Prius (Gen 3) Fuel :: Fuel Mileage Reduced When Driving In Rain
Mar 28, 2011
We 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.
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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.
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I 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?
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Gen 3 .... Driving in Power Mode to obtain the best mileage? I find I am getting better mileage in Power Mode.
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I 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?
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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?
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Recently returned from trip from Austin Tx to Monroe LA. Gas mileage decreased from about 43.3 MPG to 38.5 MPG. A little annoyed by this but I guess I can attribute this to the increased weight in the vehicle. Still taking care in for other thing. Maintenance needed light came on & I assume it may be for a 15,000 mi checkup since it is nearing that mark.
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2011 Prius for wife. Mileage has always been upper 40s to low 50s until the last week or so, now she is seeing 35 mpg displayed.
I have asked for a check at fill up. I just pulled the car out to wash it and noticed the engine came on right away, same when I put it back into the garage. In the past we would get part way down the driveway before the engine came on. Also did a code check and no codes found
What are the approximate outside air temps? 40s am 70s pm.
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I've had my car going at 45 mpg the past 2 years. I just hit my 45k mileage mark. I drive mostly on the highway to work so getting 45 mpg is pretty good for me. This last few fill ups, I noticed my gas mileage has gone down to 40 mpg. I thought it was a mistake if it was just once but the last 7 fill ups has been that way. It just went down all of a sudden and has stayed that way.
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We have a garden variety 2007 basic Prius. That description will tell you that I'm no Mechanic. The mileage was between 40 and 43 MPG for years. Now it has suddenly dropped to 33 and 35. The average temp here in Florida is fairly consistent at above 60 F, so that is not it. Oil changed at the dealer, and not overfilled. Tires at the right pressure. Worn to perhaps 50% of their avg tread life. Also, I had the 12 Volt battery replaced at the dealer a few months ago, and no change. Is there a way to check?
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My 2012 Prius v (lowercase v) has about 80,000 miles on it, my work commute is 180 miles round trip daily. I had been getting 40-44 for about the first 18 months of owning/driving the exact same commute. In February I noticed when I filled the tank that the range showed around 370, which seemed odd, it was always over 400. I started tracking my mileage and it declined quickly. By mid-March I was getting a range of 320-340 with each fill up, and calculating MPG of 29-31. The dealer has had the vehicle for over a month now and can't find "anything wrong with it". Ummm, the MPG has dropped about 30%, isn't that something wrong?
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I turned on the car, CONS showed 56.0mpg,
backed out of the garage (about 20 feet) 55.8 mpg,
waited for the garage door to close 55.0 mpg (ICE started),
got to the end of the street (about 200 feet) 54.0 mpg
outside temp was 51F, humid, cloudy
had about 90 miles on new tank of fuel
I know you get big swings in fuel economy when you reset the trip on fill ups but I just thought it was funny that the mpg would drop 0.8 mpg while not moving.
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I recently purchased a new prius 2015. When I first got the vehicle and filed up it would say I had approximately 600 miles to go now it says I have approximately 400 something and I actually get a little under 400. So how many miles do you get let tank? Are they mostly highway or town miles? When you fill up how many miles does your car say you have? Also I was wondering how to actually get battery meter to ever say full I can never seem to get the last bar. And when I purchased the car they told me I couldn't go any faster then 15mph in ev mode but I actually can't go any faster then 8 mpg which kind of mashes the feature useless.
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My 2006 Prius used to get GREAt gas mileage - 48 mpg around town and 55 mpg on the highway. Recently and all of a sudden, my mpg's have taken a nose dive. I now get 35 mpg! When I'm on the highway, I barely get 44 mpg. I took it to the dealer and they couldn't find anything so they are insistant that it's my driving, oxygenated gas and/or my tire pressure (even though they didn't check the tire pressure).
