The sort of free Zafira
Discussion
Its been a little while since I've been on PH, the last time I was on here I had the old Mondeo MK3 estate and I was just getting back into security at the beginning of the lockdowns.
I drove the Mondeo for a couple of months before it started to give me a fair bit of grief, I sold that to two lovely Irish gentleman who wanted the engine out of it for their transit van and various other parts for their own Mondeo estate. They weighed the shell in a week after buying it from me. So at least parts of that actually live on, on other vehicles.
After the Mondeo I got myself a Citroen Berlingo 1.9 and roller painted it black, six months into ownership it started to fall apart and needed something new doing to it every week, then it started to p155 diesel out near the engine so that got scrapped too.
A MK6 fiesta followed that, Not a bad little car. It was purchased as a temporary stop gap to get me to and from work. It had been through a series of "lady owners" but was a bargain at what i paid for it, Just needed a good clean. I fitted facelift headlights to it and drove it for a few months. Being a larger guy, I started to have issues with the comfort of the car and it made an old knee injury worse, So I started saving for a new car...
Around the time I made the decision to save for a new car, my partners parents had put their car through a MOT and it failed on a irratic idle and emissions. The garage that MOTd it tried to tell them that it would need to go to Vauxhall for the erratic idle to be diagnosed and that the cat had gone requiring a replacement and would likely cost more than the cars market value.
They didn't want to put anymore money into the car than they already had and they no longer needed a 7 seater, So they decided to scrap the car and buy something else.
Scrap men around stoke don't seem to like buying scrap cars because every one that they contacted didn't bother turning up to collect the car.
They then remembered that I needed a bigger car and said it was mine free of charge if i could fix it and get it through a MOT.
Challenge accepted. The day after they had the new car delivered we drove down to Birmingham from Stoke to where I was going to be storing it.
From my research, it was possibly the worst zafira to own as if owning a zafira wasn't bad enough. a 2008 1.6 Petrol 5 speed manual. It was free though and I had a feeling that the garage had exaggerated the repairs because they just didn't want to do them.
Not being physically fit enough at the time to be working on the car myself, I had my mobile mechanic come out to diagnose the car. He ran the code scanner through and had a look at the MOT fail sheet, had a quick look under the car and discovered that the exhaust was toast and one of the sensors was hanging down, unplugged. The coil pack was also knackered, it fell apart in his hands.. so both the exhaust and coil packs were replaced and the car was given a bloody good thrash.
It went in for MOT and to our surprise, it passed with no advisories. For the Coil pack, exhaust and labour it cost £218.66 and for the MOT it cost £35. Total at this point was £253.66.
I had a bit of free time on my hands and some spray cans sat in the cupboards, So i decided to "dechrome" the car and tidy up the tatty wheel trims that had been used as parking sensors by my partners mum. Which resulted in the car looking like this.
Then came the window tints to help keep my partners five year old daughter cool - £80.
So that's how the car currently sits. Total cost of £333.66.
I've recently left security for various reasons and started doing a bit of Uber Eats and Deliveroo alongside a same day courier job so at the moment it is my working vehicle. There's a couple of issues I need to get sorted but just minor things.
I drove the Mondeo for a couple of months before it started to give me a fair bit of grief, I sold that to two lovely Irish gentleman who wanted the engine out of it for their transit van and various other parts for their own Mondeo estate. They weighed the shell in a week after buying it from me. So at least parts of that actually live on, on other vehicles.
After the Mondeo I got myself a Citroen Berlingo 1.9 and roller painted it black, six months into ownership it started to fall apart and needed something new doing to it every week, then it started to p155 diesel out near the engine so that got scrapped too.
A MK6 fiesta followed that, Not a bad little car. It was purchased as a temporary stop gap to get me to and from work. It had been through a series of "lady owners" but was a bargain at what i paid for it, Just needed a good clean. I fitted facelift headlights to it and drove it for a few months. Being a larger guy, I started to have issues with the comfort of the car and it made an old knee injury worse, So I started saving for a new car...
