zafira hesitation

guzgog

Hi and hello to everybody im new to his awsome forum, any way the problem ive got with the zafira is hesitation when changing gear in low gears once the revs are up thr car drives fine. Now for history about 4 weeks ago car packed up on me engine spluttered and then died and wouldnt start got it towed home,got a local mobile mechanic out and he found the timming chain had had jumped some teeth he fitted new chain and sprockets and tensioners same with balance chain and car started up ok but since then ive had the hesitation ive tested compression and one of the pots is down to 150 psi could it be a bent or sticking valve. any help would be gratefull ps it 2.2 2002 done 70000 miles cheers guzgog

vocky

150 psi is at the lower end of the z22se compression range, so should be ok.

it might be a few things, did he 'time up' the balancer chain, is the cam chain 100% 'timed up', coil pack might be going or even the plugs could be playing up.

MikeS

anything over 20% variance needs the head lifted according to haynes manual

did they try the wet and dry test by putting a few drops of oil into the cylinder to see whether compression is increased

on my car the cylinder closest to the chain had at least a 1 bar difference to the other 3 but i have no problems concerning idle or firing

think it was just below 11 bar whilst the others were sitting just below 13 bar

guzgog

HI and thanks for the quick replys, the coil pack has been swapped i borrowed my mates who's got the same engine still hesitation new spark plugs and gapped to specification and cleaned throttle body but didnt dismantle it to clean it and new air filter and yes he set balance timming chain at the same as the cam chain, but still got same problem any ideas, cheers guzgog.

markoneswift

Hi there mate, finally another 2.2 Zafira owner ! I've got a 2001 2.2 Elegance and have experienced very similar problems to the ones you are having. I notice that you've changed the coil pack but the problem remains - this is a shame, because after 12 months of fiddling, the coil pack was the ONLY thing that cured mine !!! I would still invest in a new one though, because even though you're mates car might seem to be running OK you can't gaurantee it ( I assume he's running at Z22 SE too ? ).

I have done several other things with mine that have helped smooth out the running and get rid of the hesitancy, mainly fitting an EGR blanking plate ( soon to be followed by an EGR cheater from this site ) and de-restricted the airbox. The airbox mods make it growwl a bit, but I can live with that :-) I also removed the TB and gave it a REALLY good clean, removed and cleaned all vac pipes / hoses and checked / renewed spark plugs.

After doing all of the above though, the only thing that made a REAL difference ( and I'm talking about it feeling like a different car ! ) was replacing the coil pack with a brand new one ( off Ebay, for £60 + £10 delivery !!! ). With the old coil pack I could hardly overtake on the flat, now I can overtake uphill....:-)

Let me know how you get on !

Justin.

guzgog

Thanks for all the info justin, im going to do a oil test on the cylinder thats low on compression to see if ive got a leaky valve it could of got bent when timing shifted ( tensioner rail snapped ) if still no joy i will look in to getting brand new coil pack will let you Know how i get on cheers Stan. ps whats your milage to the gallon

markoneswift

No worries mate - dunno what my consumption is, never bothered checking ( if I did, I think it would scare me !! ). It's better than my 2.2 Zetec Galaxy tho, but that was an auto.....

Since I did the coil pack, I've been 'giving it some' a lot more and surprising a few people ( which is why I got the 2.2 in the first place, thank God I got my way over the missus and her 1.6 ideas....)

Justin.