Ok it's quite an old car with 126k on the clock, but,for,the last 4 months, it has been drinking oil daily and now it's almost impossible to get going after a period of sitting idle.
Tomorrow morning it will be hard to pull away, and I won't trust pulling out right onto the main road, so have to drive 1/2 mile,around local roads,,before I venture out......as its kangarooing along the road.......once it gets going it drive like a dream..?...oh and there is a light, in Orange that sporadically comes on.
I aim to let my guy take a look at it, but would appreciate any idea as to what might be the problem
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Others will be here soon to say check the codes for the orange 'check engine' light.
I would check any air intake pipes for splits, has it got plenty of fuel in, when was it last serviced (plugs, air filter etc)
My old Mazda would buck when setting off intermittently, turned out to be a split in the rubber air intake bellow. Fine when cruising but the rocking of the engine in setting off in first gear caused it to open the bellow and expose the slit to air. Cured by a bicycle puncture repair kit!
You can get a cheapo sub £10 ODB code cable (ELM327) to connect to a Windows 7 PC. I have one and it gives you some basic pointers to help identify the fault.
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>> there is a light, in Orange that sporadically comes on.
Emissions one, or the car/spanner one?
You might be able to do the "pedal trick" to read any fault codes out for free, but IIRC the fault light needs to remain on to be able to do this.
Just google Zafira pedal trick for the info.
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If it is a heavy oil drinker,you may want to check the condition of the spark plugs.It is possible they have become heavily oil fouled and causing misfires.
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>> If it is a heavy oil drinker,
I wouldn't worry if its always done that, being a Vauxhall, but I would worry if its suddenly done that, whats the fundamental underlying reason? same thing could be causing poor combustion.
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>> Just google Zafira pedal trick for the info.
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Thanks for that handy tip, I understand it works for Astras too. How about the Corsa?
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I only bought it last Nov, it was on 98k and I don't have a handbook, ( suppose I could buy one,) and it's got worse in the last 6 months......initially a 5lt canister of oil would last 6-8 weeks, last one lasted a month.......yes I'm doing 5-700 miles a week, mainly motorway driving.
Anyway gonna get it checked out in Decemeber, but don't want to waste too much money, if it really needs a new engine, cylinder head gasket or something else , but £30 a month on oil is ridiculous.
Re the Orange light it on a tube like cylinder that's bulbous in the middle, if that means anything to you
Thanks for all your suggestions and help
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>> but £30 a month on oil is ridiculous.
With those engines of that era - guessing its the 1.8, 1 litre oil per 1k miles is not uncommon.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 26 Nov 14 at 12:39
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>> guessing its the 1.8
There's a clue in the header.
>> 1 litre oil per 1k miles
Handbook states that an engine can consume that amount of oil.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 26 Nov 14 at 12:49
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>> 1 litre oil per 1k miles
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>> Handbook states that an engine can consume that amount of oil.
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The handbook for my Astra states 1.2 litres per 1k. Mine uses about 3/4 litre which worried me at first till I found out it's quite normal with these. It sailed through the MoT with no emissions issue and it saves having to be too fussy with oil change intervals.
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>> initially a 5lt canister of oil would last 6-8 weeks, last one lasted a month.......yes
>> I'm doing 5-700 miles a week, mainly motorway driving.................
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>> but £30 a month on oil is ridiculous.
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Which oil are you buying?
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>> Thanks for that handy tip, I understand it works for Astras too. How about the Corsa?
It entirely depends on the car and engine. It works on the 1.9 diesel engined Vectras, but not the 2.2 petrol.
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When the car/spanner orange light came on in my Astra (1.3cdti), I did the pedal test and it successfully revealed that the EGR valve and coils were dodgy. Replacement by the garage cost ~£360 and the engine has run fine ever since (described in another thread earlier this year)
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When my wife's Focus (1.6 petrol) started using vast amounts of oil, the garage changed the pcv valve at 87k miles; it made a massive difference. Until then, I'd never heard of a pcv valve!
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In addition to the other suggestions my neighbour had similar issues with the same model & engine. It turned out the lamda sensor was confusing the ECU leading to over fueling. Buy only a genuine lamda sensor (probably Bosch) as cheapo ones may not fix the problem.
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If your using lots of oil go on carparts4less, they have their own oil brand Triple QX. Meets most specs and it's normally about £12 for 5 litres.
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10W/40 semi synthetic oil is correct spec for this age of Zafira. I've used Wilkinson's own brand at £15 for 5 litres (made by Comma I believe) tinyurl.com/pum3bhq
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Thanks for all your responses.
I did use a Halfords 10W/40 part synthetic......5l didn't seem to last long.
Currently using a Halfords 5w/30 fully synthetic, seems to be working a bit longer.....
Thanks for the info on Wilkinsons oils, and will certainly look into it, but hope when my guy takes a look it, come next year it will be resolved.
Quick question, my exhaust seems to be making quite a noise,,could that be a reason or a result of burning a lot of oil ??
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 29 Nov 14 at 17:11
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>> Thanks for all your responses.
>> I did use a Halfords 10W/40 part synthetic
IIRC, Comma also make oil for Halfords too.
>> Currently using a Halfords 5w/30 fully synthetic, seems to be working a bit longer.....
That's odd. On a Vauxhall forum I read, there are suggestions to swap from 5w/30 to 10w/40 with higher mileage engines that use oil because the 10w/40 grade is slightly thicker.
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Another thought on the recent oil comsumption increase.
Are the breathers on the engine blocked?
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Ok thanks for all the previous answers.....
Just before xmas I was going along at 50 Unable to increase my speed, when I started losing power going up hill, and struggled along at 40mph.....whereupon I called the AA out......
He checked it out and changed the spark plugs that were clogged up with oil.
No problem for 2/3 weeks then same problem again.
Anyway today my mechanic did tests and piston 1,3,4 were producing 12/13 bar pressure and no 2 was producing just 1 bar......whatever that means.....
He said he could strip it down and rebuild, replacing parts, could be a 10hr job and might be 1k.....which despite buying the car last year for 600 and recently spent 300 on tyres and exhaust pipe to get it thru the MOt should I spend this or try and buy a recycled engine from a breakers, or use the 1k and buy another vehicle or put it towards a. Lease hire van>> Another thought on the recent oil comsumption increase.
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>> Are the breathers on the engine blocked?
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1 bar pressure in no 2 cylinder means the engine is toast.Do not spend any more money on this.Use the 1K to buy something else.There are plenty of very useable cars out there for this kind of money.Sell the car for scrap/spares or repair to recover some expenses.Unlikely that the breathers are blocked on this engine.Using another re-cycled engine is a bit of a gamble,it could be worse than the one you have now.
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Yeah. What he said.^^^^
BTW. Don't buy another Vauxhall.
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Quite the contrary. the obvious way to recover the money spent on tyres and exhaust would be to buy another Zafira which needs tyres and exhaust - assuming you can find one you want for the right deal, of course.
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>> BTW. Don't buy another Vauxhall.
You still haven't told us what piece of crap you drive yet so we can ridicule that too.
Or are you too ashamed to tell us?
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>> Yeah. What he said.^^^^
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>> BTW. Don't buy another Vauxhall.
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Why - because no other make can suffer piston ring or bore wear caused by previously missed oil / filter changes or other poor maintenance?
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Vauxhall Zafira A - 02 1.6 Jumping - nice but dim
