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Have you had trouble filling your hybrid gas tank?

767K views 6K replies 480 participants last post by  TrueTexan 
#1 ·
Hopefully anyone with this well-known problem has called Toyota Corporate at 800-331-4331 and their dealer service department to report and describe their problem. Please report any solutions or proposed solutions to this thread. As for me, I’m still waiting for some significant movement from Toyota but hopefully, if all of us with this issue keep the pressure on, this will get fixed.

I’m assuming the other thread apparently was getting too large and thus was closed to new replies. I have asked but haven’t yet gotten any response at https://www.rav4world.com/forums/autoguide-forum-support-help-rav4world.145/
 
#2 ·
Really weird they closed the thread.

I was contacted today and they are replacing the fuel valve, fuel sending unit and the fuel tank with quite a few other parts. I'm hoping to have my car back before I go on business trip.

This is a huge issue for people experiencing it and devalues the car significantly. You aren't talking 50mi. You are talking 100mi and force pumping to get 3/4 a tank which could lead to other issues.

People saying otherwise are seriously out of left field
 
#5 ·
Without reading the thousand+ posts I closed the previous thread because it had been reported three times and some of the later rhetoric was getting out of hand. This one will stay open ALA it doesn't flame up again.
 
#7 ·
Yeah, I'm really gonna read all the posts and decide who to give warnings too? Unless another moderator wants to slug thru it all you guys are on your own in this and all the other similar threads
 
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#9 ·
Hopefully this topic lasts a while. Just took ours in Tuesday, got it back today after dealer tested and called Toyota Corporate. They are aware of the issue and had our dealer replace Fuel Sending Unit. Needle was above Full when we picked up, now need to drive it down to 1/4 or so and see how fill up goes. They said old Sending Unit was not calibrated properly and was not reading correctly when on full. So looks like Toyota is recommending at this point replacing Fuel Sending Unit but not the Gas Tank. Hopefully will see some positive results. DTE was also at 486 which is higher than we ever got, but not above 500 which is what I would expect.
 
#12 ·
Bummer that other thread was closed, we should "thank" Toyota for that though for lack of official fix and people are getting frustrated at each other. I finally got appointment scheduled with hypothetical fix, I don't have my hopes up, but at it least it's something.
 
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#784 ·
I just purchased a 2019 xse on 9-13 and I was ready for the fuel tank problem and so I ask the salesman about it and he said he filled it up with no problem. I was down to about 200 dte and it took 7 gallons and I did not put any more in after it cut off. The gauge showed full so I have not had the problem so far that so many have. I have not gotten any better than 38mpg but 3/4 of my trips are short trips 15 minutes or less and I live on a mountain top so I am not at all un happy with 38.
 
#13 ·
Hopefully anyone with this well-known problem has called Toyota Corporate at 800-331-4331 and their dealer service department to report and describe their problem. .....
I called the US HQ number 800-331-4331 and spoke with Jeffrey in the Customer Assistance department. I had already brought my 2019 RAV4 LE Hybrid (odometer~5k) in to the dealer 10 days ago. So now I have a customer assistance case number filed with national headquarters under 1908010702 and a technical assistance case # 192110207 filed by the dealer about this refueling issue. I am told by both headquarters and the dealer that no remedy is available at this time, and no instructions or work arounds. I have been on 3 trips across half the country with this car and the filling problem is intolerable when long range is needed. The premature automatic shutoff is also not undangerous, as filling the tank very very slowly over the course of about 5 minutes results in no automatic shutoff at all and instead resulted in overfilling - spilling gas onto the ground.

