I recently bought a 2001 ford ka, 51k miles and after a couple of days noticed that it was loosing coolant, started a whining noise a couple of days ago and have been told by the garage that the whole steering rack is bad and quoted more than £400!!! the car cost just twice that.

is it possible the previous owner didnt know?? i feel i have been deceived.

what are my options? i am a complete novice with cars!!!

gonna, May 2009

Yes, I've just been informed of the same problem. I've had the car for over 5 years but only have 30,000 miles on the clock. I've also got it serviced yearly at the main Ford dealers where I bought it and less than a month after the last service it started to leak : they presented me with a £700 quote for new steering rack - or fail the MOT! (I'd already spent £500 on the service). Apparently it is a weakness as the car reaches a certain age.

Thunderbird1, July 2010