Anyone have any experience of cleaning up a aluminium cylinder head -
particularily removing the old engine oil and other crap from the inside,
and cleaning out the hydraulic lifters? What would you use to ensure that
any steel parts don't rust?

Laguna 2 - unable to open fuel filler flap.
There is power and "noise" from the mechanism when actuated.
The plastic rod with ring on the end  protruding from the locking mechanism
can be moved freely - I'm assuming that it's the manual release.

The car has done 50K and I'm pretty sure it still has the original
clutch. The symptoms are, a heavy/sticky clutch pedal action and
difficulty finding the gears - it seems to get worse as the car warms
up. One important thing to note here is that the clutch does *not*

I'm hearing a ticking sound from my 98 Escort (1.6 Zetec).  It can be
heard both inside and outside the car with the engine running and
appears to be coming from the engine itself, since it is present
whether or not the car is in motion.

I feel compelled to post this.
I think the whole thing has been taken way OTT! It's a disgrace the girl is
missing, but fundamentally no parent leaves a kid on their own to go out,
have a couple of bevvies and a dinner, especially when on holiday!

I've got the seat belt trapped in the door TWICE when getting out of the
car - once was me, the other time was our lad.  The seat belt button
thingies - they're the little plastic button things that stop the seta belt
buckle from sliding down to the floor - are now snapped and ...

is it possible to remove oil filter on 98 rover 600 without putting
car on ramps? if so , how?

I appear to have oil coming from the transmission to the part of the
drive shaft that directly connects into the transmission on my Punto (MK
II).
I've removed a drive shaft before using the process in Haynes.  They

I have a fiesta auto, and have just found out that the heater blower
switch only works on to two fast speeds
i had a similar thing happen on a mondeo and replaced a certain part.
but not sure how to repair the fiesta  has anyone got any ideas for me

Symptom 1:The brakelights come on with the headlights (side, dipped & full
beam)
Symptom 2: When the headlights are off the sidelights (& brakelights) come on
when the brake is used.

Well, my wife's cylinder head is off now (2001 1.4 Rover K Series), but it
turns out there is no obvious damage to the gasket - in fact the only thing
I can see is a 5mm section of silicone bead is not bonded to the gasket, but
the bead section is completely intact.

Just tried to check the oil in my wife's Citroen C3 1.4HDi Diesel and
found the bottom 5cm of the dipstick (the bit with the oil graduations)
missing. It seems to have just broken off.
Should I just get a new dipstick and not worry about the old bit or

A friend of mine has a 8 month old Vauxhall Mariva.
His back LCD light has failed on the milometer?
It is under warranty, but they want to charge him £105 as they say bulbs are
not included in the warranty...

I was browsing ebay and came across this and it says it has no cambelt ? is
this true ?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1995-FORD-ESCORT-ENCORE-1-3_W0QQitemZ180115615345QQihZ008Q
QcategoryZ9844QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The missus and I had a look round the Kit Car show at Stoneleigh on
Monday and amongst other things saw the 'Fuel Cat' stuff being
demonstrated (special pellets in a gauze tube you drop into yer fuel
tank on an 'in-line' alternative).