I was hoping to avoid cutting the vents. I know it's not visible but I'd know it had been done!

Unless I get in there and find someone has cut them before me but I reckon if have noticed when I fitted my radio and when I went looking for a rain water leak.

Does that mean the steering column MUST come out to take the dash out? I'd rather cut the vents than mess with the steering column.

I fitted an Airtex one last November, no complaints so far.

It was a metal impeller but the design was different to the stock one. The stock one looked like some kind of solid brass (or some other brown-ish metal) lump.

The Airtex one looks folded to shape from a flat sheet of steel. The Airtex came with a rubberised paper gasket in the box - not all pumps do.

Just doing a little reading up to see what needs to come out to get at my blend motors and heater core temperature sensor. Obviously the dashboard is in the way so I'm looking at the RAVE instructions for taking that out.

RAVE says that the steering column needs to come - is that strictly necessary or is one of those things that just gives a little extra room?

Welcome :)

What's the exotica?

I don't imagine the P38 systems have an unused connection for a coolant level sensor to plug in and give suitable warning in the dash do they?

If mine was going to settle it would have done so by now :)

I did my gaskets last October.

My coolant must be going somewhere but it's doing it in such small quantities that it's not leaving any evidence. Before the gasket swap I was getting through a 5l bottle of ready mixed coolant every 2-3 weeks. Now I'm topping up an inch or so every 2-3 weeks. Its possible that's where my "natural settle" point is that you mentioned - but I'm not brave enough to leave it and find out! Once or twice it has dropped lower than that if I've not checked for a while.

I need to buy some more UV dye and get checking.

I forgot to mention that I do see the occasional red drop and crusty residue around the join in the heater hose where my LPG system is linked in.

I saw someone on Facebook mention something about a BMW header tank with a level sensor that fits bit I'm not sure how the retro fit works or which BMW it comes from. It's on the never ending list of things to look at :P

I got a UV light last year and it worked a treat. Had to dump some dye in the tank though. Showed me the route the coolant leak was taking but it disappeared behind a bunch of components I couldn't see past.

I did need to do it at night, not dark enough during the day.

I've done my headgaskets and my coolant level is still dropping - although its doing it a LOT slower than it was before I did the gaskets. I can't see any evidence of a leak on the underside of the car. No puddles after parking up either.

There's no emulsion in the oil cap and no steam out the back.

The only sign of any coolant being where coolant shouldn't be is from the threads between the layers of rubber in the brand new top hose I fitted. I have dots of crusty red stuff around the end of the pipe where the reinforcing threads are. The only way I can come up with for how coolant is coming out through the threads is for the inner layer of rubber to be split :(

My initial leak was REALLY hard to find even though it was leaving a lot of coolant visible on the oil filter and bottom of the engine. I had to strip all of the ancillaries off the front of the engine and then pressurise the system. It was a tiny leak coming out of the head gasket at the very front of the engine. I never actually saw it leaking from there but arrived at HG through process of elimination. I knew where I could see a droplet forming from underneath and ruled out everything above the HG. Decided it had to be the HG, changed them both and the leak went away.

Morat wrote:

I was originally a bit disappointed by the OEM exhaust noise but now I really like how quiet it is, and outside the car there's a really deep sub-woofer feel to it :)

I'm a little disappointed in the sound from inside the cabin. I agree it sounds nice from the outside - but I'm not out there!

I'm paying the fuel bills for a V8 - it's not for the aural benefit of pedestrians, I want to hear it myself :P

I had a look underneath to see if there's anywhere to fit one of the electronic cut out switches. Wondered if there was a way to wire it in to the TPS to have it open at a certain throttle position so it wasn't noisy all the time but I couldn't see a suitable place underneath :(

What's it like out on the road? Does it drone or is it ok?

Maybe go over them a small wire brush attachment in a Dremel?

What's the reverse disc tool?

That sounds nice :)

Was it this one? eBay

If you find yourself in need of a sat nav screen I have the one I took out of mine when the DSP amp died.

The sat nav worked fine, I just lost all audio as Chris said.

Sorry, I misread the question!

When I did mine I got quite a lot out.

I bought a 10L bottle just in case I needed the full amount - it took a lot but not the whole bottle. I'll see if it's still in the shed somewhere and try to estimate how much is left in it.

I did mine cold.

There's a section earlier in the manual called "Lubricants, Fluids and Capacities". I agree it would be helpful if it listed the capacities along with the repair instructions :P

9.7 litres or 20.5 US pints.

There is a disclaimer at the top that says these are approximate values and to check the procedure for checking the level. For the facelift models I believe this is "fill it until it leaks out of the filler hole".

Level ground, engine running, fill it up, run through the gears, fill some etc until full.

I don't know why but I never think to do that!

My first thought is always to to ask on the forum.

Is that Y filter the one I need or just an example of one?

Just filters to replace then. Cheers :)

Looking down the list of kit fitted to my car (from the invoice) it lists Valtek Filter Solenoid and 1-2 Y Gas Vapour Filter.

Would these be the only two filters in the system?

Leak test shouldn't be too difficult.

I'm not far off the system needing it's annual service so might as well order the parts for that at the same time

What needs replacing in an LPG system and what needs checking?

Sounds like an ideal candidate for when I replace my blower motors. Might as well pre-emptively do the o-rings while I'm there!

Going to be a busy year under/in the P38 this year!

Ball joints, heater stuff, suspension bushes...

That looks a lot nicer than the glossy wood the rest of us got!

And, based on the name, I'm guessing it's in the side of the heater core in the depths of the dashboard?