Not a completely fair comparison as I filled up at a Texaco station near me before setting off for the Summer Camp and the next fill was at a Shell station on the way back. But after a combination of cruising at 75-80mph, running around the lanes to the hotel and back and a lot of mucking around in low ratio with a dead Disco on a bit of string I took 60.8 litres after a combined 191 miles, so 3.1415 (almost Pi, is this significant?) miles per litre or 14.26 mpg. As my tank takes 67 litres to full, that would give me a range of 210.5 miles to a tankful. I've seen a bit better than that but I've also seen a lot worse so reasonably happy with it. If I can do better than 200 miles on a tankful, I'm not complaining. I also think the LPG is still running slightly rich so it could be bettered a touch.

That's a 4.0 litre on a singlepoint LPG system. But as you say, ideally you need to average it over multiple fills from the same pump although even that isn't completely repeatable as the ambient temperature and the temperature of the tanks at the filling station will make a difference too.

I can only add one word - plonker. Although I must admit, I've done it a couple of times and turning the key and nothing happening does make you fear the worse rather than looking at what the dash is telling you. There's a D shown there to give you a clue.

Actually Mark, I was going to propose you for the Ideal Home Interior Design award for converting the interior of your car from something almost as doggy looking as mine to something approaching a Miles standard of cleanliness.

I have actually promised Dina that before we go on holiday in it at the end of August, it'll have the interior cleaned, the headlining stuck back on (she'll probably do that for me) and a respray. Then nobody will recognise it......

We also seem to have worked out the essential toolkit for a P38 owner. Going on what seemed to be used most, it was Marty's big club hammer (for hitting anything that should move but wouldn't), my nylon faced mallet (for knocking ABS sensors back into their housing) and my Stanley knife (for opening burger packages, cutting strings of sausages into individual sausages, for cutting the ends off split cruise control hoses and cutting out bits of Mark's carpet). So it seems that a Stanley knife is the most essential tool followed closely by two big hammers........

Miles, in case you haven't noticed, I've sent you a PM.

I'm home, well I've been home a while but been watching the Austrian GP. I must admit that I completely forgot about picking up Chris's tools that he left behind which would have been ideal as I spend at least 3 days a week running up and down the M11 between Peterborough and East London. I could have chucked them into the shrubbery at the Harlow roundabout on my way by if nothing else.

A good fun weekend where we had rather a lot of P38's in varying states of dismantling at times and also spent a lot of time shifting a 3 wheeled Discovery around the place. At least it gave my ex-plod the chance to relive it's previous life by dragging heavy lumps of immobile vehicle around the place on the end of a bit of string. Miles (Morat), the cook Meister, ensured we didn't go hungry with his skills on the barbecue while Marty taught us all a few new words while trying the get the steering arm off the steering box. Eventually brute force and a very large hammer did the trick. Mark (Orangebean) still had no drivers seat when I left and Nick (Sloth) proved just how many bits of a P38 you can cram into another one.

One thing we didn't do was line all the cars up for a photo, but hopefully someone will have taken some even if I didn't......

I've just got back from Tesco with a load of burgers, buns for burgers, sausages, and other assorted bits of dead animal. I was running short on charcoal and noticed they had the one use barbies, so I've got a couple of those. Saves having to clean the one outside so it can go in the car.

I'm about to go on the LPG and food run in a few minutes having spent the evening putting back in, then taking out again (because I'd forgotten to re-connect a fibre optic loom) and then putting it back together again, the dash on a Porsche Macan Turbo. In between finding things in the garage and bunging them in the boot. I've got my Windows 2000 laptop with a serial port that lives in the car, an EAS cable, an AEB LPG cable, a Launch C Reader VI OBD scanner and the Nanocom. I'll also have my everyday laptop with me which has RAVE and the software for just about every LPG system ever made.

I'll bung in a pair of Stillsons......

It's losing gas pressure so is acting as though you've run out of gas. Most likely culprit will be a bad connection to a solenoid coil, one of the solenoid coils breaking down or the solenoid plunger sticking. I don't have any spares or you could have come along and we'd have sorted it. Tinley Tech will supply you with a new coil if that's the problem.

You could always arrive running on petrol though.......

When I saw you'd posted in this thread, I thought you were coming over too.......

Looks more like something's clouted it to me. That same one on mine sprung a leak that couldn't be seen. At some point someone had leant on it and bent it slightly so it was touching the inner wing under the airbox. With many miles of vibration it started to chafe through until it developed a pinhole leak. I knew I was losing refrigerant but wasn't sure where from until I saw a puddle of green stuff around the body mounting behind the headlight. Nobody that was breaking a car had one at the time, nobody does an aftermarket part so it had to be genuine LR at around £70!

