Happy new year folks,
Just want to run this theory past you - be very grateful for any ideas...
Re: my car in the subject line: The engine fault light went through a phase
of coming on after a run of about 10 miles. It always cleared after turning

CDX climate control is blowing barely warm air.Car is warming up ok but
heating is not working. I've changed the control unit with another from a
breakers today but to no avail.
In fact it's probably got worse. With the original unit,when manually

Whenever I leave the car standing for more than 5 days without driving
it the battery is completely flat, and I need to jumpstart it. After
the battery has been recharged it starts without any problems again.
The battery is brandnew, so that can't be the problem.

I went out in the car ( L reg Mondeo) this morning and after a few hundred
yards heard and felt  a thud like qwhen you run over something and it
catches the underside of the car.
I took no notice as I thought that was what happened but 10 miles further

Have you seen pictures of the new Mondeo? It's absolutely massive.

Does this engine look worn for 90k? I have had cars with a lot higher
mileage and the engine didnt seem to look as worn as this.
http://i4.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/80/d4/bc62_12.JPG
Here is the rest of the car

Hi the Zafira we have has been run on fully synthetic by the previous
owner from new (1999 80K)
it goes through it a bit between changes, and I was wondering can I
put semi synthetic in it now its been run on fully for so long? , I was

Mini City  ³C² Reg.  jan 86
42000 on the clock
Returning home on New years eve within a space of 5 minutes it became
impossible to change down to first or second.  I could just about get it

I've got a 1999 astra 2.0 sri 16V which has an odd gearbox problem.
When the engine is cold, it's very hard to change gears; I have to
force it into gear. There's no crunching sound from any gear so I
assume the syncromesh etc is working. Once the engine is at normal

I've been having problems recently with the car failing to start, presumably
due to a flat battery. It hasn't been completely devoid of power, but when
you turn the key you get a grinding noise.
This has happened twice recently, both times when I've been away on holiday.

I'll say this straight, usually I don't give a monkeys about tyres, but I
had 2 tyres fitted to son's car the other day - not happy, they seem sh.t.
The car's not great as it is, 1.6 Escort year X-reg, but understeer is
apparent now, which it never was. 2 new continental ...

I have a 1996 416 rover which is a good runner but now it will not
start on the starter motor. It will bump start OK and runs fine. The
battery is less than 4 months old I have  put on a different starter
and have a good earth onto to the body. What else should I look at ?

Has anyone had experience of fitting the powerflex bushes to the rear
subframe of their car ?

The car was purchased privately during the summer this year and it has been
running fine but now the winter is here the windows are constantly steamed
up and I always need the heaters on full blast, can anyone help please?
I've never come across this problem before.

The aux socket in the front of my new astra has a few chargers and gubbins
plugged in. Even with its huge Diesel battery this discharged itself over
Xmas and the AA had to be called.
Is there a way of making the socket only live upon ignition??. I can not