The manual says refueling must occur within 30 minutes of pressing the switch under the dash to open the tank access door, or the valve shuts, which could cause overfilling. The vent valve? What valve? It must have closed within the 5 minutes, though, because I overfilled. Did it never open? Does the auto shutoff of the gas pump at 3/4 full have nothing to do with venting? The dry fill of the tank is 14.5 gal US. No one can tell me what the volume of gas is that remains in the tank at all times to prevent sediments entering the fuel line. The difference between dry fill and wet fill would be useful to know. I calculate from miles driven and avg mpg (usually in the mid 40s at high speeds, except with big headwind or extreme high temperatures (requiring more AC)) how many gallons a refueling should take to get to F. With no precise specs, such calculations are pretty inexact. If I only fill to automatic shutoff at 3/4 full, I lose at least 100 miles of range. Toyota should provide instructions on how to fill safely past the premature auto shutoff, while we wait for them to figure out the repair procedure.
 
#1,734 ·
I called the US HQ number 800-331-4331 and spoke with Jeffrey in the Customer Assistance department. I had already brought my 2019 RAV4 LE Hybrid (odometer~5k) in to the dealer 10 days ago. So now I have a customer assistance case number filed with national headquarters under 1908010702 and a technical assistance case # 192110207 filed by the dealer about this refueling issue. I am told by both headquarters and the dealer that no remedy is available at this time, and no instructions or work arounds. I have been on 3 trips across half the country with this car and the filling problem is intolerable when long range is needed. The premature automatic shutoff is also not undangerous, as filling the tank very very slowly over the course of about 5 minutes results in no automatic shutoff at all and instead resulted in overfilling - spilling gas onto the ground.

The manual says refueling must occur within 30 minutes of pressing the switch under the dash to open the tank access door, or the valve shuts, which could cause overfilling. The vent valve? What valve? It must have closed within the 5 minutes, though, because I overfilled. Did it never open? Does the auto shutoff of the gas pump at 3/4 full have nothing to do with venting? The dry fill of the tank is 14.5 gal US. No one can tell me what the volume of gas is that remains in the tank at all times to prevent sediments entering the fuel line. The difference between dry fill and wet fill would be useful to know. I calculate from miles driven and avg mpg (usually in the mid 40s at high speeds, except with big headwind or extreme high temperatures (requiring more AC)) how many gallons a refueling should take to get to F. With no precise specs, such calculations are pretty inexact. If I only fill to automatic shutoff at 3/4 full, I lose at least 100 miles of range. Toyota should provide instructions on how to fill safely past the premature auto shutoff, while we wait for them to figure out the repair procedure.
Well if you manage to put 14.5 gallons 54.8 ltrs the hybrid tank is only 55ltr so you where 200ml off being empty. This suggest that the only cut off is bone dry.
I have spoke to UK rav4 hybrid owner they not come across any fuel filling issues. I will look out for this on mine. Not sure of European petrol pumps are different to American.
We have different size nozzle for private car pumps to commercial vehicle plus different sizes for petrol and diesel. So it could be the petrol pump designs are different I wait and see. Will be interesting
But the fuel take is 55ltr it's in the vehicle specs​
 
#2,464 ·
2T3RWRFV0KW040610 - Canadian, think it is XLE
This will be first time ran to blue,and empty, have been filling at 1/4 tank. Received rav4 hybrid on Monday, September 30th, with 80 miles on speedometer, have done 9 fill ups as follows:
Car was full when we received it,
mileage
381 - 9.6 gl - forgot to write this one down.
689 - 9.01 - 33.8
1063- 10.57 - 35.4
1405 - 8.89 -35.4
1821 -9.82 -42.3
2176 - 8.37 -42.4
2413 - 6.39 - 37.1
2769 - 9.8 - 36.2 mpg
3110 - 9.27 - 36.8mpg
From the first fill up at 381 to the fill up at 2176 we were on trip to Colorado, good wind blowing on way up, always get better mileage no matter what we're driving when in the mountains.
Going into dealer next week to talk to them, to me there is about 5-6 gls left when we fill up. Have tried to fill slowly, tried to fill fast, and it just shuts off about the 9-9 1/2 gls. Time to make them aware.
 
