1999 Vauxhall Zafira Elegance from UK and Ireland - Comments

I have a 2001 Zafira Comfort Automatic, I have just had the ECU replaced at a cost of £415, and now the spanner light comes on; apparently it now needs a new throttle body, which will cost £400... But the car drives fine with no loss of power at all.

2001 (Y plate) Zafira 1.6 Club. 78k miles on the clocks.

Not had the spanner symbol, but I have had a quirky problem - Driving along the other week when the car suddenly mis-fired with a jolt, at the same time the temperature gauge dropped completely (cold). All the heating in the car was still on, so I knew I still had coolant (but stopped and checked anyway).

Finished the journey with a couple more mis-fires and the temp gauge still flat on the bottom. Came back to the car an hour later and it refused to start - would fire, but then die immediately. Car eventually started nearly another hour later, still nothing on the temp gauge and mis-fired a few more times on the return to home. Next morning however the car started fine, temp gauge working normally! Very odd, anyone had that one happen?

Vauxhall were asking £70 just to retrieve the error codes, since the car was now working okay again I didn't bother.

This week I've had two mornings where the car was difficult to start, would start then die 3 or 4 times so I've ordered a code reader rather than let Vauxhall touch the car - reader was all of £12 from a local car parts shop; pick it up tonight on my way home.

Can't otherwise fault the car really, it serves its purpose well; we've put 40k on the clock since we bought it and only had normal wear-and-tear parts needed.

I have a Zafira 1.8 club 02 plate driving it today emissions light came on, felt a very small jolt just before no loss of power. Got it home topped up with Oil as this thing uses gallons, light still on though. going to part ex it ASAP fed up of oil and fuel consumption Vauxhalls thanks, but no thanks only bought it in feb what a lemon!!!

I've a Zafira 1.8 Elegance, just towed my caravan to the South of France and back again with 27MPG, 38000 on the clock, running like a dream, 45MPG on the motorway solo when last week the temp gauge suddenly dropped to 70'C with a slightly uneven engine running, but not misfire. MPG still 45 to the gallon and full power, but the engine management light came on just before I got home off the motorway, but will not go out. The car is on the drive and not going to be driven anywhere until I can get a rough idea of what has happened as this is a brilliant car in my eyes. I will add though that the exhaust came loose at the centre junction 2 weeks ago as if pressure had built up in the centre box and I'm wondering whether the cat has blown to pieces and screwed up the emissions. Don't reckon this is going to be a cheap one to fix though. Any ideas anyone ?

I have an X-reg Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 petrol engine which I bought second-hand last January. Now has c 70,000 on the clock, and just yesterday, the spanner light came on as I was doing 60-65 mph on the open road. I stopped the car, consulted the manual, (but couldn't actually see any explanation for this light coming on), restarted the car and continued my journey (c 15 miles) with no light going on again. This morning, however, I was on the motorway (c 70 mph); the spanner light came on, and there was a momentary loss of power so I pulled over, topped up with oil, added some coolant and continued on my way with the spanner light now off and no further problems.

I am taking the car to my local mechanic tomorrow, but what a find this website is! Thanks to all the comments I've read, I've been able to inform myself (and therefore my mechanic) as to what needs to be fixed; it seems like it could be the EGR valve and, if so, this website, with its record of various drivers' experiences may have saved me a heck of a lot of money--so thanks everyone! It's a shame that so many people have lost out financially through not knowing the cause (and I may yet be one of them) and Vauxhall clearly have a lot to answer for, but it's great to be able to go to the garage and be able to assist the mechanic by offering him/her the benefit of other peoples' experiences.

Most spanner light problems are caused by Exhaust gas recirculation valve (EGR) remove clean or replace two bolts easy. A cheap ebay OBD11 tester is a must. This connects to a plug under the panel under the hand brake.

I sold my early Corsa GSI 16v (bought new) at 2 yrs old because of repeated engine management problems which the dealers simply were incapable of even diagnosing correctly, never mind fixing. They got to the stage where they said they would need to start replacing parts "at random" (at my cost) in the hope of finding the cause of its intermittent rough running / surging / engine management light on problem. Because there were no fault codes logged in the ECU, they simply shrugged and handed the car back still broken, less a £50 (even back then) "diagnostic fee".

This shocking state of affairs was 11 years ago - it seems little has improved since then. And to think, I was nearly tempted back into a Vauxhall recently...

I bought a Zafira on a 51 plate 12 months ago after 4 months of ownership our dreaded light came on was told by the Vauxhall dealer it is possibly the valves due to the loss in power we kept driving it without rectifying the fault which now we wish we never did due to the car overheating and all orange thick stuff coming out of the water tank. We then decided enough is enough its got to be done only to find the turbo had gone and the head gasket had gone needed 3 weeks in the garage.

