Engine Shagged Need Replacement

mickeyjupp

Hi All

Hope you can help with this, bought a Zafira 2.2 auto in July last year 50k miles on the clock. Driven about 5k miles since then - no problems apart from alternator needing replacing but done under warranty so no problems. Then all of a sudden my wife is driving my son to football when the car stops. Turns out it ran out of oil, although there was NO warning light on. Engine is shagged. Apparantly the tensioner seized and broke the timing chain with consequent engine damage. Garage have told us warranty is invalid as damage was due to driver negligence. We have had a separate report done which seems to confirm that this was the case. We are resigned but not happy to accept this explanation.

Now we are faced with a repair bill of about 3k for a car which is probably worth £2.5k. That's with a reconditioned engine. The engine itself is c£1500 with the rest in labour and parts. Loath to write of the car but at that price its not worth it is it? Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks MJ

MikeS

contact atomx as he keeps spare engines and supply/ fit

alternatively contact Benny as he might be able to help

mickeyjupp

Thanks for the tip - has anyone else had problems with oil consumption?

Matt

Welcome to the site. Another new member posted about high oil consumption

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18502

delgado900

I think for every thousand miles an old z22se will loose a litre of oil I heard that somewhere anyways

comet

delgado900 said:
I think for every thousand miles an old z22se will loose a litre of oil I heard that somewhere anyways

I think that's in the handbook - long time since I read it though. I suspect Vx put that just to cover themselves - I can't see it was designed to use that much. I know mine's done 94k and uses about 0.5 litre between 5k oil changes. But some people have said there's uses a lot more.

Sjdickso

Seems to be more and more common as these engines get older and get higher mileage of high oil consumption seems to be even more if the chain has gone and the engine has been reconditioned.

I treat mine like a RX8 check the oil every second full tank of juice.

comet

The other thing which doesn't seem to help is that it is very difficult to get an accurate reading. My oil level on the dipstick varies massively depending on where I park on our drive. And unless I check first thing in the morning the dipstick often shows a low reading - the oil seems to take ages to drain back into the sump.

vocky

it's more likely the chain just snapped, ask to see the big end bearings - if they are fine then it wasn't low oil level

gsi_turbo

sounds like your having a real nightmare mate

when i got the coupe i was told by a mechanic to keep a eye on the oil level

apparently they use quite a bit

astra22bertoneauto

Sorry to hear about your Zafira fella. Must be really frustrating! It would have P****d me off TBH!

Personally i think its all about how well people look after their cars to how much oil they use. Before i joined this forum i used to get my auto coupe serviced once a year at Vx and that was it, but never missed a service. Bought my car with 50k on the clock and chain lasted to 117k. Now i pay a lot more attention to my car because just like most people i didnt realise that i need to look after it more often. Once the oil loses its circulation and starts clogging up, parts normally wear and thats when problems start. This would also show the oil taking ages to drain back into the sump etc.

Trouble is when these cars were new people just drove them. They probably didnt think about the long term damage.

As for you Zafira, If the overall condition of it is good then these cars do hold their value! I just bought a 2001 Zafira cheap, but the valuations were between £1800 - £2000 with 107000 miles. So you could get the engine done, have a few years of good motoring and then when you come to sell it you will still get a fair amount back.

Just my opinion but i hope it helps :thumbup: