12th Jun 2009, 23:36

Hi, we got a Vauxhall Zafira 1.8 Comfort, 52 reg.. ours went yesterday, well last night when my husband was at his work.. our light has been coming on at regular periods.. anyway my husband got towed from work to home, Green Flag (with live in the UK).. says it could be the fuel pump or the management thingy..

My question is should we check the EGR?.. to see if it's that..

We really cannot afford a new fuel pump or anything worse..

Please help..

17th Jun 2009, 16:44

Hi, I wrote some months ago about my 52 plate Zafira which was juddering. It got progressively worse but Vauxhall insisted there was nothing wrong with it. I had the RAC out 3 times and took it to a garage in Farnborough. We have since played the part swap game. Initially EGR Valve after which She ran like a dream for 2 weeks. The problem then returned but much worse. Next stop Lambda Sensor, follwed by 02 Sensor, plugs and engine flush. The car is still driving like a complete donkey and is now heading to the auctions to be someone Else's problem. I feel quite bad about that actually but then I guess someone else saw me coming when I bought it. Will Stear clear in future and find the extra dosh for a VW I think. Shawn.

5th Jul 2009, 03:21

Bought our 2005 Dti Breeze a month ago, and it has been lovely to drive... until yesterday our 1st long motorway run.. came off the motorway down to a roundabout and was chugging like an old tractor and wouldn't go over 50mph.. a few revs and it was OK and fingers crossed as we have a lot of miles to cover before we head home. Wish I had seen this site before I handed the cash over for it..

27th Jul 2009, 09:32

I bought a 54 plate Zafira Life in January 2007 with 7,000 miles (ex Motability). It now has 19,000 miles on the clock, and like everyone else I seem to be having the same problems with the car juddering and the light coming on. It's been a great car until now, as this is the first thing that's gone wrong with it apart from the usual wear and tear.

It's in the garage at the moment (4 weeks on Wednesday) and they've eventually come to the conclusion it's the ECU. I've been told that the car's not being revved enough, though I always go at the speed limit even on a motorway. How can you rev up in a 30 mph limit to what they are saying. Hope when I get the new ECU fitted this will solve the problem. Will get back and let you all know if this is the cure.

4th Aug 2009, 14:26

Hi.

Boought a 01 Y reg Dti Comfort last month, nice car blah blah blah. But spanner light comes on intermittently and loss of power. Taking it back to the garage and they said they will put it on the reader (so I keep you posted).

If anyone else has a similar problem and had it fixed, would you be kind enough to write to me and let me know what was wrong and what needed replacing?

Cheers

jasonharris1001@yahoo.co.uk

5th Aug 2009, 09:17

We have a 2004 Zafira energy DTI, which is a lovely car. BUT it has developed the engine management light intermittently coming on along with a loss of power. This only happens on long motorway hills and lasts for about 5 seconds. It happened about 6 times on a recent 200 mile journey, one time I had to pull over and re start the engine to put the light out. On the return journey it happened 3 times and always rectified itself. The problem is slowly getting worse I think. Otherwise the car seems to go really well.

Tomorrow it is going to a local garage I have always been happy with, to hopefully have the error code extracted. I learnt a long while ago to avoid the Vauxhall dealer in our town as they are completely useless.

I have read all the comments here, and this is too common a problem not to be a design flaw. Seems that the petrol versions want to keep stalling after a period of fast driving along with the car/spanner light, and the diesel ones do as mine does mid run. Will update on how mine gets on tomorrow.

17th Aug 2009, 07:21

Zafira 2.2 petrol Elegance 2002, 80k miles. Poor idle and tick over; it stalls, and it is then hard to start.

The wife complained it was stalling at junctions now and then, so we were off on holidays, so thought we would get it checked out. No fault found, £54 please said garage - great!!!

Went on holiday, drove down no problems, stopped the car and then went to move it a few minutes later and it did not want to start unless you gave it loads of gas. Once started it would not tick over. Also there was a very weird smell, it was not of excess petrol but more of a burning, no excess smoke though. On driving it was rough at <2000rpm until after about 10 minutes it seemed to heal itself. But if you stopped it would do the same thing again, no idle bad starting. Had the AA called out - no fault found. Came to drive home at the end of the holiday and it was running like a pig, did not want to idle, had to use handbrake and left foot braking - nightmare. After about 30 minutes it seemed to heal itself. Also the engine management light came on for the first time, so I am hoping the ECU has some fault codes in it.

Having read other posts it could be anything; EGR valve, breather pipes, fuel pump, throttle body, coil pack, ECU, plugs, loose wires, MAF sensor, bad earth, battery, alternator the list goes on and on.

Our Zaf in the past has also had the problem of the starter not releasing and getting jammed on, and being burned out due to dicky ignition barrel - twice!

It also uses excess oil.

Being desperate, I cleaned up all the wires to the EGR, the MAF also checked resistance across MAF and made sure it changed when blown on, changed the air filter, loosened the petrol cap.

Took it for a run and the EGM light went off, great I thought, then I stopped and tried to start it again; same thing crappy or no idle.

Well it is in the garage this week and I am hoping it can be fixed.

On the EGR valve I did read a post saying this can be removed and the ECU remapped. A blanking plate just sits where the valve goes.

Anyway I will post success or failure here once I get the car back!!!

The Zaf is a great family car and ticks all the boxes, but I wish it was more reliable!