2001 996 C4 fuel gauge and manual

2001 996 C4 fuel gauge and manual

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Chris944

Original Poster:

336 posts

230 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
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I'm posting this note as a 2001 996 C4 newbie coming from a 2001 Boxster S. This Carrera 4 is a great car, with substantially more power, both bhp and torque, from its 3.4 litres than the Boxster's 3.2 litres and substantially higher fuel consumption. There are some oddities about the car though:

1. The fuel gauge registers empty with lots of petrol in the tank and the distance-remaining reading from the computer seems to be synchronised to that. I thought it must be a 45 litre tank because of this but the manual says 64 litres. So if I drive by the instrumentation then I'm carrying c20 litres of fuel which is doing nothing except being a reserve which I feel I don't need. Can the fuel gauge and computer be reset to work on a more accurate basis?

2. The manual is in English except between page 33 (p2 of Child Restraint System) and page 48 (p1 of Interior Lights section) which us in German. Hmm. Obviously a Porsche manual printing mistake. Any simple way of getting a full English manual?

3. The clutch pedal at around 70 - 90mph sometimes feels as if the foot plate is hinged on the pedal arm. It's a bit unsettling. Any ideas about why this should be so?

This car, by the way, makes the Boxster S feel under-powered. It's a terrific drive.

jkh112

22,018 posts

158 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
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I need to go and check but am almost certain that a 996 C4 does not have a 64 litre tank. The C2 has a tank around that capacity, but the C4 has a smaller capacity tank to accommodate the front axle. Your tank is in a sort of saddle bag shape and I know that if you only put a few litres in an empty tank the gauge will not even register it u till you put enough in to raise the level above the 2 separate halves of the tank.

FarQue

2,336 posts

198 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
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Carrera 4 and turbo are well known for fuel gauge weirdness at the lower end of the scale...

Magic919

14,126 posts

201 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
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The 4WD models measure the top half of the tank and just guess for the lower half. I think I once read a procedure to recalibrate them.

Demort

76 posts

112 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
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On the C4 the fuel tank is a saddle type meaning the fuel sender can not go to the bottom of the tank and as such the system uses a calculation for fuel remaining in the lower part of the tank.
There is a calibration routine that can be carryed out useing a system tester , need a tester or a garage for this im afraid.

If you , say when empty only put in 10 ltrs of fuel then the gauge will still show empty as theres a min amount of fuel needed before the sensor will see the lvl , i think its about 20 ltrs , its possible when filling you might be doing something like this,try filling it up then monitor it , it is a 65 ltr tank.

Its possible theres also a fault.

Ive seen missprinted manuels a few times , check with porsche how much a new one is ?

Not sure of the clutch problem , do you mean if you rest your foot on it then you feel it move when brakeing ?

Chris944

Original Poster:

336 posts

230 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
quotequote all
Well, well, well, the Porsche C4 owner's manual is peculiar book indeed if it's telling fibs about the C4's petrol tank capacity. Thanks for the saddle-shape fuel tank info' - logical with the 4WD mechanicals in the front. I'll fill a spare can with petrol, run the C4 until its empty and see what the gauge and computer tell me.

The clutch hinged-plate problem occurs when changing gear at 75 mph + and doesn't seem related to braking.

Cheers ....


Demort

76 posts

112 months

Saturday 12th September 2015
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My mistake its 64 not 65 .. memory goes as you get older and you need to check lol

All i can suggest is have a look at the pedal operation , look at it as you press by hand clutch and brake just to see if any thing looks wrong