My driving hasn't changed; my friend with a 2004 Prius buys her gas at the same station and she's still getting ~48 mpg so I'm thinking it's not the gas; and I am OCD about keeping my pressure constant. (I own a compressor and check the tire pressure A LOT.) I drive 5 miles to work - about 15-20 minutes - on relatively level paved roads. About 2-3 times a week I travel longer distances at highway speed. I wash and wax the car fairly regularly to reduce wind drag. I have noticed periodically when I'm coasting downhill, my mpg's are less than 20 mpg so I'm thinking something's terribly wrong.
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Well been playing with all the mode to see what they do and the one thing I have noticed is I get worst mileage under ECO Mode. Why it doing this.
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So, I was in Wash. State for a while this month and rented a Prius. I decided to check some mileage on mountain roads, and here's what I got. All of these are indicated by the computer, so they are probably 5% or so high. Unfortunately, I did not see either the maximum incline or average incline of these roads posted anywhere, so unless someone else knows them, these numbers are not worth too much scientifically:
UPHILL:
Going uphill on I-90 to Snoqualmie Pass from the West (from Seattle), at 70 mph (the speed limit), fairly steady, with a few decreases for traffic and curves: 18.6 mpg.
Going uphill on US 97 to Blewitt Pass from the north at 50 mph, also the speed limit: 27 mpg.
Going uphill on the Olympic National Park road to Hurricane Ridge, speed limit varying between 35 and 25, with a couple of sections as low as 15 mph: 22.1 mpg. (Maximum incline here might have been 6 or 7 percent).
On the Hurricane Ridge road, I reset the Trip Meter A about a mile from the top (interestingly both segments of the uphill trip registered 22.1).
DOWNHILL, mostly:
The Hurricane Ridge downhill produced an interesting number, because I didn't reset the thing at the top, so I had a mile of 22.1 mpg at the beginning. You go down for about 18 miles, losing about 5200 feet of altitude to nearly sea level (Strait of Juan de Fuca). We kept driving, and at 24.7 miles (so about 6 miles of driving near sea level), the mileage gauge still showed 99.9 mpg. (I took a picture, but it's too fuzzy to put in here.) It was a couple of more miles before I noticed that the trip mpg was down to about 91.
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I have a 2006 Prius with 165K miles. My MPG suddenly went down 20% (47 to 38). Tires are fully inflated. I did change to high-mileage oil at last service, could this be the cause?
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Temps average maybe around 10-15F in the winter so mileage won't be great. Tires are up, grill is blocked. We're getting about 42-43 on the HSI which means about 40 mpg in reality (I've checked this many times and Toyota is off by 3 mpg on average in our car). But Mike in Maine shows up with a 60+ mpg in 15F temps, and I know my fellow Alaskan, Spiderman, is getting 50+ easily. My commute is more highway than stop and go. I don't use P&G but I'm very gentle with the go pedal. I feel that I should be getting closer to 50 here, even with the temps. Is this too much to ask? Maybe it is...
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I'm so fed up with this Prius C. I did nothing but city driving and I got 302 for a tank at 8.247. It's going to the dealership to see if something is wrong. I haven't got over 369 on a tank before and that was highway driving.
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I've recently purchased a 2007 Prius and have been tracking my gas mileage. I've been comparing what the computer says and what I get by dividing the miles since last fill w/ the number of gallons to fill. I always reset the computer and have always let the tank get almost empty (flashing fuel gauge). I consistantly calculate 2-4 MPG LESS than the computer reports. I talked with a friend who has a (I think) 2006 Prius and he does the same but his calculations and the computer usually within a few tenths of a MPG. I took my car into the dealer today for the accelerator pedal recall and asked them to look at the MPG. They could find nothing wrong and said that was "normal" I'm not convinced... What do the rest of you see?
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The last few days with snow and temps dipping below, my mileage has dropped significantly to high 20s/low 30s. I understand that (a) I park my car outside, (b) warm-up my car during the time I clean the snow, (c) no EBH, (d) no grill blocking, and (e) my drive to work is only ~15 miles round trip, but still mileage in the high 20s/low 30s is lousy, even lower than my break-in mileage (30s) that occurred in Jan. Even, my 1995 Corolla with 150k miles also gives about mid-20s during the winter with identical driving styles and conditions. So what's with the Prius?
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