2001 996 C4 fuel gauge and manual

[Chris944]

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.

[Chris944]

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 ....