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Hi everyone, I hope you can help me. First off:
Make: Vauxhall
Model: Zafira
Engine size/Type: 1.6L
Year: 2013
Mileage: 110K
Okay, so I am having an issue with my car. At first, I thought it was the spark plugs. I changed those, but the problem hasn’t gone away. I am not a mechanic and don’t know very much about cars—just the basics, really. My garage can’t fit me in until the 2nd of April, but I need my car to be running, and it isn’t working right. I’ll explain some symptoms and also include some OBD codes.
The car started having some issues—lagging, idling rough, and just feeling uneven as it ran. The service light came on, so I assumed it was because it needed a service and, most likely, some new spark plugs.
Since the garage can't fit me in until April 2nd, I thought I’d give it a shot and change the spark plugs myself, as it’s a reasonably simple task. I got the tool, got the spark plugs, and made the changes. I thought it was fixed, but nothing changed. I also started to notice that the car would occasionally let out a lot of white/grey smoke from the exhaust, which smelled a little like rotten eggs/sulfur. It doesn’t do this all the time, though.
My brother-in-law came around with his OBD2 scanner, and it showed the following codes:
P0134: Heated oxygen sensor 1, bank 1 - no activity detected
Status: Pending
P0068:
Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor / Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor - Throttle Position Correlation
Status: GM Failure Record
General Electrics [0x00]
I had no idea what this meant, so I did some research on sensors overnight to continue troubleshooting in the morning.
This morning, the car was working fine! No problems at all, it seemed. I thought maybe I needed to delete the codes and see if they popped up again, but I don’t have a scanner. I read that you can clear codes by disconnecting the battery for 15–30 minutes, so I did that.
After reconnecting the battery, the car was still working fine. Went around the block—fine. Took the dogs for a walk—fine. Went to Aldi—fine. These were all short journeys (under 10 minutes), so I thought maybe it was fixed.
Then this evening, I took the kids home, which is about a 40-minute drive, and crossed my fingers. The service light came back on about 15 minutes into the drive.
I have noticed that if I press too hard on the gas pedal, the car loses a lot of power, as if it’s close to stalling, and a lot of smoke comes out the back. Then, after about 10 seconds, it corrects itself and drives fine again. If I drive the car lightly and don’t use too much accelerator, it drives fine, but if I give it too much gas, it freaks out, nearly stalls, and produces a lot of grey/white smoke from the exhaust.
That’s about it. It smells a little like bad eggs/sulfur, doesn’t seem to be a problem when the car is cold (maybe...), and is definitely an issue if I push the car too hard.
I hope this is descriptive enough, and hopefully, someone can give me a clue on what to do next to fix the car.
Thanks in advance!
Make: Vauxhall
Model: Zafira
Engine size/Type: 1.6L
Year: 2013
Mileage: 110K
Okay, so I am having an issue with my car. At first, I thought it was the spark plugs. I changed those, but the problem hasn’t gone away. I am not a mechanic and don’t know very much about cars—just the basics, really. My garage can’t fit me in until the 2nd of April, but I need my car to be running, and it isn’t working right. I’ll explain some symptoms and also include some OBD codes.
The car started having some issues—lagging, idling rough, and just feeling uneven as it ran. The service light came on, so I assumed it was because it needed a service and, most likely, some new spark plugs.
Since the garage can't fit me in until April 2nd, I thought I’d give it a shot and change the spark plugs myself, as it’s a reasonably simple task. I got the tool, got the spark plugs, and made the changes. I thought it was fixed, but nothing changed. I also started to notice that the car would occasionally let out a lot of white/grey smoke from the exhaust, which smelled a little like rotten eggs/sulfur. It doesn’t do this all the time, though.
My brother-in-law came around with his OBD2 scanner, and it showed the following codes:
P0134: Heated oxygen sensor 1, bank 1 - no activity detected
Status: Pending
P0068:
Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor / Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor - Throttle Position Correlation
Status: GM Failure Record
General Electrics [0x00]
I had no idea what this meant, so I did some research on sensors overnight to continue troubleshooting in the morning.
This morning, the car was working fine! No problems at all, it seemed. I thought maybe I needed to delete the codes and see if they popped up again, but I don’t have a scanner. I read that you can clear codes by disconnecting the battery for 15–30 minutes, so I did that.
After reconnecting the battery, the car was still working fine. Went around the block—fine. Took the dogs for a walk—fine. Went to Aldi—fine. These were all short journeys (under 10 minutes), so I thought maybe it was fixed.
Then this evening, I took the kids home, which is about a 40-minute drive, and crossed my fingers. The service light came back on about 15 minutes into the drive.
I have noticed that if I press too hard on the gas pedal, the car loses a lot of power, as if it’s close to stalling, and a lot of smoke comes out the back. Then, after about 10 seconds, it corrects itself and drives fine again. If I drive the car lightly and don’t use too much accelerator, it drives fine, but if I give it too much gas, it freaks out, nearly stalls, and produces a lot of grey/white smoke from the exhaust.
That’s about it. It smells a little like bad eggs/sulfur, doesn’t seem to be a problem when the car is cold (maybe...), and is definitely an issue if I push the car too hard.
I hope this is descriptive enough, and hopefully, someone can give me a clue on what to do next to fix the car.
Thanks in advance!
