All - I leased a Clarity Touring at the end of June and after 4800+ miles I have had no issues until today. The car was built in March 2018 so I believe already has the HV Range Fix applied at the factory as it has never shown an inflated HV range greater than 340 miles. Today I filled it up in advance of my wife taking a 400+ mile road trip tomorrow. The car was showing an HV range of 260 miles before the attendant topped it off - the pump automatically shut down at 1.8 gal and the tank took approx 3 gal to fill. After filling up, it took the fuel gauge several minutes to register the NEW gas; however the HV range stayed at 260. Any ideas why the HV range is not adjusting back up over 300 to reflect the NEW gas? As always, thank you for your review and feedback!
JCEV - Thanks for your reply. I had been monitoring this forum for several months prior to leasing the car so when the TSB update came out I asked the dealer to check if it was required and the Service Department said my VIN did not call for it. From my memory, most Clarity owners were having an issue with the HV range being overstated - not understated - and the update was supposed to correct this. All of my fill-ups since leasing the car have shown an HV range greater than 300 miles but under 340 - today it is stuck at 260 after the fill-up...
Hmmm... the attendant squeezed in 1.2 gallons AFTER the pump auto shut off? And the gauge took several minutes to register the new gas? I have to wonder if stuffing the tank and filler pipe with so much extra gas might have confused a sensor? Raw gas may have sloshed into the cap or someplace else it should not be, like a breather tube. After the road trip and another couple of fillups, maybe the HV range will update ok? On the next fillups, do not let the attendant (or you) fill the tank after the auto shut off. See if that helps.
I can’t answer the OPs original question but re. the sidebar on “topping off”: https://www.cartalk.com/content/why-topping-tank-bad-idea
I don't know where the OP lives, but I used to live in New Jersey, where only gas station attendants are allowed to pump gas. The attendants always top off the gas, mainly to squeeze in extra sales. For the first few years I would argue with the attendants but to no avail. They would always top off the gas, including overflowing the gas onto the side of my car a few times. I finally gave up and accepted the "system". Then I moved away from NJ and celebrated pumping my own gas. Now I've bought a Clarity PHEV and celebrate only visiting a gas station every few months.
All - A quick follow-up to my original post. I do live in NJ and the attendant definitely was not satisfied with my car taking 1.8 gal. to fill up despite the fact that I informed them it only needed a few gallons! The good news is my wife just texted me and the Clarity - traveling mostly on HV - covered 304.4 miles today and took 5 gal. to fill up.....and the HV range after fill up went back to 340 miles. Looks like Sandroad was correct in his assumption that a fuel tank sensor must have been temporarily confused by the attendants top off. Hopefully, all is now well! Thanks again! p.s. 55-60 mpg for a rush hour trip to DC this morning is not bad!
Was the car turned on when you gassed up? The car can never increase range estimate. It will stay at 260 until it drops below that. This is how they avoid it creeping up in mixed use. Edit: I have seen the slow indication too, and it makes me wonder if the car was on during fill up and maybe that is why the range didn't reset. I don't recall for my case. Don't worry about the range, once she hits an estimate of 260 it will start dropping, but for gas 260 is reasonable range on full, it is about 40 mpg. Adding in electric it should be over 300 though.
Good Question! I typically fill up at COSTCO which always asks that the car be turned off but they were closed so don't remember if I actually powered fully down during this fill-up! The fact that the Clarity HV range reset to 340 last night after my wife's fill-up has me less concerned and also supports your theory. Will advise if I learn anything more....thanks again!
