Prius (2010-12) Fuel :: MPG In Rain Reduced To 43.1?
Mar 17, 2012
Today I noticed that my MPG was reduced to 43.1 in the rain. I have total 1500 miles on the car with mpg of 49.1.
View 18 RepliesToday I noticed that my MPG was reduced to 43.1 in the rain. I have total 1500 miles on the car with mpg of 49.1.
View 18 RepliesWe gave the Prius a good workout in the rain for the first time today. Central Florida has been having serious amounts of heavy rain, creating water covered roads in our area. Normally the digital fuel mileage display shows around 55 MPG for most of our driving. However today it dropped to the upper forties very quickly.
We were running the wipers on continuous (low and med speeds), the AC (defrost) was running to keep the condensation off the windows, and the headlights were on. I wonder if the extra resistance of the water on the road also had an effect on the fuel mileage.
Even though we hit some fairly deep water and created large amounts of splash, the car tracked straight, the brakes worked well, and the power was totally uninterrupted. Other than the poor fuel milage we were impressed.
Tonight I was driving my 2010 Type 2 Prius. I had been driving for about 6 miles in 85 degree heat (after the car was parked all day at work) on the freeway at 60mph when the "check hybrid system" warning came on and my speed reduced to about 40. I pulled over and called a tow truck. After I was towed to a dealer about 25 miles away, the car started up without the "check hybrid system" light coming on. However, the check engine light did come on. My car is low mileage with only 31,000 miles on it.
View 3 RepliesI had my fuel filters changed at the dealership today on my '15, and then I bought fuel and headed home (70 miles). About half way home I got a "Low Fuel Pressure" message and a little while after that "Reduced Engine Power" along with the check engine light.
I pulled over to see if they did something like leave the drain open, thinking it might be sucking air. Of course it was dark and I could not see anything. However I did hear a buzzing sound and could feel a vibration when I touched the fuel line going into the top of engine filter.
While it is possible I got bad fuel, I suspect they did something wrong installing the filters. Even after cycling the fuel pump multiple times they had a hard time getting it started afterwards; I think they finally disconnected the top fuel line to bleed the air out.
I continued home and made it, but not sure what to do now; its 70 miles back to the dealer.
What is the most likely problem? Improper fuel filter installation or bad fuel?
Should I pull the filters in the morning see if there is something obvious like an out-of-place gasket? If so, top or bottom filter?
Is this a tow truck affair or should I drive 70 miles back to the dealer?
What the heck is the buzzing sound?
So, I just had the fuel pump replaced on my '15 6.7 a month ago and it just died again. (next day edit: it didn't actually die, it showed all the same symptoms)
Same symptoms: whining sound, low fuel pressure warning, reduced power warning.
This time I'm 50 miles from home so I pulled off the road before it shut off. Interesting, I was in a hilly area and my low fuel warning came on too. We are waiting for a tow. I was considering trying to push on but don't want to get stuck in a dangerous spot on the highway. We're in a church parking lot.
So, last time this happened I was on flat road with about a half tank of fuel on a lunch break. I ran a mile after the warnings came on to feel out the issue and to see what would happen. I happened to be only about a mile away from my dealer so I drove that way. I got reduced power warning and then it cut power on me (limp mode). I made it to about 100 yards away before it cut off.
This time, I was in a hilly area at night on a windy two lane road with no shoulders in the woods. I was miles from civilization and was showing below a quarter tank of fuel. ~100 miles to EMPTY. I got the low fuel pressure warning first and then the reduced power mode before the whining noise started. I was climbing a hill on a curve at the time. I drove a quarter mile and then pulled off the road into a parking lot so I wouldn't be stuck on the shoulder. It didn't actually go into limp mode.
I let it sit a few minutes, talked it over with the wife and decided to call for a tow. After talking to the tow truck driver who said he would be an hour because he had to go find a bigger truck, I decided to see what I could do while I wait. I fired it back up and the fuel level dropped to below 1/8 and I was now showing 33 miles to EMPTY. I was parked on a hill with the back end up. I had backed the truck into a space to make it easier for the tow truck driver. I let it run a minute, checked for leaks and it seemed to run fine with no studdering or additional warning lights.
