stearing please help

You could try seeing if the power steering fluid needs topping up. It might be leaking a bit.

If it's not leaking much then you might be able to just top it up every now and then and live with it.

You can get special magic power steering fluid that's supposed to fix the leaks although it didn't work for me when I tried it.

It sounds like the alternator. The light comes on if it's not charging the battery like it should.

It's an Astra, it's tinny, it's going to make a tinny noise. The whining could be the power steering if it's got no fluid in it.

I'm basing this on the assumption that it's a belt-driven power steering pump, but I think actually some cars these days have electric power steering, in which case maybe it's related somehow to the electrical problems.

You said it had been standing for a while. That probably wasn't very good for the battery, but the car might not be all bad.

I counted 26 (barring lack of spaces and punctuation)

Any advance on that ?

"Colin Wilson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net...

As 2 items are affected I'd say the accessory belt needs tensioning or replacing.

The alternator drive belt sounds like it's about to die/undertensioned. If that or the alternator's dead that's what killed the battery & if the belts slipping then the power steering won't work. Try a different garage with more of a clue.

Thank goodness someone else pointed it out first. 27 excluding the punctuation. I can't face reading it again. Perhaps people should look at the title of the newsgroup, uk might give a clue as to what language we expect?

-- Malc

'i didn't gwna bwyll i mewn Cymraeg ai

=A0

Heh! So long as it's properly written Welsh.

-- Malc

Find a bridge and jump off it. Someone who is so dumb they can't even spell their own name correctly, not even considering unbelievable s**te in the content above, is too stupid to live.

Or are you just another of those lazy dumbass texters?

Come back when you've learned how to post in proper English.

And they can't even spell their name properly.

It's got electric power steering. Once the battery voltage drops to a certain level, or a fault with the alternator is detected, the electric assistance cuts off.

But amusingly the extra load it puts on the electrics makes the belt slip :-)

It is, and you need it !