Got a 1994 Seat Ibiza, 1.9 diesel, power steering...and the steering's
making a loud creaking noise whenever the steering wheel's over to the left.
Sounds like the door being opened on a haunted house, if you get my drift.
Appears to only be doing it when the car's moving, but ...

i have a vauxhall astra california and it keeps overheating, i cant see
any leaks anywhere and i had to keep refilling it,it sounded like the
water that was left was bubbling, could it be anything to do with the
fan?

What are the plus's and minuses of an automatic gearbox? Take into
account weather, ice snow, increase fuel consumption and anything else
u can think of.
Is a manual gearbox better? Which do you prefer?

Ive got a 53 ford focus 1.6 with just under 25k on it.
Recently its started making funny noises. I know pretty much nothing
about cars but would like to get some idea what this might be.
When pulling away in first gear i get a groaning noise coming from

Flat batteries.
Runny noses.
New water pumps.
Numb fingers.

Hmm, Ok changed the thermostat and after breaking the bleed screw on
the top hose (which has been replaced).  Im getting little or no heat
from the heater.  Can i presume that the heater matrix is blocked, and
require a flush.  Would a cleaner help?

I've just had my pristine (well, it was before some bloke in a van hit
it from behind) car deemed as being a write off.  The insurers have
given me a value for it, but I've now been told I get to keep the car.
Now - I don't really want an undriveable car sitting outside of my

Any views guys?
I've just had my Fabia serviced and the fuel consumption has risen by
around 10%.
The only two things that I believe could have caused it are new tyres on

The Golf's playing up. Must be because I've polished it.
When the oil's warmed up to 80 degrees C or so, the oil pressure lamp comes
on if
the engine's allowed to idle. Rev it at all, and it goes back off.

I have a question below about grandfather's 93 dodge caravan / plymouth
voyager. Its a 3.3 and the serpentine / drive belt has 6 groves running the
length of it if that helps.
Is this the appropriate newsgroup to post a repair question or is there a

J reg. 1600 petrol 5-speed Cavalier saloon. Changing up through
N/1st./2nd. it's sometimes hard to get it in gear. Changing down,
ditto. Sometimes a slight crunch changing gear. No other nasty
noises. I put some oil in the gearbox a while ago, but the

My brand new Navara developed a noise from the rear, possibly wheel
bearings.  It now sits back at the main dealers and I have been told I
will not get it back for at least a 3 weeks! Apparently there is some
difficulty obtaining parts.

I have an S-reg Octavia 1.6 and the windscreen wipers are on the blink,
well, not that they won't work, but they are reluctant to stop wiping,
which is a bit irritating.
I can't figure out if it's some sensor in the wiper mechanism or the

The guy in Kwikfit told me that the limit  for car tyres tread depth of
1.6mm is changing soon,. Can anyone confirm or deny this ? I can't find
anything on google, was it just because the cheeky chappy wanted to
sell me more tyres ?

The aircon on my Megane 1.8DCi has stopped working.  The light on the
switch still comes on and the normal air-circulating fan still works but
there's no cooling effect and the tell-tale slight lowering of engine
speed doesn't happen.