CEL was on but no new warnings. I put in my code reader and pulled the P0087. Just one code. I revved it a bit to see if there were any issues. It seemed fine so I decided to try my luck. I started driving towards home with the intention to stop at the first diesel station to fill up. Truck ran fine. After two minutes of driving gently, heart racing, my fuel level came back up and it now read 88 miles to EMPTY. I drove 11 miles to the nearest station and filled up. No issues. I shut it down. I fired it back up. Still no issues so with a full tank, I drove home the remaining 30 miles without issue.
Planning to take it in to the dealer Monday to get it checked. Could this be from an air pocked due to low fuel level and hilly terrain? Is my new pump dying already? Is there something else going on inside the tank or elsewhere?
I've had an issues with the drivers side light fogging up after damp nights or rain. The dealer replaced it under a TSB but it is still happening I've checked the 3 seals (low beam, high beam, small light on top) and replaced the high beam just to make sure. I'm about to replace the HID in hopes that moisture is getting in through it but for some reason I don't think so. The passenger side is fine and Yaris parked right next to it is fine also so I don't think this is "regular"condensation.
View 1 Repliesi have a 2011 prius II, and i noticed that rain water is leaking into the engine compartment. after i look at the hood design and how it closes, it was very obvious to me that water will leak into the engine compartment by design. i found this prius V picture online (i think it is very similar if not identical to my prius II). the blue pointers indicate holes and gaps where water can leak in, and the read circle indicates where water end up.
i have owned 2 other cars before this one, and i have never had rain water leak into engine compartment. do i have to worry about this?
I have a 2002 Chrysler Town & Country FWD with 3.8L V6. Recently, I had an error code of MISFIRE CYL 5. I changed my spark plugs and added some injector cleaner to fuel tank with no results. Then I replaced my ignition coil and the misfire stopped (according to engine computer after reset and smoother engine). While it was misfiring, the gas mileage was reading about 10-11 mpg city. I changed my oil and air filter, switching to all 10w-30 synthetic oil. Since then, my mpg reads around 8 mpg! Before the misfire, I would get 17 mpg in the city.
One other issue that coincides is a 10-12" long thin vacuum hose near the engine snapped and I replaced it with a common rubber hose. The hose I replaced it with was at least twice inside diameter. I think I need to get the reducer/thin hose setup from a dealer. If the vac hose would be reducing my fuel economy by 7 mpg? Or did i screw something else up when changing the oil and coil? The engine seems to be running smoothly and I'm having no noticeable problems aside from paying for a gallon of gas that takes me 8 miles!!
Why my 2010 Prius has 3 times now failed to stop when brakes were applied on a steep downhill in slight rain? Happened a year apart with no slick road and with tires both new and old. I pull up to a stop sign on a grade, apply brakes, the car slows, then there are metallic noises and the car glides 3-4 feet before stopping. I'm lucky no car or person was in front of me. Honestly not a skid at all. Service tells me I don't know about anti-lock brakes but I've driven with them on cars for many years with nothing like this.
View 2 RepliesI bought a used 2008 Sonata GLS with 65K miles 2 years ago. It's been a great car so far. For the first 25K miles that I drove it, it had good pickup and got ~30 MPG for my highway driving. In the last ~5K miles, the fuel mileage has dropped to 25MPG highway and it has some hesitation when accelerating, especially on lower RPM's. I changed the spark plugs with NGK Iridium, but it is still having the issue. What to check?
Some possibilities: ignition coils, sensors, timing belt, etc?
I have 2 70's trucks, one with a 360 and one with a 390. Which I don't think makes any difference. The problem is, I experienced poor operation in that after driving for a while engine showed symptoms of reduced performance and stalling and shortly stalling all together. It would not restart even after changing fuel filters and checking pressure. It has a two barrel holley. I took the top off the carb to check for debris in the jets. What I found was a clear jelly like substance. I pulled it out and set it in the open air. After a few minutes it evaporated. I concluded it was something like alcohol created by the vacuum in the carb. After that the truck ran fine until it happened again a few days later. Always after sitting it would restart. When it did not I found the substance in the carb. Now I have the same problem with the other truck. It sounds like a few of the cylinders are starving for fuel and the carb is all but new with twin fuel filters. Ignition is fine on both trucks after hooking up the scope. What is this crap and how to get rid of it?
View 4 RepliesWhile most of the emphasis I've seen on improving fuel economy seems to focus on warming the car up quickly in cool/cold weather, I seem to be experiencing significant mpg drops at the other end of the spectrum.
View 8 RepliesI am new to the prius 2010.
I filled up last week and I noticed that as soon as a single cell display in the fuel display part has some empty section like 3/4 fuel(single cell) the next day or after that that whole cell disappears without it showing that single cell as being empty.