Around the time I made the decision to save for a new car, my partners parents had put their car through a MOT and it failed on a irratic idle and emissions. The garage that MOTd it tried to tell them that it would need to go to Vauxhall for the erratic idle to be diagnosed and that the cat had gone requiring a replacement and would likely cost more than the cars market value.
They didn't want to put anymore money into the car than they already had and they no longer needed a 7 seater, So they decided to scrap the car and buy something else.
Scrap men around stoke don't seem to like buying scrap cars because every one that they contacted didn't bother turning up to collect the car.
They then remembered that I needed a bigger car and said it was mine free of charge if i could fix it and get it through a MOT.
Challenge accepted. The day after they had the new car delivered we drove down to Birmingham from Stoke to where I was going to be storing it.
From my research, it was possibly the worst zafira to own as if owning a zafira wasn't bad enough. a 2008 1.6 Petrol 5 speed manual. It was free though and I had a feeling that the garage had exaggerated the repairs because they just didn't want to do them.
Not being physically fit enough at the time to be working on the car myself, I had my mobile mechanic come out to diagnose the car. He ran the code scanner through and had a look at the MOT fail sheet, had a quick look under the car and discovered that the exhaust was toast and one of the sensors was hanging down, unplugged. The coil pack was also knackered, it fell apart in his hands.. so both the exhaust and coil packs were replaced and the car was given a bloody good thrash.
It went in for MOT and to our surprise, it passed with no advisories. For the Coil pack, exhaust and labour it cost £218.66 and for the MOT it cost £35. Total at this point was £253.66.
I had a bit of free time on my hands and some spray cans sat in the cupboards, So i decided to "dechrome" the car and tidy up the tatty wheel trims that had been used as parking sensors by my partners mum. Which resulted in the car looking like this.
Then came the window tints to help keep my partners five year old daughter cool - £80.
So that's how the car currently sits. Total cost of £333.66.
I've recently left security for various reasons and started doing a bit of Uber Eats and Deliveroo alongside a same day courier job so at the moment it is my working vehicle. There's a couple of issues I need to get sorted but just minor things.
TorqueR said:
I admit to be a proper car bore at times, knowing the most mundane car facts but I noticed that your Zafira, being on a 2008 plate, is a facelift model but your rear lights are from a pre-facelift - these are the lights it should have.
Thanks, now its going to bug me 
I do prefer the look of the pre-facelift lights to the facelift ones though. I've seen lots of Zafira given away might be something to do with the way the manual air con can transform into an open fire behind the dashboard.
I think the problem was sorted eventually but a guy in my work owned one around the time Watchdog did a big story and he
carried a big powder fire extinguisher around the boot just incase.
I think the problem was sorted eventually but a guy in my work owned one around the time Watchdog did a big story and he
carried a big powder fire extinguisher around the boot just incase.
sutoka said:
I've seen lots of Zafira given away might be something to do with the way the manual air con can transform into an open fire behind the dashboard.
I think the problem was sorted eventually but a guy in my work owned one around the time Watchdog did a big story and he
carried a big powder fire extinguisher around the boot just incase.
This one has had that issue fixed I think the problem was sorted eventually but a guy in my work owned one around the time Watchdog did a big story and he
carried a big powder fire extinguisher around the boot just incase.
I do carry a fire extinguisher in the boot though, You just never know its a thing us zafira owners do bungz said:
I need something like this soon for a house renovation. Bang seats out cheap tip van.
Problem is I tend to get a shed then spend a load of cash on it making it perfect.
At least with a Zafira there is nooo chance id be doing that.
Go on the zafira owners groups, theres always someone flogging one cheap. Theyre huge inside and carry weight fairly well. Problem is I tend to get a shed then spend a load of cash on it making it perfect.
At least with a Zafira there is nooo chance id be doing that.
fez95 said:
Definitely. It does it all.
Tip runs, House moves, carries everyone when they have a drink when we go out for meals and it earns my £££ doing the whole Uber eats thing
The 1.6 will also cruise at about a ton quite happily, even if it does take a little while to get there!Tip runs, House moves, carries everyone when they have a drink when we go out for meals
and it earns my £££ doing the whole Uber eats thing The main thing I noticed driving one was that with them being a bit roly-poly, on cheap tyres you seem to get tyre squeal even with relatively mild cornering, it's like being in a 70s cop show.
