at first stopped acclerating, and gradually came to a full stop. As with others, this happened shortly after a fillup in cold weather, and the problem went away in a few minutes. I think the problem is NOT with the accelerator but, most likely, water freezing in the fuel line. Beside the water removing stuff others have suggested, here's an OLD TRICK TO AVOID FROZEN FUEL LINES IN COLD WEATHER: DON'T LET YOUR TANK GET MORE THAN HALF EMPTY. That way there's less moisture-laden air in the tank, hence less gets into the gas and eventually into your fuel line.
Wow. This is dusting of an ancient thread. I'll bet the OP sold their Gan I Prius almost 2 years ago. . . . and welcome to PC swert ~ .
