Motor Gurus - Vauxhall zafira few niggles

pitkin2020

Ok so a little update. I changed the thermostat today, drained and refilled the coolant. FYI the thermostat is held on with an E12 torx not E8.

Anyway let the car warm up before doing a quick drive, drove the car around 4 miles then left it for a few hours to cool down. I had top the coolant up again by about 1/2 litre to bring it back upto the cold mark once it had cooled down, but I am hoping this isn't from coolant loss just coolant circulating. The temp gauge is no longer showing cold when driving, it rises steadily and then sits around 85 which is guess is around the normal temp.

Thats as far as I have really got today, just drove it home another 4 miles roughly so will check the coolant level again the morning, I am hoping its back to the cold mark. I plan to do a quick 30 mile run tomorrow at some point. The car still feels jurky under power though so i don't think the thermostat has solved the whole problem but has deffo helped with another lol

mikey72

That sounds about right now.
I wouldn't worry about the coolant level, it does drop a bit initially as the air circulates out.
Mine then normally sits at the join in the expansion tank, no matter how much I top it up.

I find a standard socket fits most torx bolts if you haven't got them.
It could be worth disconnecting the battery overnight to reset the ecu.
Only do this it you have the radio code though, and I've never read of any problems with immobilsers etc afterwards either on this car.

mikey72

How's it going now.

I'm just going to have a go at the drop arms on mine, they've started clonking.

link86

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Well I managed to buy a zafira this morning, V-REG done 112k just had a cambelt change and it has the 1.8 engine. There is a few niggles I need to get sorted so hopefully someone can help me. Its been a while since I have had a petrol so some of these maybe perfectly normal compared to a diesel.

Any help on any of these little niggles would be much appreciated.

Rear door won't unlock or lock from the key fob or from the key in the door. It will lock/unlock if you pull the button up or press it down though, seller reckons its just a solenoid needs replacing??

Car is a bit lacking in power, hard to describe on here but the power just feels a bit lumpy, you go to put your foot down and it'll go then hesitate then go again, (does that make sense)??

Temperature gauge seems to register fine when your parked although when coming down the motorway home it was virtually on zero for temp??

Engine seems to be getting very hot, just done a run of about 70 miles home but when I have stopped to park (the temperature gauge kicks in now) it was just idling in the car park and the temp kept rising to over the 100 mark, the fan kicked and cooled it down to under a 100 again, is this normal for a petrol as the fan rarely (if ever ) has kicked in on the diesel. The engine also has a very hot rubbery smell to it too as its heating up not sure if that has any relevance??

Just hope I haven't made a mistake in buying this........all in all though the body work isn't bad for a 1999 car, the alloys are reasonably clean and the interior is very good but does need a good clean and some seriously strong air freshner lol

No, you didn't have done any mistake, this really a good choice

link86

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Well I managed to buy a zafira this morning, V-REG done 112k just had a cambelt change and it has the 1.8 engine. There is a few niggles I need to get sorted so hopefully someone can help me. Its been a while since I have had a petrol so some of these maybe perfectly normal compared to a diesel.

Any help on any of these little niggles would be much appreciated.

Rear door won't unlock or lock from the key fob or from the key in the door. It will lock/unlock if you pull the button up or press it down though, seller reckons its just a solenoid needs replacing??

Car is a bit lacking in power, hard to describe on here but the power just feels a bit lumpy, you go to put your foot down and it'll go then hesitate then go again, (does that make sense)??

Temperature gauge seems to register fine when your parked although when coming down the motorway home it was virtually on zero for temp??

Engine seems to be getting very hot, just done a run of about 70 miles home but when I have stopped to park (the temperature gauge kicks in now) it was just idling in the car park and the temp kept rising to over the 100 mark, the fan kicked and cooled it down to under a 100 again, is this normal for a petrol as the fan rarely (if ever ) has kicked in on the diesel. The engine also has a very hot rubbery smell to it too as its heating up not sure if that has any relevance??

Just hope I haven't made a mistake in buying this........all in all though the body work isn't bad for a 1999 car, the alloys are reasonably clean and the interior is very good but does need a good clean and some seriously strong air freshner lol

No, you have not done any mistake, this really a good choice

pitkin2020

mikey72 wrote: »

How's it going now.

I'm just going to have a go at the drop arms on mine, they've started clonking.

The car is actually going really well.....but i'm not taken with it TBH plus I have just taken a new contract on which means my mileage is about to go through the roof and petrol isn't going to cut it. Over the last 18 months I have done less than 9k, which was the main reason for moving to petrol from diesel.
From next month i'm going to be averaging 2k a month atleast so i think i'm going to keep the astra and sell the Zafira. The astra being diesel is more economical than the zafira so financially it makes sense. As long as I can nearly what the zafira has cost me i'll be happy, id should make more with a bit of luck, who knows.

Thanks for all the advice though guys, it sorted out the niggles and got the car running right, so top advice.

mikey72

Glad it's all working again.

On and off it took about an hour, not helped by the fact they're 18mm nuts, and all my sockets are 17 or 19mm, and I couldn't easily get a breaker bar in either.

Still, I only split one thumb open, so not a bad job for £25.

pitkin2020

mikey72 wrote: »

Glad it's all working again.

On and off it took about an hour, not helped by the fact they're 18mm nuts, and all my sockets are 17 or 19mm, and I couldn't easily get a breaker bar in either.

Still, I only split one thumb open, so not a bad job for £25.

LOL you always seem to have every socket bar the one you need. I had to sort my box out the other day as they were all just slung in and everytime I wanted a socket it would take 10 mins to get the right one. Some how though over time I have lost 2 or 3 and gained some doubles, don't ask me how lol