InitialDave said:
The 1.6 will also cruise at about a ton quite happily, even if it does take a little while to get there!
The main thing I noticed driving one was that with them being a bit roly-poly, on cheap tyres you seem to get tyre squeal even with relatively mild cornering, it's like being in a 70s cop show.
I've been told that by a few people and I believe it. I've only gone up to 90 before backing off The main thing I noticed driving one was that with them being a bit roly-poly, on cheap tyres you seem to get tyre squeal even with relatively mild cornering, it's like being in a 70s cop show.
and on private land of course. I recently moved in with my partner and it took me a whole 48 hours to make the villages Facebook group because I did exactly that, took a corner slightly too fast and squealed the tyres
The tyres on this car are really s
te, they love to wheelspin in the wet at junctions Ill only replace them when they become illegal though I've been wanting an arm rest in this car since I got it and the only way the Vauxhall weirdos ever do it in the groups is paying a silly amount of money for a seat that has one already built in.
I think that its clear that I don't like spending money and when I do, I'm cheap as f*ck.
A while ago I picked this universal armrest up, brand new in the packaging from Facebook marketplace. £10 and around the corner so to me it made sense. Saved myself £15 there
Badly bodged it into place because I really don't care as long as its functional.
Also had to change the rear passenger tail/brake light bulb and the rear passenger indicator bulb today. That's the third time since Ive had this car that I've had to change the tail light/brake light bulb
I think that its clear that I don't like spending money and when I do, I'm cheap as f*ck.
A while ago I picked this universal armrest up, brand new in the packaging from Facebook marketplace. £10 and around the corner so to me it made sense. Saved myself £15 there
Badly bodged it into place because I really don't care as long as its functional.
Also had to change the rear passenger tail/brake light bulb and the rear passenger indicator bulb today. That's the third time since Ive had this car that I've had to change the tail light/brake light bulb
Been working the car hard the last week and a few things are now needing doing.
The message INSP now comes up on the trip screen every time I start the car up, from what I've googled it means its due a service. Picking up the filters and oil to get that done later this week. Until then it will have to suffer.
The boot sometimes wont stay shut, it seems that the catch needs adjusting somehow. Ill look at that later today.
The horn isn't working, again. fuse is fine. last time this happened spraying contact cleaner behind the steering wheel worked. From googling it seems its a common issue and the steering wheel needs replacing. Its falling apart anyway.
and the front tyres are getting close to the legal limit, I've probably got a couple of more weeks left in them. Nothing to do with the wheelspins in the wet.... honest
The message INSP now comes up on the trip screen every time I start the car up, from what I've googled it means its due a service. Picking up the filters and oil to get that done later this week. Until then it will have to suffer.
The boot sometimes wont stay shut, it seems that the catch needs adjusting somehow. Ill look at that later today.
The horn isn't working, again. fuse is fine. last time this happened spraying contact cleaner behind the steering wheel worked. From googling it seems its a common issue and the steering wheel needs replacing. Its falling apart anyway.
and the front tyres are getting close to the legal limit, I've probably got a couple of more weeks left in them. Nothing to do with the wheelspins in the wet.... honest
Quick update.
Horn issue has been resolved for a while, I removed the steering wheel and the CIM module. One of the pins on the connectors had somehow been bent very slightly and there was a little corrosion. Pin bent back and corrosion cleaned up. Horn fixed for free.
Boot wasn't shutting because the weather stripping had come out of place ever so slightly in one place. Superglued it back.
Auxiliary belt started to squeal and looked worn, so I spent a huge £5 on a new belt and changed it out. Snapped a bolt taking the arch liner out to get to the bugger and spent a whole afternoon sorting that out because my OCD won't allow me to just use a cable tie.
Did an oil and filter change while I was in there... The oil was as thick as treacle.. mother in law no longer using the garage she used to - they never changed the oil in the 3 years she owned it, just took her money.
