[paulalcon]

I have a 2002 Zafira 1.6 Petrol.

it has been serviced every year at the dealer from which it was originally purchased, and I am now the second owner, it's down 85,000 miles.

Within two weeks of ownership the engine light on the dash came on solid, which the owners manual says indicates the emissions are outside of tolerance. I had a new exhaust fitted and the oxygen sensor was cleaned up and the light was reset. But it came on again the following day. But otherwise it operates just fine and the fuel consumption is as expected. She idles just fine and drives just fine. The only issue is a tendency to kangaroo a little when coming off from motorway driving into the urban environment, it's very brief and she soon settles again very quickly.

This weekend the engine cut-out on the m25, it turns out that for some reason the relay for the fuel pump is opening, turning off the power to the fuel pump and therefore cutting the engine, this consistently happens now as soon as she reaches normal running temperature i.e when the temp gauge on the dash is at the half way mark. I replaced the relay but this has had no effect. If i wedge the relay shut effectively bridging the circuit she operates as normal.

I will be taking her to the mechanic as soon as I am able in the next day or two. In the meantime has anyone else had a similar problem? and if so what turned out to be the solution?

Cheers.

 

[paulalcon]

I have booked her in for a diagnostic on Wednesday with the Vauxhall Dealer where she was originally sold and serviced before I took ownership.

I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

 

[paulalcon]

Ok the dealer rang yesterday and told me the car needs a new ECU £700.00 pounds!!! and a new cat £800.00 pounds!!!

This is based on the fact the diagnostics returned a low voltage error code, and some slightly high reading for a certain gas in the exhaust (hence the cat replacement) I cannot possibly spend 1500 quid on a car I only paid £2275.00 for in the first place and I am convinced there's nothing wrong with the ECU. Going to collect it this morning bring her home and try the following:

Disconnect the battery, and check all my fuses, and check for good contacts from and to the ECU and the various sensors, Leave it overnight before reconnecting the battery (this should I think erase the ECU's memory as I think it has some bad data which I think it accumulated when the exhaust was blowing and the oil was nearly all gone) and go from there. I'm fairly certain the gases in the exhaust are not the cat but the ECU making bad calculations on bad data and burning rich instead of lean.

I have found an independent mechanic who is an ex-Vauxhall engineer now working for himself, and he can get me a new ECU for just £200 anyway if it turns out I definitely need one.

 

[paulalcon]

Resetting everything by disconnecting the battery has not improved anything. I am currently driving with the Fuel Pump Relay bridged. I'm going to get a third opinion as soon as I have time.

 

[paulalcon]

Hi again,

Well it turns out the ECU was indeed at fault. As it is located on the right side of the engine (as you look at it) it gets hot and cold and the tiny solders to the circuit board within it can become fractured over time. It is quite easily removed after disconnecting the battery. The two connectors are quick release by pulling back the metal retaining clips, then just four torque bolts. Next I removed the imobiliser ring from the steering column, this was more tricky, it's in a metal cage and you have to unbend the tabs with some long-nose pliers to disconnect it. Then you need to come at it from the rear with a long thin flat-blade screwdriver and push down a tag at the 5 0'clock position (looking at it from the passenger side) and simultaneously pull the whole assembly off to the right. There is a thin plastic collar inside the ring which you have to overcome.

I then took the imobiliser, spare key and ECU to a specialist who repaired the fractured soldering for just £108.00 pounds. They did this by 10am the following day. I put it all back together and reconnected the battery she's all good now, hurrah.

I got another mobile mechanic who has some special software. He was able to read the signals from the up and downstream lambda sensors. As they were both reading the same gases in the exhaust it was clear the CAT was indeed ineffective and needed replacing. I sourced one on eBay £136.00 and will get my local garage to attach it when she goes for MOT in May which will be about £100.

Original quote £1500.00, actually spent £344.00, Total saving £1156.00 !!!

 

[rick45]

.get your codes read and put them on here that way you will get more help

 

[paulalcon]

If you read my last post you'll see I'm all fixed now.

But for others searching a similar problem and looking for info here are the codes I had:

* P0230 Low voltage/contact problem.
* P0420 CAT Low Efficiency.