Faulty Vauxhall Zafira ECU

StockportGerbil

Folks :-
I’m hoping you can point me in the right direction. My wife has a Y reg, 1.8 automatic Vauxhall Zafira, it has 117000 miles on the clock.

It now has a number of problems; it’s performance particularly going up hill is horrible, it has to be run for up to five minutes in the morning before it can be driven (as if the choke isn’t working), the gearbox is slow to change up gears and the engine management warning light has come on. So far we have spent the best part of £500 trying to get the problem resolved with no joy with two different garages trying to fix the problem.

Work done so far (apart from a full service) include replacing the coil pack, coolant temperature sensor and cleaning out assorted bits. The fault codes reported by the engine management unit indicate a problem with the gear box which both garages say appears fine and they don’t believe that’s the cause of the problem. There’s a suggestion that it may be the ‘air flow mass’ sensor; but that was replaced not very long ago and the mechanic who made the suggestion had got to the stage where he was randomly replacing bits.

Looking on the Internet, I note others reporting similar problems; that the main dealers struggle to diagnose and stating they were fixed by replacing the engine management unit which is less than robust in Zafiras of this vintage. Given the above is it reasonable to conclude that the engine management unit is flakey in my wifes car?

Am I correct in the belief that with the current problems the car only has scrap value and if the problems were fixed then I could expect to get something around £1000 second hand for it?

I note a new engine management unit from a dealer will come to something like £750 plus I assume the dealer will want to do some diagnosis / repeat the work that’s already been done. Therefore I’m toying with the idea of getting a ‘new’ engine management unit plus keys etc online (£250) and get my local garage to put it in which I guess can be done for under £400 all in. Is this daft? (I need to break out the Haynes manual and if it’s a screwdriver job I may even consider doing it myself, but I suspect not.)

Thanks

Kevin

petrolhead69

You can send it to BBA reman or other ecu repair places to be tested for beer money. If it's faulty they can repair it.
I'd be checking for wiring loom shorts or bad earths or corroded connectors first. if there was a short in the supply for the sensors that would cause a similar problem.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Following on from Petrolheads post, i too have heard good things about BBA Reman, ''other ecu repair places'' can range from 'good' to 'useless' to 'fraudulent rip off', i know this to be the case as i've had 2 ecu's repaired properly and good repairs do not come cheap, then quality seldom does.

An eye catching website promising the world at cut price is about as realistic as a politicians promise, so do take care assuming it's the ecu really at fault.

ECU overhaul engineer i use is Avilec on the Isle of Wight.

Strider590

I can't see why this would be the ECU, it could be any number of other things... Your best bet is honestly go to VX specialist to get the diagnostics done properly, then when you know whats really wrong, sort it out on the cheap.

johnnyroper

it is very common for ecu to have problems on the vauuxhall z16xe and z18xe engines due to location of said control unit.they are mounted to side of engine so suffer from vibration and thermal shock,they can throw up all sorts of fault codes.the gearbox and engine control units talk to each other so you could get codes/fault light for either part.

if you get the ECU reconditioned then there is no need to get it programmed at vaux just refit back on.

merlie

sounds like you need to trade it in now and not loose any more money ...

I myself have a 2001 1.8 petrol Zafira on a Y ...almost 100k miles. Have had it from 6 month old and the only problem I've had is the EGR valve - supplied and fitted for £80 ish ...

You only here of the problem Zafiras online ... but I bet there are loads more reliable ones out there ! just like mine....

Good luck in your quest ... but like I said stop throwing money into it. If mine wern't so reliable I'd be looking for another Zafira but a 1.9cdti ... mate has got one and returns 50 mpgs no problem.

StockportGerbil

Hi!
Yep we've had the EGR valve done as well. My recollection is that needed sorting on the Vectra as well which my wife had before this car. :-)
You're probably right about it being time for a new car, but funds aren't exactly plentiful right now so if we could get another year out of this one that would be helpful. I guess the question is whether the car has any value (except for £50 from the scrappie) with the engine management light on? Without the light I think the car's worth £1000 or maybe a little more.
Thanks
Kevin

only_mee

Might want a read of This thread unless you have already come across it.