Hi, i hope you can help.

Below i have listed the problems I've had with my car or I'm having with the car.

About 6 months ago an orange light on dashboard came on, alternator replaced Then the car began losing power on going up hills. I have to go up a hill to work so put this down to maybe a cold engine or cold weather. During this power loss the orange light came on again and battery light also came on, on the dashboard and the car would stall/cut out, hence leaving me with no power steering as this would fail to work when the engine had cut out. Car went back to the mechanic who had fitted the alternator. I was told it was loose wiring and it cost me £40 to have this sorted.

Temperature gage indicator on dashboard shows temp is what i would consider ok when i first start to drive the car, then this temperature indicator soon gets to halfway on the dashboard. I have topped the radiator water bottle up endless times. On one occasion there was a real awful smell, the way i would describe this smell was chemically, which was that bad it even stung my eyes whilst i was driving the car and windows were closed.

I was driving the car the other night when i had to wait in traffic lights, the car was stationary but seemed odd on tick over. Instead of being sat in the car and not really noticing the engine on, the car seemed to have a slight bouncing feel to it whilst on tick over sat at traffic lights.

Tonight i have re-filled the radiator water bottle and checked the oil as i do religiously. I then turned the ignition, the very same orange light came on the dashboard as mentioned above, the car wouldn't start, i left it for 5 minutes then it started with a little persuasion. Ive driven my car round the block to park it up this evening and the window was down, i could smell another awful smell but different from the one that prompted me to investigate under the bonnet as regards the radiator water bottle. I stopped the car, got out and had a look at the exhaust to see if what i was seeing were steam vapors as it is a cold night. It was smoke. I then got back in the car to then see smoke puthering out from either side of the bonnet along with smoke still coming from the exhaust. I have noticed since the alternator was replaced the car seems to have had endless trouble. I'm not saying its down to the alternator but as a rough guess as to how long my car has been having these problems which would be for 6 months on and off.

I also notice that when i start the car first time, morning, afternoon or evening, more often than not there is a gurgling sound as though water is traveling round my engines pipes.

I have an idea what it could be but would like your expert opinion on this problem.

The make of my car is a vauxhall tigra, S reg

Thank you.

Cheryl, January 2011

I know nothing much about motor cars - certainly modern ones - I would begin by finding a new mechanic. He appears to have mis-diagnosed an alternator problem and then made a wiring error when changing it.

Peccavi, January 2011

would start with trying to find out where your water is going,if you cant see any leaks then you must be losing the water internally,suspect head gasket if this is so,dont know why your alternator was changed firstly when your orange light came on,your mechanic must have had a reason,would maybe get a code reader onto it for a look at faults stored,did you have plenty of a/freeze in your coolant system during the cold spell?if you were continually topping up with water the mixture would be diluted and would be prone to freezing which could cause major damage to your engine

cdc, January 2011