prius no ready message

[wilmon wallen-bryan]

my 2011 prius ran out of gas then a light came on with steering wheel and exclamation sign.(EPS issue?!). I put gas in about 2 liters of gas but car still will not show READY lite

 

help!!!

[FROSTYBALLS]

Hello Wilmon - welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

Post moved to the Prius club.

[Devon Aygo]

If you ran your car without fuel then it is highly likely you have now depleted the Hybrid Battery to beyond the point where it can fire up the ICE and as a result the car will never go into ready mode. The only way to overcome this will be to have your car recovered to a Toyota garage who in turn will have to ask Toyota to send them the THS charger ( a special charger capable of charging the Hybrid Battery )  

[MEP's Yaris GS]

Did you attempt to continue to drive the car when you ran out of gas?

[johalareewi]

18 hours ago, MEP's Yaris GS said:

Did you attempt to continue to drive the car when you ran out of gas?

With the gen3 prius, the hybrid system will automatically use up all the HV once the fuel runs out so when you stop you have no fuel and no electricity.

The OP will have to follow Devon Aygo's advice and have MrT bring the prius back to life.

 

[MEP's Yaris GS]

11 hours ago, johalareewi said:

With the gen3 prius, the hybrid system will automatically use up all the HV once the fuel runs out so when you stop you have no fuel and no electricity.

Indeed, hence my question to ascertain if this is what the OP has done or not.

[johalareewi]

Trouble with the gen3 is the car just stops with a flat HV Battery (when fuel runs out). There is no indication that the fuel has run out so the answer to your question will be yes, but the OP would not have made the decision to drive on HV after the fuel had run out. It just happens.

I believe the gen2 stopped when the fuel ran out leaving some charge in the HV Battery so you could then take a view on limping out of danger then getting some fuel.  For some reason, the gen3 doesn't do this. It just stops dead.

 

[kithmo]

Putting 2 litres of fuel in is not going to do anything, 2 litres will probably not even register on the gauge. I would try putting 2 gallons (9 litres) in and see if that does anything first.

[PeteB]

Are you able to get the ignition lights on, just by pressing the Start button twice without touching the brake pedal?

If so, what does the HV Battery gauge indicate?

If at least 2 bars are lit, I would expect it to fire up if there was sufficient fuel.

[Joseph D]

20 hours ago, kithmo said:

Putting 2 litres of fuel in is not going to do anything,   ...    I would try putting 2 gallons (9 litres) in

Unfortunately, as stated, 2 litres is not enough but neither is 9 litres. The OP needs to put in at least 11.5 litres in one single pour, so on top of the 2 already added, otherwise the Prius will not recognise the added fuel.

In addition there needs to be at least 1 bar showing in the Battery graphic in order to start the car.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

On 25 July 2017 at 1:00 PM, johalareewi said:

Trouble with the gen3 is the car just stops with a flat HV battery (when fuel runs out). There is no indication that the fuel has run out.

I beg to differ. While I've never run a Prius out of fuel personally when the Battery gets below a certain SOC (fuel or no fuel) then the ICE will attempt to fire up. With no fuel it'll just spin and spin (as with any car without fuel that you attempt to start). This should be plenty of notice to stop.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

7 hours ago, Joseph D said:

Unfortunately, as stated, 2 litres is not enough but neither is 9 litres. The OP needs to put in at least 11.5 litres in one single pour, so on top of the 2 already added, otherwise the Prius will not recognise the added fuel.

In addition there needs to be at least 1 bar showing in the battery graphic in order to start the car.

Never knew this regarding fillip's. Why does the car need to recognise if fuel is added? Surely it'll be attempting to suck fuel out of the tank regardless?

[Anthony Poli]

Could be an expensive mistake, I wouldn't risk driving beyond the range indicator going below 5 miles. I remember reading about some owners who had continued to drive until the car stopped altogether and then the HV Battery was beyond revival, due to the wait for the dealer to get the charger. 

