Vauxhall Zafira 1993 petrol - Engine emissions light - very poor performance

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Sat 3 Sep 2011 09:33
Vauxhall Zafira 1993 petrol - Engine emissions light - very poor performance - peaches43

Hello

Have a problem with very poor performance at speed and especially going up hills. Engine emissions light came on a few weeks ago. Local garage suggested a new exhaust and reset the ECU. Light came back on after a few days. Also got air flow filter changed.

Then took car to local Vauxhall dealer. They first said it was one fault that was easily remedied. Then changed their minds saying it was the catalytic converter and would cost over £900 to replace. ECU still showing same fault light.

Original garage said unlikely to be cat. converter as car had just passed MOT and emissions were very low.

Have read so many stories about people spending hundreds of pounds getting various parts 'fixed' that don't turn out to be the actual problem causing the light to come on the ECU.

Neither of us are mechanically minded and are very wary about being ripped off. Car has only done 53,000 miles, has full service history all done at Vauxhall garages (last one a matter of days before fault appeared).

Any help or advice greatly appreciated!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Sep 2011 09:58
Vauxhall Zafira 1993 petrol - Engine emissions light - very poor performance - Collos25

Simple really let them put a new cat on if it does not cure the problem get them to pay to put the old one back.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Sep 2011 10:38
Vauxhall Zafira 1993 petrol - Engine emissions light - very poor performance - peaches43

Simple really let them put a new cat on if it does not cure the problem get them to pay to put the old one back.

Thanks Collos25 but trying to avoid spending over £900 only to discover it isn't the cat after all.

Codes from ECUs seem to be very unreliable according to other posts. Is it likely to be the cat if recent MOTtest showed very low emissions?

Temperature also much higher than normal and there's a lack of exhaust emissions with hot exhaust.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Sep 2011 12:15
Vauxhall Zafira 1993 petrol - Engine emissions light - very poor performance - dieselnut

" Temperature also much higher than normal "

Are you saying that the temperature guage is reading higher than normal, perhaps going into the red zone?

If so, this will probably put the ECU into 'limp home ' mode to try to safeguard the engine.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 3 Sep 2011 15:29
Vauxhall Zafira 1993 petrol - Engine emissions light - very poor performance - peaches43

" Temperature also much higher than normal "

Are you saying that the temperature guage is reading higher than normal, perhaps going into the red zone?

If so, this will probably put the ECU into 'limp home ' mode to try to safeguard the engine.

Hello

Thanks for your reply.

Temperature about 90 which is much higher than normal but not in the red zone. It's been sluggish for almost a year.

The exhaust management light came on a year ago but went off and is now on all the time. Think the car probably is in limp mode, yes. It was really struggling to get above 30-40 when on an incline - no fun at all when coming home from our holiday in Devon.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 4 Sep 2011 13:05
Vauxhall Zafira 1993 petrol - Engine emissions light - very poor performance - dieselnut

Temperature guages are notoriously inacurate, but if the guage is reading higher than normal I would investigate the cooling system before anything else.

Thermostats are generally cheap to change. Make sure that the cooling fan is kicking in when the radiator gets hot.

Could also be a blocked radiator as it is an old car.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

From which small car to buy at which price point to the best UK-built cars, our Top 10s have the lot. Click now for your shortlist.

Unsure of what to buy? Our Top 10s are here to help you....