I was thinking the opposite, shame the LPG filler is where it is. Mine is mounted where the second towbar electrical plug would go if I had twin electrics, convenient to get to and I can fill up from either side of the pump.

Step by step is in RAVE.

Unless you want them to be impossible to remove, yes, you need to deflate them but pushing the collet in and pulling the pipe out will do that. Suggest you put it on low height first so it doesn't plummet to the floor.
It is easier to remove the liner but by pulling it out and jamming something in to hold it out means you can get in there to release the top clips.
Fronts are OK and difficulty varies depending on whether you remove the liner or work around it. Bottom clip can put up a bit of a fight getting it out. Rears are often jammed in at the top and the clip will often break off as it will have rusted into place. If you don't want to keep them, a 1" wood chisel slid in between chassis rail and body and given a good clout with a mallet will chop the top off the plastic so the air spring just drops out.
What non-OE parts? Genuine Dunlop springs are around £50 a corner.
It's a good idea to trim a mm or so off the ends of the pipes as per RAVE. They will have a groove worn in them from teh old O rings so by trimming the end, the new O rings will be bearing on clean pipe. A squirt of Fairy Liquid/Water mix will help the pipes slide in easier and will also show if you have any leaks.

Ooh, blue ferrule connectors, they WILL leak, they always do. I use these https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pneumatic-straight-tube-to-tube-adaptors/0812106/ and https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pneumatic-tee-tube-to-tube-adaptors/0812083/ rated at 20 bar, so twice the maximum pressure you'll get in the EAS and never had one leak yet. I'll admit I'm not a great fan of connecting it all up and leaving it there as the additional joints increase the chances of a leak. Hence why I keep the valves in the boot so I can fit them if and when needed.

If it was a blend motor, chances are the book would pop up just after you switch the ignition on. If you turn the ignition on and listen carefully, you will hear the blend motors being driven from one end of their travel to the other. If an error is logged, the book will appear immediately. If it is an AC clutch issue, then the book will appear when it tries, and fails, to engage the AC compressor clutch. If you start the car then press the AC OFF button, it will not try to engage the AC compressor clutch so if it is that causing the book to appear it won't, it will remain off.

That will at least give you a couple of things to check.

I've a set of those in the boot. Never had to use them but with them and an electric tyre pump I've always got a get me home method should I need it.

Hmm, that's a bit of a bugger. Now you've taken it apart I suspect you'll have difficulty claiming on the warranty. But without taking apart you wouldn't know it had failed......

Not as a buffer but as a supply to run your extras from. Think about it, if you try to pull 200A to run your winch from the vehicle battery, you'll flatten it in no time meaning you won't be able to start the car. If you try to do the same with the engine running you will be drawing more than the alternator can supply (either 100, 120 or 150A depending on which alternator you have) so could burn out the alternator. So have a second battery, charged through a split charge unit when the car is running but disconnected when not. Use that to power your winch with the engine switched off so it isn't connected to the vehicle battery, but if it starts to go flat, disconnect the winch, start the engine and run that for a while to put some juice back into the secondary battery.

+2, without diagnostics to see what it is that is bringing the book on, you can spend weeks chasing your tail. You need to read the fault and it will tell you immediately if it is blend motors, blowers, AC clutch, etc then deal with the fault. Everything (except the recirculate flaps) feedback to the HEVAC so it is detecting a fault somewhere but you need to know where.

That looks more like you forced the sleeve on when you replaced the seal. You have to put it on at an angle, push it right down then twist it. Twist it too soon and it nips the seal.

If you'd fitted remoulds or some Far Eastern no name tyres, I could understand them needing that amount of weight, but not with immaculate wheels and decent branded tyres. Looks like they understand balancing wheels as much as they understand re-gassing an AC system......

Today I finished off my 400,000 mile service with an oil and filter change, new spark plugs and an air filter. I also found, and hopefully dealt with, a strange honk noise I'd been hearing at very odd times recently. It sounded a bit like a sticking brake pad but would still do it when I wasn't moving so it couldn't be that. Seemed to only be noticeable at low speed, although it could have been doing it at higher speeds and I just couldn't hear it. Then, while the engine was idling and I had my head under the bonnet, it did it. Just as the AC compressor clutch kicked in. Out with the airline and blew a decent cloud of dust out of the compressor clutch and it hasn't done it since.

Just the MoT at 7:30 in the morning (the only time they could fit me in before the second week of September!).

I would have thought a black car would have come with silver originally. It seems that light colours got basalt while dark ones got silver.

Run two cables front to back, don't rely on using ground. At the sort of current you are drawing even the tiniest bit of resistance will have a big effect. I've still got the two cables running to the boot from where plod had an auxiliary battery in the RH side of the boot. In fact, it might be better if you run two cables and have a secondary battery in the boot rather than risking your vehicle battery and alternator.

StrangeRover wrote:

I might get a solid workshop in the future!

Cheaper option is what I do. Previous house had a concrete driveway, this one has gravel so I've got a couple of sheets of 5/8th ply that I put underneath. Trolley jack rolls properly on them and it's more comfortable to lay on too.

Yes, the white ex-plod. Others have come and gone but my daughter reckons they're probably going to bury me in it, I'm never getting rid of that one.

Blimey, I've done more than that in the last week and got another 6,000 or so to do in the next month. Although I did have a head start as mine had 205,000 on it when I got it 10 years ago.

Yeah, but mine is 4 years older, you've still got time to catch up.......

You'll find that when you start torquing the inlet manifold down, it will pull the valley gasket down so the bolt holes and ports line up. Hardest part is getting the first two bolts in (one on each side), but after that the others go in easily. That's why they say to only nip up the end seal plates finger tight and then torque them down once the manifold is properly torqued down.

It left a lot to be desired (and still does, even more so now) which is why this forum came into being in the first place.

Good point, it will wallow around if too high.