#20 ·
I'm new to the Forum and I just saw the closed topic that had 66 pages. I didn't read more than 20. I too have this problem with my RAV4 Hybrid I picked up in late April 2019. I wondered why I could only fill my tank with 9+ gallons when the trip reminder said I had less than 25 miles remaining in the tank. Nice to see at least that this is a known issue and not my problem alone.

I'm curious. My vehicle was built in Japan. I believe they are now building them in the USA or Canada. Could this be a problem with only with vehicles manufactured in Japan? How many on here with this issue have a Japanese built vehicle and how many have one made elsewhere?
 
#23 · (Edited)
One Japanese Factory is "Nagakusa" . . . which was named by my "BlueDriver" OBDII scan tool when I input the VIN for the unit I've a deposit on and am going to see on Monday, it hit the ground at the dealer yesterday. It rolled off the line at Nagakusa on July 17.

Nagakusa might be the only Japanese assembly plant for the RAV4H . . . I do not know.

This issue makes a panda sad. The RAV4H is a beautiful package! I've rented and driven an XSE for several days and a bunch of miles. It was a Japan Assembled unit and it did have the fueling issue, although, while the symptoms were not extreme, they were there.
 
#28 ·
After checking out our numbers after Fuel Sending Unit was replaced, I am thinking we will still have an issue. Full Tank DTE was 486 with mpg of 41.3. This does not sound right. Should have been closer to 550. I called Service Manager and he agreed with changing Fuel Sending Unit will not have any effect on putting gas in tank, which is original problem. He told me to try and get it down to DTE between 0 - 30 miles and fill up and let him know how many gallons went in.

I think we will have same issue. Hope I am wrong.
 
#431 ·
After checking out our numbers after Fuel Sending Unit was replaced, I am thinking we will still have an issue. Full Tank DTE was 486 with mpg of 41.3. This does not sound right. Should have been closer to 550. I called Service Manager and he agreed with changing Fuel Sending Unit will not have any effect on putting gas in tank, which is original problem. He told me to try and get it down to DTE between 0 - 30 miles and fill up and let him know how many gallons went in.

I think we will have same issue. Hope I am wrong.
Did you try it? I filled her up at DTE 27 and could get 9.7 gallons in...
 
#30 ·
I’m curious about this but not really hopeful. IMO Toyota is just doing this fuel sending unit replacement to say they’ve done something. Good luck!
I’m still of the opinion that it’s a design issue vs a fuel sending one. I spent about 10 minutes after the initial click off attempting to fill mine yesterday on a long trip. I waited 10 seconds after each click off and tried to barely activate the pump...5 times! Started it up and it was still under the full mark. Turbulence sound/visual tells me theres something about that filler tube/gas tank design just not working right. Tried one more squirt and after all the screwing around I was at just barely above the full mark at around 463 DTE. Within 20 miles its showed well below the full mark.
I’m still not hearing a thing from dealer or Toyota.
 
#34 ·
This will be our next demand if Fuel Sending Unit does not fix problem.

Replace:
PARTS: 77001-OR100 TANK SUB-ASSY, FU
77169-06060 GASKET, FUEL SUCT


This seems to have fixed issue for a few people that have had it done - replacing TANK ASSY.
Just have to hope dealer will listen to our complaint and get authorization to do this. Seems like will not do anything unless Corporate will approve it. But I think if some dealers are performing this fix, should be able to also.
 
#36 ·
This will be our next demand if Fuel Sending Unit does not fix problem.

Replace:
PARTS: 77001-OR100 TANK SUB-ASSY, FU
77169-06060 GASKET, FUEL SUCT


This seems to have fixed issue for a few people that have had it done - replacing TANK ASSY.
Just have to hope dealer will listen to our complaint and get authorization to do this. Seems like will not do anything unless Corporate will approve it. But I think if some dealers are performing this fix, should be able to also.
Is this for entire tank replacement?
 
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