prius no ready message

[Duffryn]

When I was taught to drive (50+ years ago) I remember my driving instructor advising me to top the tank up when the needle (in those days!) dropped to the halfway point to protect any dregs in the bottom of the tank getting sucked into the system. Don't know if that strategy is still relevant or not, but I still stick to it!

[PeteB]

11 minutes ago, Duffryn said:

...my driving instructor advising me to top the tank up when the needle (in those days!) dropped to the halfway point to protect any dregs in the bottom of the tank getting sucked into the system...

I don't think that's as relevant these day, although probably still best to avoid going right to the bottom of the tank (or running out, which can cause problems with the HV Battery for Hybrids, and may harm catalytic converters on ordinary cars.

I've practised running the tank as low as possible on the gauge for the 34 years I've been driving, and brim the tank.  This is partly because I've always kept mpg records, partly to minimise the amount of my life I spend in petrol stations, and also for perceived health risks of visiting petrol stations.  It's also debatable whether making more trips to fill up wastes a small amount o fuel each time, amounting to a significant wastage over many years.

Going from full to brim to low fuel warning regularly in almost 300,000 miles in all four generations of Prius have not seen any problems with the fuel system on nay of my cars.

The petrol vapour that is pushed out into the atmosphere as petrol fills your tank may be associated with carcinogenic risks.  Many years ago it became a legal requirement for tankers delivering petrol to suck collect the vapour displaced by the petrol going into the tanks for health reasons.  There were laws under consideration to force the petrol companies to install pumps that did the same for vapours from car tanks.  It wasn't adopted in the UK, but I thought the US and maybe some other countries did follow through.

Either way, I try to minimise the number of times I fill up and stand upwind of the filler pipe when fuelling my car.

[kithmo]

Not running the tank low is not good for mpg. Filling up on a half empty tank means you are always carrying at least half a tank of petrol around, which is extra weight.

[Duffryn]

12 hours ago, kithmo said:

Not running the tank low is not good for mpg. Filling up on a half empty tank means you are always carrying at least half a tank of petrol around, which is extra weight.

Yeah, take the point Keith, but as I only do c6K miles p.a. these days I'm not too fussed about squeezing every last mpg out of the car. Plus my filling station is a few miles away from home so tend to pop in when passing rather than making a planned visit.

[barrycoll]

Curiously I am one of those ancients who likes the smell of petrol.....old cars always used to smell of petrol, leather, and damp, always a heady mix.

when I was a lad in the 60's in Oz, i used to put one litre of pure benzene (poured from a can, to 3 of petrol to boost the octane rating of my fathers' Holden (Autralia's Own) the engine of which, which didn't appreciate it one little bit

then it was a cap full of (racing oil) Castrol R in the tank as well, and I was olefactorly  complete.....and the exhaust smell was something else!

[PeteB]

2 minutes ago, barrycoll said:

...and the exhaust smell was something else!

and I wonder if you left a smoke screen that would have made James Bond proud!

[barrycoll]

Just one capful of Castrol R, Pete...........too expensive for any more

[aCactus]

The fuel always comes from the bottom of the tank so the level in the tank makes no difference to the amount of "dregs" getting into the rest of the system. I don't do many miles and there are no filling stations on my regular trips so filling up usually involves a special trip, I tend to let the tank go less than ¼ before filling it full. This does mean I carry a bit of extra weight but if I wanted higher mpg I would have bought another plugin

[MEP's Yaris GS]

2 hours ago, aCactus said:

The fuel always comes from the bottom of the tank so the level in the tank makes no difference to the amount of "dregs" getting into the rest of the system.

Took the words out of my mouth. Add to this modern vehicles all have plastic fuel tanks, so unless you're filling from crud filled jerry cans, the tank on a 20 year old car should be as crud free as that on a new car - and experience from breaking a few cars for parts would confirm this.