Then the clutch started to slip.... Picked up a LUK clutch kit from a member on the mad bus club for £40! Had it fitted in a day.
The latest issue - the rear passenger door has deadlocked itself and won't open. At all. Common problem it seems, wiring has split in the loom between front and rear door. Should be easy enough to remove, solder and refit. I'll tackle that next week.
Other than that she's been relatively trouble free.
Horn issue has been resolved for a while, I removed the steering wheel and the CIM module. One of the pins on the connectors had somehow been bent very slightly and there was a little corrosion. Pin bent back and corrosion cleaned up. Horn fixed for free.
Boot wasn't shutting because the weather stripping had come out of place ever so slightly in one place. Superglued it back.
Auxiliary belt started to squeal and looked worn, so I spent a huge £5 on a new belt and changed it out. Snapped a bolt taking the arch liner out to get to the bugger and spent a whole afternoon sorting that out because my OCD won't allow me to just use a cable tie.
Did an oil and filter change while I was in there... The oil was as thick as treacle.. mother in law no longer using the garage she used to - they never changed the oil in the 3 years she owned it, just took her money.
Then the clutch started to slip.... Picked up a LUK clutch kit from a member on the mad bus club for £40! Had it fitted in a day.
The latest issue - the rear passenger door has deadlocked itself and won't open. At all. Common problem it seems, wiring has split in the loom between front and rear door. Should be easy enough to remove, solder and refit. I'll tackle that next week.
Other than that she's been relatively trouble free.
Ahhh yes, The Mad Bus club... I remember them from my old Vauxhall days. I se to remember lots of them had Powered by Fairy dust stickers and the like.
But anyways, these are utter beige motoring and usually viewed with utter derision by most but as a tool, they're actually not bad. They're pretty simple, solid and cheap to run with acres of space so you can their appeal.
Mother in law has one, also a 1.6 and yes it's really rather terrible to drive but it's never failed her and gets used a a makeshift van / skip lorry most of the time so looks ruined now, but it just keeps on going.
Just leave it standard, cheap mods on these makes them look... errr... well about as council as it comes to coin a PH phrase!
But anyways, these are utter beige motoring and usually viewed with utter derision by most but as a tool, they're actually not bad. They're pretty simple, solid and cheap to run with acres of space so you can their appeal.
Mother in law has one, also a 1.6 and yes it's really rather terrible to drive but it's never failed her and gets used a a makeshift van / skip lorry most of the time so looks ruined now, but it just keeps on going.
Just leave it standard, cheap mods on these makes them look... errr... well about as council as it comes to coin a PH phrase!
Davie said:
Ahhh yes, The Mad Bus club... I remember them from my old Vauxhall days. I se to remember lots of them had Powered by Fairy dust stickers and the like.
But anyways, these are utter beige motoring and usually viewed with utter derision by most but as a tool, they're actually not bad. They're pretty simple, solid and cheap to run with acres of space so you can their appeal.
Mother in law has one, also a 1.6 and yes it's really rather terrible to drive but it's never failed her and gets used a a makeshift van / skip lorry most of the time so looks ruined now, but it just keeps on going.
Just leave it standard, cheap mods on these makes them look... errr... well about as council as it comes to coin a PH phrase!
They're an interesting bunch but very useful when you need parts or advice. A couple of interesting builds going on at the moment in the group but mostly council still But anyways, these are utter beige motoring and usually viewed with utter derision by most but as a tool, they're actually not bad. They're pretty simple, solid and cheap to run with acres of space so you can their appeal.
Mother in law has one, also a 1.6 and yes it's really rather terrible to drive but it's never failed her and gets used a a makeshift van / skip lorry most of the time so looks ruined now, but it just keeps on going.
Just leave it standard, cheap mods on these makes them look... errr... well about as council as it comes to coin a PH phrase!
It'll be staying standard, just giving it what it needs to keep it running and safe as and when it needs it until it gets too expensive.
I'm teaching the other half to drive in it and if it survives that ordeal, it'll more than likely be given to her as her first car.
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