1999 Vauxhall Zafira Elegance from UK and Ireland - Comments

After reading the comments on this site I was dreading the worse has my zafira had loss of power and kangerooed for first few minutes of driving.Wasn't prepared to pay dealership 70 quid to maybe find fault, luckily mate of mine knew some of the lads at dealership and they said that it would be the mass airflow senser. I was bit worried that I would buy the part and not fix the fault.

The senser cost 60 quid and my mate fitted it for a tenner, i could of fitted it myself as it looked really simple but just wanted the job doing asap. once the senser was fitted it ran like a dream.

Hope this helps.

I would like to see a law passed that makes it illegal for manufacturers to release cars without their dealership staff having a good understanding of how they work, and how to diagnose faults.

Plugging the diagnostic rig in, and shrugging your shoulders is not enough, but that seems to be how most dealerships operate. "No fault found. That'll be 70 quid please sir". It's just not good enough.

What happened to technicians who would jump in and get their hands dirty, and have far too much professional pride to be defeated by a problem? If diagnostics on these engine management systems are beyond the dealership staff, the systems shouldn't be fitted to the cars, or the dealerships should pay more to attract staff with the technical expertise to fix them.

I am pig sick of this outrageous situation which affects all manufacturers, not just Vauxhall. I had a Peugeot 306 which needed eleven dealer visits before they worked out why it would stall at random, and idle erratically. The fault in the end was a simple mechanical one, rather than a management problem, which any mechanic worth his salt should have found within minutes. However, it was clear that my £70 an hour bought the services of staff who had no clue apart from plugging in the magic box and doing what it told them to do. In my case it told them nothing, so nothing is what they did. Ten times.

Something needs to be done about this.

Hi, my zafira (53 plate) came to a sudden halt, with engine cutting out and then being unable to start it again. After checking out the timing belt etc I called out the AA. The man told me it was the starter motor. I managed to bump start it and get it to a garage who today replaced the starter motor, but what I don't understand is why would the car come to a halt if the starter had gone? This just don't make sense, also my informs me that she thought she can hear the motor still turning after she has switched ignition off. Any ideas PLEASE.

We have had a 03 2.0 DTi for the last 12 months, it has been back every month, had every sensor replaced, all the valves. We are on our 3rd turbo etc etc, but still nearly every month it loses power, the engine light comes on.

Bought off a Volkswagen dealership who try to tell us its normal for a car of this age to have this many faults, all connected to the same thing. 11 times we are on now on. Sadly bought on finance, so there's nothing I can do; just have to live with a car the dealership have more than me.

Forgot to say in my comment above, what have other people done about the faults? Would be very interested to know what we can do as I now have a car that's too dangerous to drive.

I left a comment on the 30th of October 2007 it read.

30th Oct 2007, 12:42

I have a zafira 1.6 03plate, started having problems with engine, starts OK and idles, when throttle pushed it staggers to rev, had engine management light up and bought a odb2 reader, reader showed fault, but code unavailable, erased fault and engine returned until throttle pushed then the same problems, took out egr and cleaned and tested with 12v it works fine, changed the lambda sensor £70 with lambda tool £11, no difference, cleaned sparks and carburettor body, no change, thinking problem may be coil pack, but at £50 this could become expensive, has anyone else had the same problems, I really don't want to go to dealers because I know there a rip off and change things just incase it is that! etc, then when problem reoccurs you've paid out for nothing.

Any how I decided to replace the coil pack this worked and the car ran like a dream right up until last week, it now has the same problems its undriveable, I’ve ordered another coilpack and if it works I’m still able to get my money back for the old coilpack because its under warranty, I will post the results, the reason I write this because now I have done extensive research on this problem and come to the conclusion that Vauxhall cannot not know that the coilpack gets damaged too easily probably due to inadequate parts and we the mugs that buy there crap cars have to pay, I’ve seen a lot of reports of faulty maf but the 1.6 engine does seem to have one only a air intake sensor where the mass air flow sensor is on the larger engines, I saw a post which said they were combined but I don’t this is the case, if the new coil pack doesn’t work I will try the earth lead trick, but once again I find this amazing that gm with create a car with deteriorating wiring looms!

