Zafira-B ; Panoramic ; Z22YH ; Auto

[Inevitability]

Hello everyone!

I’m brand new to the forum… All the way over here in South Africa.

I recently bought a non-runner Zafira-B Panoramic with the Z22YH engine and auto transmission (AF20), and I’m hoping to DIY my way through the issues and get it running on a shoestring budget. You can imagine that, if I can pull this off, I will have got an awesome car for dirt cheap. I have 3 little kids, so it will be really handy having a 7-seater when my parents or in-laws come on holiday to spend time with the kids, especially since my current car is a ’97 Astra F hatch!

We don’t have anywhere near the same kind of value-for-money on used cars as the UK/Europe does , so it’s really hard to get a good used car here for cheap, which is why I bought the non-runner… people tend to shy away from cars that need work (and even more from a non-runner) but after hearing his story and doing some research, it seems like the issues that the car has are all fixable without breaking the bank. The guy had just replaced the coil pack in recent months, and then was told by the GM dealership that he’s got faulty injectors. He had them removed and taken to a place that specialises in injectors and was told that they are leaking, but got a crazy quote for the job and decided to cut his losses and sell it.
From my Googling, and poking around forums and watching YouTube, it seem the car is now in “limp mode” (never knew that that was until a few days ago!)… it starts and idles, but roughly. It will move a bit when I put it in Drive / Reverse, but with almost no power… So as it stands, it will only run on a flat road at an absolute crawl.
I’ve been looking around, trying to get info related to the Z22YH, and since you guys in the UK get the Z22YH on multiple Vauxhall cars, I’m hoping that I can get the right info and pointers here. The Zafira is not very popular in South Africa. I see waaaay more VW Tourans and VW Caddys. And even among the few Zafiras that there are, the Z22YH variant is not a common variant, nor is the Panoramic.
All this adds up to a car that I hardly see on the road, but it has the potential to be a really really good car if I can get it running and fix all the issues.

So here’s what I’ve done so far, and the issues I have found:

• bought the car
  
• got it towed to my home
• bought a bluetooth OBD2 scanner from China to read/clear fault codes and diagnose issues. It cleared some but not all codes, and only a limited number of diagnostic screens are available. I have since ordered an OpCom device, but that's taking a while to ship.
• the battery doesn’t hold a charge
• rear electric windows weren’t working due to a blown fuse… need to get a replacement
• found out how to use the ‘panoramic sliders’ (dunno what the correct name is), but also found out that the front 2 ‘sliders’ are missing
• watched a few videos and read a few forums that suggest that the injector seals are likely to be an issue and they need to be replaced, also read a few forum posts on how to test for the fuel pressure regulator being dead... need OpCom for that.
• watched a few more videos on how to replace the injector seals, and saw a few genius hacks to do it without that special injector seal tool (more on that in a later post)
• got a price for a set of seals from ebay seller Vauxcenter in the UK , local agents can't source them.

I’m at the very beginning of my journey with this car, and I hope it turns out to be a success story rather than a regret.
I’ll add pics of the current condition of the car, plus more info whenever I can, and I’ll keep updating this thread as I make any progress. I will also list the fault codes in another post along with my Googling on what they mean, and what I understand from them.

I hope I will achieve 2 things here…

1. any/all input from the community here will only help me
2. maybe someone else with a Zafira has (or will have) similar issues and might one day look through this thread and find useful information

 

[Inevitability]

first pics below. bumper got pulled off while towing, had to stop in a hurry and re-attach to a safer spot... AC condensor also got bent in the process

 

[Inevitability]

Here are my fault codes after using the "pedal test" method, since the OBD2 scanner + Torque Pro App doesn't seem to read all the fault codes. And I also made notes on what I think these fault codes mean after doing some Googling and reading forums. I will update these as i go with new info.
P0303 01 : engine misfire Cyl 3
P1191 5A : Fuel pump or fuel pressure regulator. Sounds more like the regulator cos the car does start and holds an idle, albeit badly… need to check voltage at the fuel pressure sensor. If it’s more than 1.2V, then fuel pressure regulator is possibly dead.
P0105 06 : MAP sensor , try to clean it and see what happens.
P0120 02 : throttle valves / pedal position sensor switch ; clean and hope
P1550 01 : electronic throttle control reduced power ; I think this means the car has been put to limp mode
P1112 64 : swirl flaps malfunction ; I've seen a video, and read a few forum posts on this one: seems like it's gonna take some effort to get to if I wanna remove and clean it, or swap out the defective flaps and motor
P0460 71 : fuel gauge reading incorrect

 

[Inevitability]

Ok, so after more reading I tried something...
I disconnected the Fuel Pressure Regulator and the car immediately comes out of limp mode.
I'm hoping this is the clear sign that the FPR being the issue. I'm lucky to have the Continental High Pressure Fuel Pump on my car.
Anyways... I'm still waiting for the OP-COM to arrive to confirm it using the method that's I've seen being prescribed, which is to disconnect the FPR and then use OP-COM to read the fuel pressure voltage.

