Vauxhall Zafira Starts, then Shuts off after few seconds

[faraz37]

Hello!

This is my first ever post, I will try to be as precise as possible.

I own a diesel automatic Vauxhall Zafira 1.9 Cdti 2009. Yesterday afternoon when I tried to start it did start but just in about 2 or 3 seconds it lost power and shut down. Since then it is the same, I tried severel times. The start is perfect though, I mean there doesn't seem to be an issue with battery as it starts almost immediately. However after starting it loses power as if it is not getting enough fuel i.e. doesn't stabalise and shuts down. It seems like if I push the pedal while starting it shuts down even quicker than 2 seconds. In those 2 or 3 seconds of start time I do not see any kind of alarm lights on.

I would also like to give you a little bit of background story as it may be related to this, though I am not sure! About 3 months ago while on my way to Wales from London with my family for Christmas break, this car went into limp mode while were on motorway, just about 30 miles into our journey. I called my recovery service, the mechanic ran his test and gave the code P1120 (Accelerator Pedal Fault), he said these cars now have sensor based pedals, and mine was malfunctioning. Anyhow, we chose to continue with our journey (didn't want to spoil our Christmas plans!), thanks to the National Recovery option that I had opted for. In Wales I gave my car in for repairs to Vauxhall dealer (Evans Halshaw, Newport) as I wanted to get nationwide warranty for the repair work. They were helpful and gave me discount too. They replaced Part # 9193193 Lever-Accelerator Control. I spent just below £400 all inclusive.

Now, coming back to current day, I am not sure if it is the pedal again, especially because when I press it, it seems to shut down the engine quicker (as mentioned earlier).

I would appreciate your advise:
- Do you think I can try any of your good tips and make my car work?
- Should I buy an op-com and try to play around with resetting codes etc.?
- Should I call recovery service and ask them to take it to Evans Halshaw to claim warranty of previous repair? (Nearest one is about 20 miles away, I hope recovery service agrees!). But the problem is that I'm not even sure if it is the pedal again, I don't want to get ripped off in case it isn't the pedal.

Your help will be very much appreciated. Thanks, Faraz.

Edited by faraz37 on Tuesday 12th March 11:13

Edited by faraz37 on Tuesday 12th March 11:14

[paintman]

If you want to make any claim on any warranty:
DO NOT mess about with it yourself.

As you are talking about a possible warranty claim you need to speak to Evans Halshaw as they did the previous repair & see what they want you to do.
Get the fault codes read with make specific diagnostic equipment, not a general OBD reader to see what comes up.
Take it from there.

[faraz37]

Thanks for your reply. I do not have vehicle warranty its old i.e. 2009. I was reffering the repair or part warranty that they replaced. But as the car wouldn't stay start so to take to the dealer I will have to call my recovery service (I have homestart package) and I suppose as a standard proceedure they would run diagnosis too. I am not sure if warranty voids in this case too. Anyway, per your advice, I will give a call to the dealer and ask them about terms of warranty. I'll post the result here.

[eybic]

Parts warranty will cover the cost of the part alone, not the labour. Probably easier to take it local to be diagnosed then make decisions from there.

[GreenV8S]

Starting but not running sounds like an electrical problem rather than a mechanical problem such as failed injectors etc, so hopefully not too traumatic to fix. I agree with the suggestion to get a local independent to investigate.

[faraz37]

I called vauxhall dealers nearby, they prefer looking at the car first. I've decided to use op-com to see if I find any error codes, based on that I will decide where to take it to. If it's pedal will to dealers, if anything else or nothinf then wil take it local garage. For the recovery service I'll just get one shot at where to take it. I've ordered op-com will receive it by tomorrow.

[faraz37]

The cheap op-comm was waste of money! I gave up on it and called recovery. He diagnosed many errors:

51T / Diesel CR/EDC 16C39U2108 - Communication with ABS/ESP. Error Message : No communication.U2103 - CAN data bus. Error Message : Malfunction.U2139 - Communication with steering column switch module. Error Message : No communication.U2106 - Communication with transmission control. Error Message : No communication.P0606 - Control unit. Error Message : Initialisation faulty.P1613 - Immobilizer. Error Message : Defective / signal fault

He cleared the errors, ran the test again, showed no errors. He check Fuel pump pressure, was fine too. We fired up the engine, but shut down again like before. He said it might be either the EGR Valve, or one of the fuel injectors.

Since he had ruled out the throttle pedal, so I took to a trustworthy garage nearby instead of getting ripped off from dealers. He took his time and finally found out that MAP Sensor on the throttle body was the culprit, it was choked with dirt and grease to a point that it couldn't be cleaned. He changed it, and cleaned the rest of the area, he said. I asked him to change oil and oil filter too as it needed changing. Charged me a total of £240. Sounds fair to me. I'm back on the road.

Thank you everyone for providing your guidance.