battle between the gauges... whos right? who will WIN?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Beachbummm, Aug 6, 2017.

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  1. Beachbummm

    Beachbummm Senior Member

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    so I filled up yesterday until the pump clicked, I don't like to over fill..
    round trip 156 miles..
    MFD reporting 50.6 MPG
    dash gauge one block below half a tank
    refill same station, same pump, same click..

    6.7 gallons?
    23.4 mpg?
    Wth?
    I just did an oil change, new plugs, cleaned the map sensor and new pcv valve

    I reset the gas gauge as per the instructions on line..
    if its getting 23 mpg I have the worst prius ever built.
     
    #1 Beachbummm, Aug 6, 2017
  2. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Did you disconnect the 12V battery at some point? If I remember right, that clears your trip meter and you could have had more miles than it read. I always go by the odometer reading, not the trip meter.
     
    #2 jerrymildred, Aug 6, 2017
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i don't think the car filled up the first time. what do you mean, 'reset the gas gauge'?
     
    #3 bisco, Aug 6, 2017
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  4. Beachbummm

    Beachbummm Senior Member

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    the dealer disconnected it when they did the abs pump replacement but I always zero the miles when I
    it should have clicked off at about the same amount of gas in the tank both time, gauge read full both times.. Ill see after this tank
     
    #4 Beachbummm, Aug 6, 2017
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you have a bladder. not always the same, but you will find out.
     
    #5 bisco, Aug 6, 2017
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  6. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    It's a Gen2, with a bladder, so major tank-to-tank refill level differences are common. Watch a longer term, multi-tank average instead.

    Does your fuel log include the main odometer reading, so that you can ferret out errors or blunders or unnoticed resets in the trip odometer?
     
    #6 fuzzy1, Aug 6, 2017
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  7. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    The bladder does cause some crazy errors, but I never had one that bad. I still think it was the pump handle, maybe combined with a less than full fill-up the time before.

    My general rule of thumb is that the trip meter provides nice entertainment along with the computer's mpg guestimate, but the actual facts come through using pump gallons with odometer readings over multiple tanks. If any one tank mpg is accurate, it would be the luck of the draw and you'd have no way of knowing if it's right or not.
     
    #7 jerrymildred, Aug 7, 2017
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