 

[evocarlos]

with a misfire code i would be looking at the fuel pump i drove out to a car last week with limp mode and wont pass 3000rpm
fuel pressure was 5000kpa at idle and held 5000kpa when increasing the rpm slowly and fast pressing the accelerator the fuel pressure dropped to lower than 600kpa the continental pump was removed and replaced with a good known siemens pump and the issue resolved
swirl flap bar can get stuck if the flaps are dirty if the engine is fitted with the egr then thats the cause of the dirty inlet
opcom is a must have when looking for hp fuel pump issues

 

[Inevitability]

This is such great info ... thanks! (... I'm clinging to hope that it's not the fuel pump! Say a prayer for me!)

I had unrealistic expectations for how long it would take for the OpCom to arrive
Probably gonna be a few weeks.

opcom is a must have when looking for hp fuel pump issues

So when you speak about these fuel pressure readings, you are talking about the readings from OpCom and not from a physical fuel pressure gauge/tool... yes? Just checking whether I need to find someone with a fuel pressure tester, or just be patient and wait for the OpCom.

 

[evocarlos]

This is such great info ... thanks! (... I'm clinging to hope that it's not the fuel pump! Say a prayer for me!)
I had unrealistic expectations for how long it would take for the OpCom to arrive
Probably gonna be a few weeks.
So when you speak about these fuel pressure readings, you are talking about the readings from OpCom and not from a physical fuel pressure gauge/tool... yes? Just checking whether I need to find someone with a fuel pressure tester, or just be patient and wait for the OpCom.

yes the reading in the software show the actual fuel rail pressure requested (5000kpa) and actual reading from the fuel pressure sensor.
the test port for a gauge on the pump will only show the in tank pump supply pressure normally around 3bar if you hear the pump prime at key on then thats normally considered working
the hp fuel pump is mechanical and there is no sensors on the actual pump so the only way to test its function is thru the software and the actual output pressure of the hp pump to the rail
i see many many people find the task of confirming the hp pump failure an almost impossible but with opcom and a few bits of info its very easy
as easy as

hp pump
2. Measure fuel pressure in the high pressure rail at idle by using Tech2 Datalist.

Is fuel pressure in the high pressure rail less than 600kPa?

Yes: High pressure pump defect, replace.

there is more detailed info here
https://z22se.co.uk/threads/vauxhall-fault-code-p1191-5a-help-needed.24446/#post-1213156

i will say from experience if the ecu is registering a misfire random or multiple then the fuel pump is not supplying the right pressure
that is what happened with the signum i bought cheap off facebook altho now its a great car since ive fixed all the problems
https://z22se.co.uk/threads/the-signum-number-3.29358/

 

[Inevitability]

Once again ... Thank you for the great info.

fuel pressure was 5000kpa at idle and held 5000kpa when increasing the rpm slowly and fast pressing the accelerator the fuel pressure dropped to lower than 600kpa

i will say from experience if the ecu is registering a misfire random or multiple then the fuel pump is not supplying the right pressure

The above 2 lines pretty much sum up what the car feels like, and is doing. Ok, I can't measure the fuel pressure until i have an OpCom, but if I gently increase throttle, then the revs do pick up in line with my throttle position, but if I try to accelerate hard the engine feels like it's gonna stall, or does stall. And using the "pedal test" and the generic OBD2, i am seeing misfire codes on random cylinders.
Ok ... so this has given me a much clearer indication that it's the pump. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience... I really really appreciate it.
I'll shop around for prices while I wait for the OpCom.

 

[Inevitability]

Finally got to stripping the high pressure fuel pump yesterday and found that (as advised my evocarlos) i have a cracked diaphragm.
So now I need to get the replacement diaphragms and take a swing at fixing it.

 

[Inevitability]

 

[Inevitability]

 

[Inevitability]

Great news... I managed to fix the pump!
Ordered the parts from eBay, took a couple of weeks to get to me, then had some delays getting to it.
Also, I couldn't get that metal ball out to open up the hole to fill the pump with oil... tried a few different things that would only have damaged the pump, so i gave up on that.
Then I saw a video on YouTube where the guy submerged the whole pump in oil and assembled it under oil.
Bloody brilliant! So I did the same and it worked!
Was a bit "fiddly" cos the oil I had wasn't very transparent and I had to do some of the assembly by touch rather than being able to see it clearly through the oil ...but in the end it worked, and the car idles fine now, and it's out of limp mode, and drives fine (from a fuel delivery point of view).

Next up ... now that I can drive the car around, there are some rattles and knocks (suspension parts probably, but possibly mountings), and a slight whining noise from the auto transmission.
Need to get that transmission noise diagnosed first.
Gonna check the transmission fluid level to see if it's as simple as the fluid being low.
Next I might try changing out the fluid, if its not too difficult and if i can find the gasket and filter for reasonable prices locally.
If non of that works, I'll need to take it to a mechanic to get it looked at, and if it turns out to be a serious issue, I'll have to weigh up the cost of trying to get it fixed vs looking for another transmission.