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Hi Jack :)

I have two questions
My car is a 1987 ford laser - I recently had my rear wheel bearing on the right replaced...now there seems to be an error with the light that comes on for my handbrake ... this light is staying on for most of the time while I am driving even though the handbrake is off? Is there a reason for this and is it easily fixed?

My other question is regarding my cars performance when the engine is cold - it seems to take an excessively long time to warm up and sometimes when it is really cold my car engine will just turn off when I have for example stopped to wait at the lights ... It does have a manual choke and I always use it when the engine is cold but for the most part the car just seems to run better with the choke out all of the time. Is this just because it is an old car or is there something cost efficient that I can do to improve its performance?

The first check is to have a look at the brake fluid level in the Brake Master Cylinder. Often the handbrake warning light also works as a fluid level indicator for the main brake reservoir.

Hopefully there is no brake fluid leakage from the around where the wheel bearing work was done.

It may be something totally unconnected with the wheel bearing repair but you need to get it checked out ASAP.

Regarding the warming up issues, I suspect the best place to start would be with a good old fashion engine tune.

Besides a manual choke and carburettor, there will be a distributor and ignition points set up which needs servicing a couple of times a year depending on annual mileage.

The trick is trying to find a mechanic who remembers just how to carry out a full tune on a vehicle of this age. A tune-up on a modern electronically controlled engine really only consists of checking the spark plugs and air cleaner element.