I will keep you posted and have results in 2 days. Hopefully this can save some of you from being ripped off by Vauxhall dealerships, p. s anyone reading this with the same problems who thinks this is a complicated job to change the coilpack clean the egr its not its easy.

chris

Coil pack arrived a few hours later, I went about the task of replacing it and cleaned other parts, i.e. sensors and carb, unfortunately the same problem it refused to start, I checked for fuel, (pressure), sparks and lots more, it was only when I removed lambda sensor and tried to start up that it started obviously very noisy but it ran OK except when I revved it up lots of filings flew out from where the lambda sensor hole is, now I don’t know what the filings are but I’m not going to jump to conclusions and say piston rings/bore etc, there seem to be piston pressure but this will have to be tested, when I replaced the lambda sensor the car started straight away but it soon stopped I would imagine part of the exhaust is blocked hence exhaust gases being unable to escape, if you know what these silver filings are for sure could you let me know, I was wondering if it could be part of the cat disintegrated!? oh by the way I now have a brand new coil pack that I can't return because its not faulty so i'll have either sell it here or ebay.

Chris.

OK think I found the fault, because there was nowhere for the exhaust fumes to go I took off the maniverter (combined manifold/catalytic converter) and found broken bits of the catalytic converter everywhere, I’m guessing the filings I found blown out of the lambda sensor hole were parts of the catalytic converter, phew hopefully no blown engine, ordered new one couple hours ago and will have it tomorrow, the cost from Vauxhall £600 I managed to get for £340 inc vat+delivery I will fit tomorrow and post results.

Chris.

I have owned a Zafira 1.6 2003 for the past 3 years and had no problems with it for the first 2 years.

However, the first problems were with it stalling after a long run on the motorway. It would not tick over and it was difficult to restart. I did nothing about it as it was very rare that I did more than a few miles in it. We also found out that if we reduced speed about a mile before we were getting off at a junction the car was more manageable. However the problem has worsened and seems to happen whenever we travel for about 20 minutes at 50+ mph. Not only does it not maintain tick-over it judders and splutters in any gear at any speed and seems to struggle with power loss. Having taken it to a garage the mechanic hooked it up to the computer and found a fault with the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation valve). That was changed for £90 and it was running OK (not brilliant though, lacking speed and occasionally spluttering). I took it back again as I was not happy and it was also very slow to start the engine. The mechanic seemed to recognise the problem and said it was the crank sensor which he changed for £60. The car still didn't start right and occasionally the revs drop so low that it makes a horrible noise as though its going to cut out and the engine seems to over rev to stabilise itself. About 2 weeks passed and the engine light appeared on the dashboard, I took it to the garage again and the mechanic counldn't find a problem but cleared the light and for about another week it has been OK apart from the slow starting, occassional spluttering and juddering when at a steady speed (35mph). Its gone back in again today as the light came back on and the mechanic is keeping it there, he phoned me to say its the coil pack and he will change that for £120 and take the car out for a drive. I hope he finds the problem because I just can't afford to pay out so much money. This car is on finance so I'm stuck with it.

Maybe if the manufacturer had spent more time creating a proper engine and not a bleeding computer we would have had this problem sorted out by now.

If anyone has any ideas what might be causing my problems I would be very grateful for your input.

Hils.

Can anyone help

i have an 02 plate zafira

it has been OK but on a journey to london recently before getting on the motorway it cut out. I continued and it was fine there and back. and a few times after that. it has recently done it again but this time the spanner sign comes on and then it takes ages to restart. also smells of petrol.

My brother is a mechanic and did something to it and it was okay for a week but on sunday it cut out three times in one journey and wouldn't start again. he's looking at it again tomorrow but I have booked it onto the dealership to be checked next week just incase. after reading this it seems like that would be a waste of time the rev counter was going up and down and it was kangarooing acrooss the road ... has anyone found a way of permanently fixing this fault..