BUT

that's not it when we had it back the light was still on and the mechanic advised us all mechanical work is done it must be electrical take to vauxhall to have a tech2 test done.

Which we done today and the codes was p0400 the worst 1 of all we now need a air flow meter and a EGR valve and they say that the other code was p1635 our glow plugs need doing also, but the mechanic prior to Vauxhall said they was OK so beware with Vauxhall some things maybe OK. In total up to now we have spent close on £3000 once the stuff today is done.

So my advise is if you get the light on get it sorted straight away don't hold off like us!!

I have a Zafira 2.0 Dti 53 plate from new and has just 42K on the clock. Since last summer I have the engine management remain on after start; to go off after about 1/2 mile. I wrote to Haynes for advice about the glow plugs, but they suggested lots of other 'expensive' problems; glow plugs would be a problem around 80K.

I decided to have my local garage change the glow plugs yesterday and was quite satisfied when I started the car, on this damp and cold morning, that the light extinguished after the engine fired.

What made me consider glow plugs was because, if I cycled the glow plugs three times before starting, the engine management extinguished on start up.

I have never experienced loss of power when the light was on and get a good 46MPG.

I am shocked about Bristol lady in the fast lane at 55 with a light on. What are you on love?

My vauxhall zafira engine management lights on. It runs well; no loss of speed or power. It has been like this for about 2 months. Can anyone tell me the main cause please?

Ha! Very interesting reading.

After a fair amount of research, today I bought a used Zafira 2006 Comfort Import in Mexico, perfect condition, 19,000km with the 2.2lt Ecotec engine.

Driving home on the highway, hit the 'sport' button to see what it would do, the engine jumped up above 4000 rpm with a nice surge of power, then the engine management light (sprocket wrench) came on and lost power. I could not get the automatic transmission to respond by down shifting so pulled over and restarted the engine, then all was fine until I went to pass: with acceleration above 4000 rpm, the engine management light comes on and sometimes I lose power, sometimes not.

Called the prior owner and he denied ever seeing the warning light. Tried to get a tester reading at a local garage, but they could not find the computer socket in the car for the tester. Where is it? Off I go to the dealer tomorrow. Any advice is appreciated. mexitim@gmail.com.

Please note in my prior comment, meant to say car with a 'spanner' through it, not 'sprocket'. mexitim.

I too have a problem with a 2.0DTi 51 plate. Problem started eight months ago. On motorway going up hill the engine warning light came on and I lost power. It was then difficult to get above 50mph and 3000 rpm for the rest of the journey (or 40mph when going up hill). This is obviously extremely dangerous, especially when driving at speed on the motorway. The only way to fix the problem was to stop the car, switch the engine off and reset the electronics, this reset the warning light and regained all power, until next hill on motorway. The fault was so reproducible that I could reproduce the fault on the same stretch of motorway every time. Vauxhall main dealer was very helpful. The fault code was non-specific so they had the car over eight days changing parts (e.g. air flow meter) and road testing the car on the same stretch of motorway. They eventually cured the problem by cleaning the air inlet manifold. Unfortunately the problem returned intermittently four months later and is now back permanently. I can reproduce the fault on the same stretch of motorway as before. The car was back in the Vauxhall main dealer again for two days and they could not find anything specifically wrong, so I currently still have the fault. I have contacted General Motors Customer Service who took my concerns very seriously and have searched for a Field Remedy. However, their Technical Department has advised that this fault has never previously been reported and so they have closed the call. If those of you with EXACTLY the same fault could send me details I will collate and send to Vauxhall for their investigation. Even better if you know the solution. You can contact me at <zafira.owner@hotmail.co.uk> Other than the problem above I think the car is great.

Hi wonder if any one can help me the engine management light comes on occasionally then goes out after a minute been OK a while now it starts up great first thing in a morning after that won't fire up 1st time try about 5 times & its OK.have had it diagonised, but no error cord thanks.

Update on the 2006 2.2L Zafira in Mexico: as others have written, I could reproduce the Engine Management Warning light (car with spanner through it) by accelerating above 4000rpm with subsequent loss in power, resolved by turning the engine off and restarting; took it to the dealer and nothing (including no history) showed up on the scanner even while driving and getting the warning light to come on (although having the scanner attached seemed to correct the problem, ie the car/power fine). All systems (including EGR, levels, etc) were fine on the scanner as were the wiring circuits, hence conclusion: bad computer. Now waiting for it to be replaced; will see if that cures the problem. Since so many entries with similar problem, I doubt the factory is unaware.