PriusOnline.com

Hey all... for those on multiple sites, this is a dupe. Here's the original.

Anyway, the autofill shut off at the gas station didn't shut off and I ended up overfilling (and spilling) my tank by 4 gallons. I can't tell what volume of the 4 gallon overfill went into the tank and how much went down my quarter panel.

I know it's pretty serious business to add 4 gallons of gas to the local ground water, but I'm afraid that business is already done (ie attendants pulled out a hose when I showed them the puddle). Feel rotten about the whole deal, so flame me if you must (since I'm soaked in gas )

What I am curious about is whether or not I will need a new bladder and evaporation recovery hardware? What are the chances that this stuff got soaked in gas? How would I know if they did? How damaging is it to this hardware if it does get soaked? Can it be repaired? Is it warranted? Did I void the warranty by not having Toyota or Walmart full service fill the tank? And finally... why in the $#%^@#$ didn't the pump shut off?

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From what I've read, unless your Prius is throwing error/warning codes at you, you don't need to worry about it. I'm kind of curious as to how you could over fill by 4 gallons though. I know the bladder can shrink and all, but 4 gallons is a hell of a lot.

Carelessness. I usually try to hold the trigger on the pump but this time I clicked it on and went to the front of my car. The trigger is supposed to shake and unclick when the nosel senses a full tank. Either the trigger didn't shake, didn't unclick, or didn't sense the tank was full. In any case out it poured... all over my new car.

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http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=31545

It can cause harm. Look at this and follow the link in the first post of the thread too.

Moved to the priuschat thread since it seems to answer my question quite well. Sites been up and down for the last day or so. Here's the jest of it.

1) Any damage that does occur should also fire a code in the ECU
2) If you have a scanguage and there are no codes reported, you should be safe.
3) Don't ever trust the pump to shut off when the tank is full.

As a follow up to point 3, I'm considering intentionally under-filling my tank to avoid this in the future.

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This is kind of funny. The second time after getting my car I tried a different gas station at the other side of the city, trying to see if different stations improved my MPG at all. The gas meter read 11 gallons (mind you I had 2 bars left in my car) which makes it safe for me to assume I overfilled by about 2-2.5 gallons by how my car NORMALLY fillys.. yes.. I stopped the stupid gas pump, pulled out, and watched it pour out for QUITE AWHILE. No long term damage.. as its been well over a year and haven't noticed much..

But yeah.. I was fuming pissed I called my sales person and flipped out.

If you overfill it like that, you probably can get it to stop belching by quickly putting the nozzle back in, then giggling it to release airbubbles causing the backpressure.

Yes, I talk from experience.

I don't think overfilling the tank is a real problem from the reading of the service manuals. It appears their are check valves in the tank setup to prevent overfilling and any damage to the bladder. A tiny hole at the top of the filler pipe on the outside of the nozzle seal helps prevent this from happening. The Fuel cutoff Valve and the refuel Check valve are designed to not allow overfilling. If they fail to work as described, overfilling damage could happen as a remote possibility. I top off using the burp the tank by pulling the nozzel out then inserting it again and try again. The tight nozzle seal causes pressure to build up. If you don't equalize the air and burp the tank, when you pull the nozzel out, gas shoots out like its throwing up.
The toyota Techinal Training Manual for Hybrid System Course 071 was my reading source.

Morning, patcoghm,

Do we have a hybrid tech in our midst on this board now, or are you just a hybrid fan who got lucky & got his hands on some GOOD read'g material??

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

you may also recall reading this from the hybrid tech course.

"Overfilling - Trying to force additional fuel into the tank pushes
excess fuel into the EVAP system. This may cause an EVAP DTC
and may even require the replacement of some EVAP system
components."

Well, here in Oregon, we are a no-self-serve state. Yup, 'mini-serve' is what 99% of stations are, with a few oddball 'full serve'. (Mini serve is their name for when all the guy does is pump the gas, no window washing, no checking your oil, just pumping the gas.) Yet even though the signs clearly state "do not top off", plenty of attendants still do.

I think it's funny that all the gas stations here have the standard nationwide-corporate stickers all over talking about it as if it was self serve. "If you are disabled, and require an attendant to pump your gas, just honk your horn, and one will pump your gas for no additional charge." and the like. Some even have their material obviously manufactured saying "self serve", with a sticker saying "mini serve" stuck over it.