[EnjoyDriving]

one owner from a facebook group reported that they left rav4 in garage for 2 days and saw a puddle of gas all over the floor

Thx for the info, i would keep an eye on it. Will report back if find anything.

 

[Pianoman]

Now I know mine has this issue. Today on the way home the fuel light came on when the DTE said 28 miles. Gauge was at 1/8th of a tank. I refuel at 13 miles on DTE and it first clicks at 10.2 gallons. I topped it at 10.6 gallons. This matches with what I expect for the MPG for the Trip meter. The line on the gauge was just touching the F too. DTE showed at 455 when I left the gas station. Why would the reserve come on at over 4 gallons left??

I ran my 2021 Hybrid well past the fuel light and clear down to “0” DTE. It took 11 gallons. Dealer said a 3 gallon reserve after 0 DTE is normal. So, I now know I can drive 100 miles or so past the fuel light and even “0” DTE before filling, and I know the range from full to completely empty is 100 miles or so more than the display. The dealer agreed. He said the gas filling issue only concerns those vehicles that register 3/4ths full or so on the gauge after the pump clicks off. Hope this helps.

 

[pungent_glucose]

I ran my 2021 Hybrid well past the fuel light and clear down to “0” DTE. It took 11 gallons. Dealer said a 3 gallon reserve after 0 DTE is normal. So, I now know I can drive 100 miles or so past the fuel light and even “0” DTE before filling, and I know the range from full to completely empty is 100 miles or so more than the display. The dealer agreed. He said the gas filling issue only concerns those vehicles that register 3/4ths full or so on the gauge after the pump clicks off. Hope this helps.

I drove my car past DTE to the point it said “Refuel.” I drove for about 14 miles before filling up. When I did fill up, I got about 12.01 gallons of gas. My dealer told me the car has a 14.5 gallon tank but only fills to have about 12.2 gallons of physical gas. The other 2.3 gallons or so is supposed to be for room for expansion of gas. When the light comes on it should have 2.2 gallons as a reserve. If you fill up right when the gas light comes on, you’ll get about 9.8-10 gallons. It’s frustrating to me that the car doesn’t hold 14.5 gallons of physical gas. Something still isn’t right about it.

 

[RobertB]

I drove my car past DTE to the point it said “Refuel.” I drove for about 14 miles before filling up. When I did fill up, I got about 12.01 gallons of gas. My dealer told me the car has a 14.5 gallon tank but only fills to have about 12.2 gallons of physical gas. The other 2.3 gallons or so is supposed to be for room for expansion of gas. When the light comes on it should have 2.2 gallons as a reserve. If you fill up right when the gas light comes on, you’ll get about 9.8-10 gallons. It’s frustrating to me that the car doesn’t hold 14.5 gallons of physical gas. Something still isn’t right about it.

There is nothing wrong with your tank. Please read #335 and #336 of this post.

 

[RAVDoug]

I ran my 2021 Hybrid well past the fuel light and clear down to “0” DTE. It took 11 gallons. Dealer said a 3 gallon reserve after 0 DTE is normal. So, I now know I can drive 100 miles or so past the fuel light and even “0” DTE before filling, and I know the range from full to completely empty is 100 miles or so more than the display. The dealer agreed. He said the gas filling issue only concerns those vehicles that register 3/4ths full or so on the gauge after the pump clicks off. Hope this helps.

I drove my car past DTE to the point it said “Refuel.” I drove for about 14 miles before filling up. When I did fill up, I got about 12.01 gallons of gas. My dealer told me the car has a 14.5 gallon tank but only fills to have about 12.2 gallons of physical gas. The other 2.3 gallons or so is supposed to be for room for expansion of gas. When the light comes on it should have 2.2 gallons as a reserve. If you fill up right when the gas light comes on, you’ll get about 9.8-10 gallons. It’s frustrating to me that the car doesn’t hold 14.5 gallons of physical gas. Something still isn’t right about it.

I love how there's two conflicting explanations from two different dealerships, both of which are simply wrong. One wants you to believe that the missing fuel is vapor room, the other wants you to think the missing fuel is in there as a reserve. So ... which is it?

