Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 manual - Zafira growling noise on acceleration

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Sun 29 Sep 2013 01:36
Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 manual - Zafira growling noise on acceleration - matthews.mrs
I have a 57 plate zafira life. 1.6 petrol with manual transmission. Since day one it has just been problem after problem in and out of the garage costing us a small fortune on parts and plenty of time in courtesy cars. The biggest issue was in January this year when the engine was reconditioned... To be honest I think they only did this as they couldn't figure out the underlying issue.

Since January it has been ok but I have always thought since then that it sounded a little more 'gruff'. More recently, over the last two weeks it has developed a very loud noise. The best way I can describe it is that inside the car it sounds like a blowing exhaust with a sort of whirring noise that is similar to the sound of failed wheel bearings. Today we also noticed a kind of squeal whilst going up a hill/ at lower speeds.

The whirling and growl only seems to pick up once over 2k revs. it isn't present if you depress the clutch and gets louder on acceleration. There is also a random rattling that doesn't seem to present at any particular time just periodically comes and goes.

We took the car to a garage today and they took it for a test drive to listen to the sound. The guy said they thought it was the gearbox but because their gearbox specialist wasn't in today he couldn't properly diagnose it and worst case scenario was a new gear box.

I will take it for a proper diagnosis on Monday but until then I would really appreciate anyone's views on whether it is likely to be the gearbox or even if it's specific parts which could be replaced to avoid the expense of a new gearbox which I really can't afford. I don't want to be stung for the gearbox if I can replace parts at less expense.

The car is at 106000 miles.... About 25000 miles since the engine has been reconditioned.

Thanks in advance

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Sun 29 Sep 2013 19:00
Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 manual - Zafira growling noise on acceleration - UPDATE NEW NOISE!!! - matthews.mrs

Hi again.... I see lots of people have viewed the post but no one has replied so is it just that everyone is stumped?

Hubby has checked under the car to see if there is anything visably wrong but nothing is jumping out so we took it for a little drive to see if we could pinpoint the noise but the noise has changed.

We no longer have that exhausty growl inside the car but it now squeals on acelleration. same as before, the noise stops if you press the clutch. I cant hear it as much at higher speeds but at lower speeds the best way I can describe it is like going fast in reverse.

If you have any thoughts at all I would really appreciate them.

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Sun 29 Sep 2013 19:37
Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 manual - Zafira growling noise on acceleration - UPDATE NEW NOISE!!! - elekie&a/c doctor

Difficult to assess any noise without listening to it first hand,but from your description it does seem to be transmission related.So this could be a clutch issue or gearbox.Possibly a clutch release bearing noise.hth

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Sun 29 Sep 2013 23:24
Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 manual - Zafira growling noise on acceleration - UPDATE NEW NOISE!!! - matthews.mrs

Of course, being able to hear the noise would be an advantage, i've tried to pick it up on my phone but the background noises make it difficult to hear properly anyway.

Thank you for your opinion. My husband thinks it is possibly a bearing of some kind but neither of us are mechanicly minded so all we really know is something isn't right. Really i was just hoping that some others would come forward with a few ideas of what it could be before I took it into the garage tomorrow so that only the necessary is done and my lack of knowledge isn't taken advantage of.

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Sun 29 Sep 2013 23:24
Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 manual - Zafira growling noise on acceleration - Big John

Just a thought - double check that everything is tightened up - especially bell housing and engine mounts. It is not unknown for bolts to eventually come undone after being disturbed following major mechanical surgery (e.g. recon engine) . If an engine mount had come loose this would cause gearbox/clutch issues and put pressure on the exhaust manifold (growling). I had this happen to me years ago on a Polo some time after a clutch change. Caused poor gear changes and some very strange noises - turned out to the the engine mount between the gearbox and under NS footwell. Seemed as though the whole car was failing - a few turns of a socket set restored full health.

Edited by Big John on 29/09/2013 at 23:26

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Sat 5 Oct 2013 20:12
Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 manual - Zafira growling noise on acceleration - matthews.mrs

I just thought I would come and update - I took my car into vauxhall on Monday and when I reversed to park the gear got stuck in reverse. whilst chatting about the noises to another guy, someone came along and got the gear out, I assume with force. He came back and told me I'll need a new clutch and he couldn't hear a noise.

I wasn't very confident in his 3 min diagnosis and it turned out he hadn't moved the car so he never would have heard the ridiculous screeching so i asked for someone to drive it. after being driven for a few mins by another guy he didn't look too convinced with the clutch diagnosis either but obviously didn't want to make his colleague look silly.

I have since found a guy who used to work for vauxhall and asked him to take a look and a quick drive, his opinion is with the original diagnosis of the gearbox. He suggested it might be ok to drive for bit, but not to hold him to it and as we are a big family we kind of need our 7 seats so we took it out this morning shopping. Again on reversing to park the gear got stuck and whilst trying to get it back out the lever popped out of its ball joint leaving a floppy gear stick and the car stuck in reverse gear. We managed to to pop the ball bit back in and tried for about an hour to get it out of reverse, eventually we had to rock the car a bit and got it out. we then had to cable tie the thing to hold it in place and get us home - its quite comical lookiing back now but it worked so the car will now not be moved until fixed.

obviously i will now need to replace this little ball joint as well but I'm thinking the best bet is just to replace the gearbox AND the clutch and be done with it all.

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Fri 17 Jan 2020 10:07
Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 manual - Zafira growling noise on acceleration - Miss.Squiggs
Hello,

I can see this is very old thread but I am hoping you still use honest John :)
My zafira is doing the exact same thing as you have described! The same noise and also my gear got stuck in reverse yesterday however I managed to get it out.
What was the problem in the end? Did you get it fixed?
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Fri 17 Jan 2020 10:43
Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 manual - Zafira growling noise on acceleration - gordonbennet
Hello, I can see this is very old thread but I am hoping you still use honest John :) My zafira is doing the exact same thing as you have described! The same noise and also my gear got stuck in reverse yesterday however I managed to get it out. What was the problem in the end? Did you get it fixed?

Ah fear not, someone will be along shortly, sometimes they've been now to use own your forum name and login, to provide a useful link with the very answer no one needed.

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