Hello I have had my Opel Zafira 1.8 petrol (2004) in almost one year. The car has gone about 208.000 km and i have only driven it for about a 1.000 km. I have changed engine oil and oil filter once.
The car has never really run perfectly since I got the car. I have always had the impression that it runs to lean, and have always had bad fuel economy. From the beginning it had problems accelerating out from turns in third gear and almost stalled. After it got warmer it got better but the symptom was always there.
Over time the car started loosing more power. While driving on the highway it struggled to keep a steady speed and started shaking around 100 km/h. After the first shaking the first codes appeared. P0170 - fuel trim bank and P0303 - cylinder 3 misfire detected. Sadly i kept driving the car until it got worse and then got codes P0301 and P0304. As a side note it has always had code P1530 - ac cut off relay, but I did not think it had anything to do with the engine performance.
I suspected it was due to a bad MAF sensor so i looked up the part at autodoc website, and after typing in my cars registration number as a search method I bought the second cheapest MAF sensor which was from "Johns Autoteile GmbH & Co. KG". Before changing the MAF sensor the car was running very poorly and i suspected it was now in "limp mode" since i could not rev it above 2-3.000 rpm and only drive it very slow.
But after changing the new MAF sensor I have started having trouble starting the car and have only been able to start it once with very poor idle and limited revs. before shutting down. The car cranks and will almost start but fails every time now.
The battery is new and I do have spark. I can hear the fuel pump running and have changed the fuel filter. There is also fuel pressure on the fuel rail since fuel squirts out when pressing the schrader valve on the fuel line. I have cleaned and changed the throttle body to a new second hand one. I have also cleaned the little blow back hole in the throttle body. I can not seem to find any air leaks.
Should the car be able to start without a MAF sensor? Has the cheap MAF sensor changed something in the car? Do I need to reprogram the ECU for the newly installed MAF sensor or get a OEM MAF sensor in order to get the car to start again?
I have uploaded some footage of the car cranking with fail start:
Best regards Nikolo from Denmark.
The car has never really run perfectly since I got the car. I have always had the impression that it runs to lean, and have always had bad fuel economy. From the beginning it had problems accelerating out from turns in third gear and almost stalled. After it got warmer it got better but the symptom was always there.
Over time the car started loosing more power. While driving on the highway it struggled to keep a steady speed and started shaking around 100 km/h. After the first shaking the first codes appeared. P0170 - fuel trim bank and P0303 - cylinder 3 misfire detected. Sadly i kept driving the car until it got worse and then got codes P0301 and P0304. As a side note it has always had code P1530 - ac cut off relay, but I did not think it had anything to do with the engine performance.
I suspected it was due to a bad MAF sensor so i looked up the part at autodoc website, and after typing in my cars registration number as a search method I bought the second cheapest MAF sensor which was from "Johns Autoteile GmbH & Co. KG". Before changing the MAF sensor the car was running very poorly and i suspected it was now in "limp mode" since i could not rev it above 2-3.000 rpm and only drive it very slow.
But after changing the new MAF sensor I have started having trouble starting the car and have only been able to start it once with very poor idle and limited revs. before shutting down. The car cranks and will almost start but fails every time now.
The battery is new and I do have spark. I can hear the fuel pump running and have changed the fuel filter. There is also fuel pressure on the fuel rail since fuel squirts out when pressing the schrader valve on the fuel line. I have cleaned and changed the throttle body to a new second hand one. I have also cleaned the little blow back hole in the throttle body. I can not seem to find any air leaks.
Should the car be able to start without a MAF sensor? Has the cheap MAF sensor changed something in the car? Do I need to reprogram the ECU for the newly installed MAF sensor or get a OEM MAF sensor in order to get the car to start again?
I have uploaded some footage of the car cranking with fail start:
Best regards Nikolo from Denmark.