The first dealer is contradicting the owners manual (which clearly states how big the reserve is) and the actual TSB which clearly describes two different symptoms -- one of which is the gauge reading 3/4 full, but the other is about filling less fuel than expected.

And the second can be proven wrong by simply driving the car and filling it up. The tank holds more than just 12.2 gallons of usable fuel. Drive it long past empty and you'll see that the first dealer was right, in a way -- there's definitely a very, very large reserve. Never mind that advertising a 14.5 gallon tank that "really only holds 12.2 gallons of fuel" is false advertising -- no other car works like that, not even the gas-only RAV4!

Both are wrong.

 

[RobertB]

So

I love how there's two conflicting explanations from two different dealerships, both of which are simply wrong. One wants you to believe that the missing fuel is vapor room, the other wants you to think the missing fuel is in there as a reserve. So ... which is it?

The first dealer is contradicting the owners manual (which clearly states how big the reserve is) and the actual TSB which clearly describes two different symptoms -- one of which is the gauge reading 3/4 full, but the other is about filling less fuel than expected.

And the second can be proven wrong by simply driving the car and filling it up. The tank holds more than just 12.2 gallons of usable fuel. Drive it long past empty and you'll see that the first dealer was right, in a way -- there's definitely a very, very large reserve. Never mind that advertising a 14.5 gallon tank that "really only holds 12.2 gallons of fuel" is false advertising -- no other car works like that, not even the gas-only RAV4!

Both are wrong.

So what's the right answer?

 

[RAVDoug]

So what's the right answer?

Exactly what Toyota has said:

Toyota has received customer reports of certain 2019-2020 model year RAV4 HV vehicle fuel gauges displaying less than full and/or total fuel dispensed is less than expected, when the fuel nozzle automatically clicks off when refueling. Some customers have also noted the "Distance to Empty" shown on the multi-information display is less than expected. Based on our investigation, Toyota believes these conditions to be primarily related to a variation in fuel tank shape and the potential for the fuel sender gauge to become inclined. These conditions can cause the fuel level to be read incorrectly and may cause the low fuel light to illuminate with more fuel in the tank than usual.

I don't know why dealerships think they need to make up another cause when Toyota's engineers have figured it out already. The system that measures the fuel is faulty and is reading less fuel than there actually is. The low fuel light comes on early (because it incorrectly thinks the fuel level is low), the customer fills less fuel than expected (because there's more fuel in the tank than expected), the DTE is calculated incorrectly (because the system thinks there's less fuel) and in extreme cases the gauge might not even read full (the gauge reads less than full even though it is).

The low fuel light is supposed to come on with about 2.2 gallons left. When the gauge reads "E" the tank has a reserve of maybe 1.5 gallons. The automatic shut-off at the gas station will be a bit before full, maybe by 0.5-1 gallons. Two top-offs will fill it to full. That's how it's supposed to work, from what I can tell.

 

[EnjoyDriving]

Q: what parts do they need to remove for this fix, like rear seat, trunk floor, etc? i would like to do an inspection on the areas to make sure everything is buttoned up.

I just checked around and everything seemed to be intact, like all stuff in their original position in my trunk, etc. So, maybe they were able to do this fix underneith the car??
Any tips??

 

[Gary33031]

Did you get the 2nd letter from Toyota?
You might try different dealer location.

Took my 2019 RAV4 Hybrid to a different dealership on Monday. Dropped the car off, they ordered the 3 parts necessary to do the fix and today at noon, I picked the car up. I was stunned, fuel gauge was way above the full mark and the MTE was over 450. This has never happened before. Also driving the car the 9 miles back to my house, my mpg was 44. I’ve never had these kind of numbers. There is only a 6 mile difference between the first dealership I took my car too, the one that said I didn’t need the fix, and the second dealership that was much bigger, cleaner and more professional. I went into my Toyota App and changed my service dealership.

 

[Gary33031]

Took my 2019 RAV4 Hybrid to a different dealership on Monday, after the first dealership service department told me there was nothing wrong with my car. Dropped the car off, they ordered the 3 parts necessary to do the fix and today at noon, I picked the car up. I was stunned, fuel gauge was way above the full mark and the MTE was over 450. This has never happened before. Also driving the car the 9 miles back to my house, my mpg was 44. I’ve never had these kind of numbers. There is only a 6 mile difference between the first dealership I took my car too, the one that said I didn’t need the fix, and the second dealership that was much bigger, cleaner and more professional. I went into my Toyota App and changed my service dealership.