I got a 53 plate Zafira 1.6 and it seems that I have the same problem. Put the computer on it and it came up with a random multiple misfire, but did not tell us what was causing the misfire. It has had a new coil pack, new crank sensor, cleaned the EGR, but have still got the problem.

It looks like it has got to go.

Can anyone help please.

What a nightmare!

My Y-plate zafira has been intermittently showing the spanner light for the past 6 months but now I'm getting the picture of the engine and the traction control light coming up and the engine sounds rough. Dreading taking it to a garage with all the costs shown on this site. Have we established this is the catalytic convertor?

51 2.0l DTI

I have had a simliar problem, too many, losing power and the engine management light coming on.

I am a mechanic, and have years of experience with many cars, but this one has confused the hell out of me for ages!

I tested egr, I did a fault code read, that showed that the engine was asking for more boost pressure (+2BAR) but the boost was not there (0.01BAR) I changed the Vacuum switches, and this did not work either. The other week, I was using the Zafira to jump start another vehicle, and I could just hear the faintest of 'hisses' from the engine of the Zafira. I traced it to a Vaccum pipe that goes to the boost valve on the Turbo. It had the tiniest of holes in the pipe, which is small itself, and I have now covered that with some good old fashioned gaffer tape, (I will replace the pipe) and hey presto, it was fine!

Until this week!

Driving along at about 85-90...I mean 70mph! officer.

The Engine lost power, the rev counter stopped, and the spanner light came on, as well as the light for the Radiator warning!!! I pulled into a garage to have a look, and could find nothing out of place.

I stopped on the way back home for some lunch, and when I came out, it was working fine when I got back in it!

I was told today by a mechanic friend of mine, that it may be a problem with the alternator, it has a lead that comes off the back of it to the rev counter, and the car is very dependant on the correct voltage, I have not tested it, but I will do, and will post details after. It is a very easy thing for anyone to test, so if you are having the same problems, I would suggest you try it yourself, the voltage should read 14.5-15Volts.

Also, after reading this thread, I see people promise to post details if they have fixed their car, I don't see anyone doing that, if you have fixed it, it is helpful to others to know what has happened? The more we share, the more we can understand what the problem is, before going down the route of guessing and buy and fitting parts in sequence.

Cheers

Chris.

Just to say I fitted the maniverter and the car runs perfectly, sorry forgot to post here, the problem was the cat within the maniverter breaks down and blocks the exhaust flow making the car splutter occasionally and also no starting at all depending how bad, the easiest way to find is to remove the lamda sensor and if the car runs OK although a bit noisey its the maniverter that needs replacing, for those whose don't know the lambda sensor is the one that sits on top the manifold which is also the cat and manifold ie maniverter, just disconnect the wire from its connector and remove lambda sensor its possible without special tool but easier with

hope this helps

chris.

I have had a Zafira Elegance 1.6 2000 model for about two and a half months and am almost at my wits end with it. We had owned it for five days and the engine management light came on - took it to the garage and they replaced the DIS pack and new spark plugs. Six weeks later engine management light on again - took it back where they cleaned the spark plugs!! One week later engine management light on again - took it back - needed new airflow meter. Two weeks later and the "spanner" symbol is now on and off intermittently. Topped the oil up as this was empty (despite having been topped up only six weeks ago - is this normal?) Car is driving OK and just took it on a 400 mile round trip with no major problems. However, it seems to be drinking petrol like there's no tomorrow and temperature gauge seems to stay on zero for ages and then within ten minutes is just over 90. I've read on here and on other sites that the spanner light could mean a faulty EGR valve and I know the exhaust (front drop-pipe) needs replacing - could this be connected? As I say, I am at my wits' end with it and really disappointed as having owned three Astra Estates with none of this hassle, I really thought owning a Zafira was going to be as easy!!!