Around which fuel cell, when displayed, is it important and recommended to fill up gas again, with one cell remaining or two etc.
When I go out to do errands around town (I live right in town) I get horrendous gas mileage. Now, I understand gas mileage is high at the beginning of a trip, but for this long and this high and under these circumstances? I'm getting ABOVE 10l/100km when I have 80% charge available (for americans, that's disgustingly high MPG like, pick-up truck high), AND my foot is completely off the gas. Literally, coasting, or braking, and I'm still sucking up gas. What the heck?
Is this just because it takes a certain amount of time for the engine to run no matter what or something? I still don't see any reason for me to be eating up all that gas when my foot isn't even on the gas AND most importantly, I have charge available. Feels pointless for me to use my car for what I use it for 70% of the time, which is for quick errands around town at low speeds. Thought the prius was suppose to be a superstar for this kind of thing.
I know it is obvious that a car that idles longer (and more often) will have reduced MPG, but I never thought or knew it to be so impactful. Well it is. I had been averaging around 365-375 miles per tank with my car having had less than 7000 miles. However, recently I installed some car audio components that has resulted in me tweaking the car's sound much more often via laptop. Due to the heat down in here in FL, I most often tweaked my system with the car running so that i didn't sweat to death.....seriously.
I probably have been idling (i.e., tweaking) for the past 3 weeks for about about 20-30 minutes every other day and my tanks have gone down significantly to a little less than 300 miles per tank (ie < 25 mpg).
So, while it is a no brainer to not idle for long periods, in my opinion it is especially true for our 2011 + Elantras. Curious to try a tank of gas with idling at an absolute minimal.
So my fuel light started blinking after 480 miles. How much more can I drive it? The display shows 30 miles left before fill up but I read in the manual that when the fuel light starts blinking there is 1.6 gallons left so should that be like 75 miles left. Just wondering. To be on the safe side, I went to fill up.
View 19 RepliesI was heading to the gas station with one bar on the fuel gauge. When I got there to fill up I had two bars, same Miles To Empty (45). What would cause that?
View 6 RepliesI have a 2010 Chevy malibu LT with 120000 miles. And today while I was driving my engine disabled and there was a message of reduced engine power. After letting it sit I turned the key and nothing happens all the lights and things come on but the reduced engine power and engine disabled shows up. The car won't crank up. Earlier that day I had my engine coolant temperature sensor replaced. What is going on or what needs to be done? I am getting so frustrated with this car.
View 3 Replies 1st diesel was a 1997 F350 dually (White Lightning). Upgraded last year to a 2015 F350 (The Rocket Sled)- the kids named it hahaha. Had to take the 6.7 (9200 miles) into the shop... Last Sunday I took the truck out and about 5 minutes from home I got the low fuel pressure warning. Pulled over and tried to purge air out of fuel system- the low pressure pump was making a terrible racket. Turned around and limped home- reduced power came on soon after. Parked it until I could get to the dealership on Tues. Long story short- dropped it off at the dealer (low pressure pump still making noise/ no low fuel waning, just CEL light).
Called to check status today- dealer can't seem to duplicate problem. Service advisor said if mechanic can't find anything wrong, service manager was going to take it out and try to duplicate. The is the 2nd time I've got the low fuel pressure warming. The first time (around 4000mi. ) was in winter- I changed out fuel filters and it went away. I was towing the 5th wheel. Just had to vent-I have to get this figured out. I wouldn't thing the filter could get clogged within 5k miles. Have a camping trip scheduled next week!!
My truck gave me low fuel pressure and reduced pressure limp mode at 21,000 miles. The fuel and air filters were changed at 16,000. The dealer said all they found was the fuel filters (at 21,000) were what needed to be changed. Also, why does my truck hum??
View 14 RepliesI just had my first fuel filter change (about 9,000 miles). After the shop changed both fuel filters with factory Ford ones, a check engine light came on and a "low fuel pressure" warning, along with a "reduced engine power" warning. It also stalls a lot and takes a long time to restart.
Obviously, they didn't do it right. I suppose there is air in the lines or something didn't go back together correctly.
My '06 seemed to purge itself, but this truck obviously won't. It is not even driveable to get it back to the station, to see if they can correct the problem.
The thing is, I watched them do it, so if someone can ask me the right questions as far as what I saw, maybe I can lick the issue in the driveway myself.