 

[johalareewi]

Interesting that the OP hasn't replied.

[johalareewi]

10 hours ago, MEP's Yaris GS said:

I beg to differ. While I've never run a Prius out of fuel personally when the battery gets below a certain SOC (fuel or no fuel) then the ICE will attempt to fire up. With no fuel it'll just spin and spin (as with any car without fuel that you attempt to start). This should be plenty of notice to stop.

When the gen3 first came out, someone on Prius Chat forum deliberately ran a gen3 out of fuel to see what would would happen.  

 

[PeteB]

Perhaps the PiP behaves differently to a regular Prius?

[danowat]

10 hours ago, Anthony Poli said:

Could be an expensive mistake, I wouldn't risk driving beyond the range indicator going below 5 miles. I remember reading about some owners who had continued to drive until the car stopped altogether and then the HV battery was beyond revival, due to the wait for the dealer to get the charger. 

 

As an aside, on most cars I've had, the computer is pretty generous with the range, but the Prius seems a little tighter than most?, does anyone know just how close to the wind you can sail with the range?

[kithmo]

I've never managed to get more than 37 litres of fuel in after running down to the last bar on the gauge disappearing and 0 miles to empty, so there must be about 8 litres left. At the worst mpg, lets say 40 mpg, that equates to at least 70 miles more range. 

[MEP's Yaris GS]

10 hours ago, danowat said:

As an aside, on most cars I've had, the computer is pretty generous with the range, but the Prius seems a little tighter than most?, does anyone know just how close to the wind you can sail with the range?

Well the range is whats in the tank excluding the reserve. Reserve is 4.5-5L from memory, so you've easily got a further 50+ miles once range goes to 0 miles / reverse blinker starts to flash on the fuel guage.

[kithmo]

Gen 4 doesn't flash the last bar on the gauge, but it does remind you with a beep when you get down to the last bar and every time you start the car thereafter (can't recall if it also gives a message on the MFD too ?). 

[PeteB]

you also get a larger, amber, fuel-pump-shaped warning light when the estimated (by the car) range is a little below 40 miles.  Much better than the last bar flasing of the first three generations, that many missed seeing. 

You don't get a message on the MFD like earlier versions, but the warning light is harder to miss.

[QuantumFireball]

22 hours ago, kithmo said:

I've never managed to get more than 37 litres of fuel in after running down to the last bar on the gauge disappearing and 0 miles to empty, so there must be about 8 litres left. At the worst mpg, lets say 40 mpg, that equates to at least 70 miles more range. 

This is also what I've experienced. I've driven 60 miles after leaving the range going to 0, and there were still a few litres left in the tank. It's ridiculously overly cautious.

[danowat]

Thanks, I was being cautious then, I think mainly due to the fuel gauge being much more pessimistic than most of the cars I've previously owned!

[Joseph D]

On 27/07/2017 at 9:27 AM, MEP's Yaris GS said:

Why does the car need to recognise if fuel is added?

I presume it is to reset the no fuel DTC (P3193) which prevents the car from attempting to start (which in turn is to stop the HV Battery from further discharge) that will have set when the car ran out of fuel. This process presumes the driver did not already run the HV Battery right down in the first instance.

[Joseph D]

On 27/07/2017 at 9:54 AM, Anthony Poli said:

Could be an expensive mistake, I wouldn't risk driving beyond the range indicator going below 5 miles (8.05km). I remember reading about some owners who had continued to drive until the car stopped altogether and then the HV battery was beyond revival, due to the wait for the dealer to get the charger. 

 

No need to get so stressed out. The range indicator indicates miles to reserve, not empty. Reserve is 4-5 litres (depending on model–5 litres on Gen II Prius) so you can work out how far you can go by extrapolating the MPG on the MFD/trip meter. conservatively if you can go the number of mile stated by your current average MPG (if you reset it per tank) given that roughly 4.5 litres is a UK gallon. But really, just fill up as soon as possible once you are on reserve.