Hi,
I live up North, but filled my Zafira in Morrisons on 10 February. Fifty miles down the road the sensor light came on - being a woman I ignored it and thought oh, faulty light!
However, within a day or two (and after refilling with another full tank of petrol) I noticed the idling speed was anything between 1200 and 2000 revs - and on a cold start even a foot to the floor got me no power until a few seconds later the power suddenly (and alarmingly) cut back in.
My car was due an MOT so I took it to the garage and asked them to sort the sensor problem and the 'lumpy' running. The car (which had been serviced a few weeks previously) passed the MOT on everything except the sensor light. Then the petrol news broke and we all went 'ahhhh' - and the garage changed one of the sensors (they said my other one was fine?) - the sensor light went out, my car passed the MOT and I got it back again. 20 miles later the sensor light appeared again. So back to the garage. They put it on the diagnostics machine - and said all the other sensor needed was a clean, which they did. By now I had filled up with three full tanks since the dodgy lot at Morrisons, and although I had obviously diluted what was in the tank I was under the impression that until the tank was drained there were still traces of silicon in there causing the problem.
Got my car back, and hubby needed it to drive the 40 miles or so to Leeds. I warned him the sensor light would come on half way down the M62 - and sure enough, there it was!
So . . . back to the garage. They have put it on the diagnostics machine and say it is showing no faults apart from 'running lean' - I could have told them that, it is drinking petrol! And they say it is now the ECU and suggest we take it to a main dealer as they don't know what to do.
My car had a new ECU 20,000 miles ago, and the car was running fine until I had the faulty petrol. Both the garage and my long suffering husband agree that the petrol in the tank does not need completely draining - whereas I think it does. But then I am only a girly so what am I supposed to know?!
My question (now you have got this far) is what should I do? Any advice is gratefully accepted! Do I need to go to the main dealer? Will Morrisons foot the bill for all these problems and a new ECU unit if needed? Anyone got any experience of these problems that shows it was or wasn't the ECU? Incidentally, once the car is running warm it does seem to be running not too badly apart from the drinking of petrol and the emissions light on.
My car is a 2001 1.8 automatic Zafira with 69k on the clock.
Oh, and should anyone have changed the petrol, diluted though it is now. Thanks!!! Julie :-)
|
Julie
Have you been in contact with Morrisons to see if your store was even one of those affected. Most seem to have been supplied from West Thurrock; i.e. London area, the S/East and East Anglia. Where's "up north?"
Which sensors were changed? This must be early in the fuel problem as my local Vauxhall dealer now has 1,000 oxy sensors on back order. Do you have the exact codes they read? Running lean and drinking fuel don't fit.
Stay away from knee-jerk decisions to change expensive ECUs without direct evidence that the fault is there. This may not be bad fuel; just cack-handed attempts at diagnosis.
|
Sorry - real blonde moment - I should have said Morrisons in Norwich - and yes, I have confirmed that they did have the affected fuel.
The lambda sensors I believe were the ones changed - and the garage have confirmed it was faulty petrol.
|
My personal view is the tank should have been drained, flushed and refilled with fresh petrol. Even dilluted, the tank would still have a certain percentage of contaminated fuel in it. This of course may have been overlooked the first time as you mention the problem occured prior to any press release. But it should really have been done if when the problem reoccured.
Presumably you've got a sample of the fuel? Without it, you *may* have trouble seeking compensation from Morrisons.
The following website might be of some help to you as well.
www.faultyfuel.com
|
|
|
Julie
Thanks; that clarifies things a lot. I doubt that you can "clean" silicone off an affected sensor; I've seen some that partially recovered in use; [no new ones available anyway] but know of nothing that will help a contaminated one.
As this work was done before the companies admitted what had happened; then it looks as though you'll need at least one further new sensor. Maybe both - and possibly a new cat as well. That definitely seems to be the emerging pattern.
It'll likely be a while before parts are available again; so getting rid of all the petrol in the tank and then refilling, would be a good move first.
As you garage seems to be at the limits of it's capabilities; maybe a visit to a competant dealer is indicated. Hopefully all the cost will be reimbursed by the store, [got the receipt?] so getting it sorted properly, with genuine parts, is in you own interest.
|
Thanks folks - you have backed my opinion that the fuel should have been changed - and I guess we are off to the Vauxhall main dealers now (ouch!!)
The one good thing is the fact I live up North, and there are not many cars affected up here so no shortage of sensors.
I do drive lots of miles in my Zafira (regular trips between London and Manchester) - and whilst the car is playing up it is still drivable - am I harming the engine by using it?
Thanks again!!
|
Julie
Difficult one to answer with any degree of certainty; but I'd worry about a car that's [allegedly] running lean at motorway speeds....
|
It can't be running lean - OP says it is "Dringking petrol" ie consumption is increased!
|
It can't be running lean - OP says it is "Dringking petrol" ie consumption is increased!
The OP also said that the garage said it was running lean.
|
DD I agree but it can't be running lean AND using more fuel than usual, at the same time, unless there is a fuel leak SFAIK!
|
AS
My take on it [hence the "allegedly"] is that maybe the garage is seeing a low voltage [lean] reading from the front [or rear] sensor and assuming that it's reading correctly, when it's probably contaminated too.
As the ECU is reading the same, then it's dumping in fuel to try and make the dead sensor go rich - hence the over-fuelling. It's probably throwing long-term fuel trim codes as well - and cooking what's left of the cat.
It's not a scenario that I'd be happy to advise to keep using - particularly on a m-way.
|
|
I must admit I have found the faultyfuel.com website disappointing. It seems like their main objective it to gather statistics about the contamination saga without apparently giving anything back (i.e. I would like to see all of this data they have collected - what are they doing with it?).
|
Driving along today and all of a sudden the emissions warning light has gone out for no apparent reason! We had just booked it into an electrical specialist place after the advice given on here too.
It is still lumpy when started from cold, but on the other hand does seem to be driving better once it is started.
Oh I hate cars! Or more precisely I hate it when they go wrong and I don't have a clue as to why. If I die and come back in an afterlife I want to be a mechanic!
Julie :-)
|
Julie
The warning light will only stay on for a certain time after a fault-condition is flagged. The code remains stored in the fault memory for reference.
Do let us know what the specialists find; the more hard info the better.
|
The code remains stored in the fault memory for reference.
Can't vouch for the Zarifa, but on earlier Vauxhalls, provided there were 25 or 30 clean start ups (ie, fault light doesn't come on again during all those start ups) then the memory was wiped.
|
DD
Certainly used to be 40 starts IIRC; though the later Simtec stuff seems to keep them a bit longer - could be just me, but maybe they figured that the Vauxhall dealers needed all the diagnostic help they could get......
No idea what the parameters are now; if Julie's luck is anything like mine it's bound to come up as "no fault found!"
|
Some early Vauxhall systems with self-diagnosis were 20 starts (or just 20 ignition on-off cycles). The latest have increased this to 60. For cars built 2000 - 2004 (ish!), then the number is software version dependent, so, if you have updated to the latest ECU software, it will be 60.
Number_Cruncher
|
Hi!
I'm Mr Julie. :-)
Surprisingly (until I read the more recent comments on this thread) the emissions light went out and stayed out a day before the car was booked into the second garage. However it was still running very poorly from cold.
The other garage replaced the air flow sensor / air mass meter and (assuming it was the petrol) they replaced the fuel filter. It certainly has done the trick and it's now running as well as it used to. I'm now in the process of writting a letter to Morrisons asking for £334.90 for the repairs and fares etc. :-(
Thanks for all your help.
Kevin
|
|
|
