st3ph3n

Cheers Baz.

Will try this tomorrow if I get a chance baz. Any oil in particular? Olay? Crisp'n'dry? Snake?

Haven't had a chance to sort this yet. Here's another symptom though - the steering gets heavy at different parts of the turning circle. Sometimes right from centre its heavy, other times it's okay there but heavier further round. I'm not going to have a chance to get it to a proper garage until next week, but does that sound like the pump's not right?

I was always under the impresson that on the STI the space saver didn't fit the front. Maybe when they went to the bigger PCD that was solved?

Right - couldn't shift the pulley at all which I guess means that it's trying to drive the engine? Fluid levels look absolutely bang on too. Tyres - Front pax one was down at 20psi. Possibly a slow puncture maybe so will need to monitor that in the next few days. Put air in and checked the rest. Didn't appear to make a difference when I went for a quick spin but its not like the difference I'm feeling is a huge one anyway. Had someone turn the wheel whilst car was running with bonnet up. Certainly there's a noise being emitted when the wheel is turned. I've nothing to reference it against as I've never went listening to it before so it could just be the noise the pump makes normally or maybe it is louder. So either the pump itself is on its way out or there's something else wrong - the UJ was mentioned but I couldn't see much wrong down there when I had a look but I can't claim to be a reliable source of "yes that's fine".

I'll look down in that direction too. I'm assuming the belt should have little to no play on it as it's under tension? Where would one find it also I'm slowly realising the problem of practicing all my spannering on what is a tube frame with an engine strapped to it - the lack of auxillaries to fidget with and learn about.

Is pump or belt replacement a big job then? I'm guessing it'll be located in some sort of wholly awkward place! As I say - it's only in the last few days it's got heavier. It's not like it's driving as if there is no power steering.

I got from Larkhall to Lanark to Banbury and had about 10-15 litres left. 325 miles or so.

Mine is an MY05 WRX. Fluid check will be done on Saturday morning.

It's all useful information!

You've had more cars than Tiger Woods has had mistresses. Well done.

Any good "numpties" guides to the power steering system in a WRX? It's dark and wet when I get home just now so it's waiting until Saturday morning. The first thing I thought was fluid given the large number of properly cold to hot cycles my car would have went through in the last few months. Should mention it was MOTd in late November with no issues spotted.

In the last few days (hard to put a number on it) my steering seems to have gotten heavier when going beyond a quarter turn. At least I think it has and it's not my imagination. It feels the same in either direction too as far as I can decide. The car itself appears to be handling absolutely fine. I feel no vibrations and it seems to drive as straight as normal - usually a wee bit to the left on most roads but that's fairly normal when the roads are cambered. Tyre wear appears to be even across the two fronts which are 6 month-ish old Toyos. Pressures were checked fairly recently and were fine too. I will do them again when I get the chance. So what could it be - power steering fluid or pump perhaps? Anything obvious I'm missing out on? Thanks!

Somewhere there's a man at shell reading this project and knowing that his job is safe and well forever.

Try contacting the debt collector and explaining why you think its an unjust action. I had great joy when NTL tried to get some money off me a few years ago. They claimed I owed them for internet access that I'd cancelled - and that they'd not billed me for in 12 months. Every time I wrote to them I got the same cut and paste letter back, even asking specifically for them to address my issues and not send the same letter back. Once the debt collection letter came in I phoned that company up, told the guy what NTL were up to with the correspondence etc. and he immediately cancelled it all and apologised.

What you planning for this season John?

http://jalopnik.com/5456977/ken-blocks-new...onstrously-cool Now that's a good looking car. That's the American spec Fiesta. I'm sure the Focus will get an equally cool paint scheme. If the guys going to M Sport see it - do post pics!

Fill yer boots - http://www.epson.jp/nakajima/craft/index.htm First one to make all the paper models wins.

It's actually piss easy. At least in here it is anyway. I probably need to moderate something that's not just a mistake about 5 times a year.

Welcome along kids

7.5 miles is nothing. The A77 stretch is much much longer. TBH - I think on some roads they're fairly legit things. I imagine that road in London is death trap. The A77 was a road for kamakaze driving but with all its recent upgrades it didn't really require the SPECS. I was down in Birmingham last weekend and we went through loads of SPECs on the M6 - all in roadworks. Most of these roadworks were not manned in the slightest either. There was another road on the way to the NEC that wasn't covered with SPECs, but about every 3rd gantry had cameras on them, and it was variable speed limit too. I think we're probably lucky up here!

I had something similar and it was the boot. Moving the lock mechanism a few mil made the seal tighter and there was no rattles

This thread's useful - looking back it shows the first real falls in the central belt on the 17th which was the Thursday, then it rained on the Saturday morning and then in the afternoon it dumped a ton of snow down. That was the last time I saw tarmac in my street.

More motorsport than scooby related, but still - "Truth in 24" is a documentary about the Audi Le Mans project. Produced by NFL films (yes of the American Football type) so the cinematography and production values are second to none. Jason Statham narates too. Properly excellent film. I should say that you need an American iTunes account for this. You can create one though by "buying" a free item when browsing the US store. It's a bit of a faff but I forgot I was logged into my American account earlier when I spotted this film.

Focus in the WRC and the new Fiesta in the American Championship. Be interesting to see what events he does - full campaign or not etc. I hope a bit of American interest might drive the other manufacturers back.