That's the one to have, not some doggy old Ford Zetec (or even worse, a Kent pushrod motor). If it's the right R1 engine (2005 ish), it'll be running 180 bhp at 12,500 rpm. So more power than your V8 is probably producing in something a fifth of the weight. Mental!!

To check engine codes and live data, I've got one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Launch-Creader-VI-6-OBD2-Fault-Code-Reader-Scanner-Auto-Diagnostic-DIY-Tool/181882872565?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3D747e216b1a624386bd2226ab2faa8889%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D3%26sd%3D221654982685 Obviously it doesn't do as much as the Nanocom which can connect to all the other P38 systems, but it will do the engine stuff on a P38 and virtually every other car too. I bought it to replace an old U581 code reader (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/U581-CAN-OBD2-Car-Diagnostic-Scanner-EOBD-Scan-Tool-Engine-Fault-Code-Reader-UK-/162113010395?hash=item25beb03adb:g:ywYAAOSwGIRXamcW) as it can also do Japanese OBD and my daughter has a Jap import Toyota MRS Roadster but have since found that being able to look at live data as a graph makes it far easier than just looking at numbers. The live data will show you the sort of things you need to know, fuel temp, air temp, air flow, etc. It will also show you fault codes and allow you to clear them too. About the only thing it can't do is reset the adaptive values.

Hmm, that sounds fun. What motor is in it?

Why are you taking the steering shaft off now? Normally you only need to take it off to give access to the manifold bolts but as it looks like you took the head off with the manifold still attached, so you don't need to.

The carbon build up looks like it's been burning some oil. There's one that is worse than the others (2nd from the left in the photos, number 3 cylinder) and that same cylinder is a darker colour on the head too. I suppose it's possible the rings are getting tired, or, more likely from the state of the rest of the engine, the oil control ring is gummed into it's groove. From the general blackness in the valley, it seems oil changes and decent quality oil, are two things your engine hasn't seen very often in the past.

Check all the connectors you've had off, fuel temp, coolant temp, air intake temp, MAF sensor, etc. I had something similar when I first got mine (with a blown head gasket) and one of the wires to the air intake temperature plug had broken off where it goes into the moulded on plug. I was able to cut the plastic moulding away with a Stanley knife and solder the broken wire to the remains of the bit sticking out of the plug. If it's OK until it warms up, it would suggest a dodgy connection on one of the temp sensors.

It's the English early defences. If you were in South Lanarkshire you were heading south and we thought you were going to invade......

There's not much I need to do on mine, I'm there more to lend a hand/tools/moral support. Other half has decided she wants to come and be on hand for brake pedal pushing, switch twiddling, computer screen/Nanocom watching while someone else twiddles and anything that doesn't require any great mechanical knowledge, just a second person. It was her suggestion to bung a BBQ in the back of the car. As she said, once a bunch of blokes start mucking about with cars, nobody will even think about food.

From the point of view of little jobs, I've a few that need doing at some point before I do yet another run around Europe but nothing that is urgent so I could do them there or could leave them until later. I do need the odd part though. I need a drivers side heater blower. My old one died of overuse (brushes were non-existent) so I got one from eBay and fitted it. Didn't seem to make a lot of difference and when I checked it's a passenger side one so rather than blow air into the car, it just shoves the air that the passenger one sucks in back out again. I also need a seat belt socket for the smaller part of the rear seat as the plastic surround has broken off. But, as I've got a dark grey cloth interior the plastic surround is dark grey so probably a different colour to the ones used in cars with the posh leather interior. So if anyone (Sloth?) is bringing a few bits, they would be appreciated.

Oh yes, and I've got dancing locks whenever the weather is hot but I've got the microswitches to replace the ones in my drivers door latch anyway, it's just a case of getting around to fitting them.

Eventually. I speak from experience after spending a day grovelling on the floor working on a Bentley and then getting in to move it. The white leather drivers seat took on a decidedly different colour to the other seats......

If there's a build up of leak fixing gloop, then it was trying to do what it is claimed to do and plugging a gap, so that would make sense. Getting coolant into the inlet passages would allow it into the combustion chamber but whether the fuel/air mixture in the manifold would manage to go the other way, I've no idea. I would have thought it wouldn't but I suppose it depends on how sensitive the testing stuff is.