Reduced MPG in 08 Zafira

Foyzone

The tank is 58 litres. I know weve had a cold spell but this started in September. Driving is all around town, school runs. Average day I do no more than 15 miles, but because of my work, not using the car is not an option.

I havent changed the way I use the heater etc although I have notice you really need to crank the heater up to level 5/6 to get any sort of warmth out of it.

Im wondering whether to go to Vauxhall direct but I dont think ill get any joy there from what Ive heard from other dissatisfied customers.

Thanks for your input..very useful

Foyzone

LandyAndy wrote: »

And they fixed the leak? You didn't say they had.

They "state" they have fixed the leak

follows2006

I had the same issue with my 07 1.6 astra however i was only getting 250 max:eek: . Turns out it was the coolant sensor. Only cost £30 for the diagnostic and then £50 for the repair from my independant which i was happy with.

Hope this helps

Foyzone

follows2006 wrote: »

I had the same issue with my 07 1.6 astra however i was only getting 250 max:eek: . Turns out it was the coolant sensor. Only cost £30 for the diagnostic and then £50 for the repair from my independant which i was happy with.

Hope this helps

Did you take it into Vauxhall at all? Just wondering what they said

sickparrot

Just for reference, we have a 1.6 53 zafira, we always get 330 from a tankful normal day to day driving, up to 400 for long motorway trips.

follows2006

Foyzone wrote: »

Did you take it into Vauxhall at all? Just wondering what they said

no i have not since i have had it. I wouldnt give them 4 times the price for 1/4 of the service. Just for a diagnostic they wanted £79.99, even though i said i had one and what the fault was. This is why ive always stayed away and would never give them my money.

Foyzone

follows2006 wrote: »

no i have not since i have had it. I wouldnt give them 4 times the price for 1/4 of the service. Just for a diagnostic they wanted £79.99, even though i said i had one and what the fault was. This is why ive always stayed away and would never give them my money.

~

Ok Im a bit thick and blonde lol... what do they do on the diagnostic?

mikey72

Probably coolant sensor or thermostat. I've just changed the thermostat on mine (1.8 zafira A).
It was stuck open, down from 330 miles a tank to about 270, it's back up again now.

follows2006

Foyzone wrote: »

~

Ok Im a bit thick and blonde lol... what do they do on the diagnostic?

They hook it up to the ecu and this will generally tell them what the fault is.

bosseyed

I had a similar problem with my old MKIV golf gti - the fuel economy dropped through the floor quite randomly on the way home from work one day. From normally running at around the 36-40mpg on the motorway, I was getting 12mpg :eek:

As it turned out, it was a slight misfire which was mucking with the way the fuel was burnt, so a fair bit of petrol was going straight through the system and out the exhaust. Very odd it was, because I've had misfires before and they're normally far more obvious than this was.

I forget how VW attempted to fix it, a new set of sparks I think - problem was they never really fixed it 100% and the whole car gradually crumbled around me, until several months and umpteen spark plugs, lambda probes, oxygen sensors, radiators and reprogrammed ECUs I drove it misfiring and popping from the MOT station (where they couldn't even keep it running long enough to do the emissions!) to the garage next door, flogged it for a fraction of its value and vowed never again to buy a VW after months of dismal service and the biggest lemon of a car I'd ever owned

/Rant.