 

[Automender]

I just checked around and everything seemed to be intact, like all stuff in their original position in my trunk, etc. So, maybe they were able to do this fix underneith the car??
Any tips??

It is done all under the car except for driving it to a gas station and hooking up the computer on the inside. Might want to take a pic of the odometer.

 

[EnjoyDriving]

It is done all under the car except for driving it to a gas station and hooking up the computer on the inside. Might want to take a pic of the odometer.

Thanks for the info. They did put on 6 MI after, but I saw that they filled up the car before putting on the mileages, so they must have filled it in their shop. Now, how did i know all this - Thanks to the Toyota app I was able to remotely see the changes in both DTE and Fuel level and mileage remaining the same 🤗

 

[crazyhorse]

Spoke to the dealer service department today and I have an appointment next week for the testing only. Mine will be only the second Rav4 that they have looked at for the fueling problem. They emphasized that I must bring the vehicle in with a completely full tank. They want me to fill at one of the two gas stations that are within a couple of blocks of the dealership. This seems like BS to me. What is "completely full" anyway? Do I want to stop at the first shutoff using full pump speed? Or, is it to my advantage to fill like I have been doing which is slow and then topping off a few times?

 

[RobertB]

If you "top it off a few times" dealer will probably have trouble identifying the filling problem. I would fill it to first shutoff as this is recommended filling procedure. Just out of curiosity, what issue you are having?

 

[EnjoyDriving]

Spoke to the dealer service department today and I have an appointment next week for the testing only. Mine will be only the second Rav4 that they have looked at for the fueling problem. They emphasized that I must bring the vehicle in with a completely full tank. They want me to fill at one of the two gas stations that are within a couple of blocks of the dealership. This seems like BS to me. What is "completely full" anyway? Do I want to stop at the first shutoff using full pump speed? Or, is it to my advantage to fill like I have been doing which is slow and then topping off a few times?

Stop at first click and you are good!! (Do Not Top it off)

Also, I would recommend to take a screenshot of your Toyota app with both DTE and Fuel level before dropping off, so you can do comparison later on.

Good Luck, my DTE was bumped from 350+ to 450+ , and fuel level from a tad below "F" to at "F" in the app ;-)

 

[crazyhorse]

If you "top it off a few times" dealer will probably have trouble identifying the filling problem. I would fill it to first shutoff as this is recommended filling procedure. Just out of curiosity, what issue you are having?

The same problem as many are having. Basically the tank only takes 9-10 gallons when light come on.

 

[S1njin]

Do people have the same fueling issue if you fill up at half a tank? Or 1/4 tank? I’m wondering if its just the close to empty scenarios where this becomes an issue?

 

[northwoodshyun]

Do people have the same fueling issue if you fill up at half a tank? Or 1/4 tank? I’m wondering if its just the close to empty scenarios where this becomes an issue?

Before the fix, my tank would only accept: 2 gallons after 150 miles, 4 gallons after 250 miles and 7 gallons after 400 miles. I had to force fill it based on the mileage driven. After the fix, my tank accepts reasonable amout of fuel.

 

[paparazzi83]

I’m still surprised people drive their cars WAY past E... the fuel pump wasn’t designed that way. It’s not just a straw! Anyway, I’m glad the fix is working! Hopefully happier RAV4 owners? If not, you can always go buy a Hyundai or Kia... probably costs less than what your RAV is worth right now

 

[RussC]

Spoke to the dealer service department today and I have an appointment next week for the testing only. Mine will be only the second Rav4 that they have looked at for the fueling problem. They emphasized that I must bring the vehicle in with a completely full tank. They want me to fill at one of the two gas stations that are within a couple of blocks of the dealership. This seems like BS to me. What is "completely full" anyway? Do I want to stop at the first shutoff using full pump speed? Or, is it to my advantage to fill like I have been doing which is slow and then topping off a few times?

That is crazy.
I was told by Toyota dealer to bring it half or less full


Russ