Loss of power or very little power in my zafria

[cliff1010]

Hi I had a problem that my O2 sensor light came up spoke to a car sprayer friend who dabbles in car repairs and he suggested leaving it as all vauxhalls are prone to this. I had terrible fuel consumption so decided against that and had it replaced. Then my anti skid light came up we limped home it was placed on a computer to test for codes etc and the air flow metre was at fault. Replaced again but the car is now undriveable the mechanic put a small circle of cardboard over the air flow metre and it works fine but I can't drive like that any ideas anyone. It's now been suggested the throttle body is at fault but if I keep replacing parts with no real reason I will be broke.

The car is a 2004 zafria 1.8 design auto , auto g box fluid was black so was burnt and obviously overheated in the past if that helps.
Thanks in advance cliff

 

[cliff1010]

Well loads of people have viewed and no one has commented as yet, but a quick update my wife has just called and the sprayer chap thinks he has fixed it. On the side of the throttle body is a black plastic disc with two holes in it. One of these was blocked and on clearing it the car seems ok. Next thing is replace the gearbox fluid and test tomorrow.

Fingers crossed , yes I know I should take it to a proper garage lesson learned.

 

[Burnerman]

Can you explain whats actually been done to the air flow meter, Cliff? I don't follow what you mean about the cardboard disc.
On some vehicles, if the anti skid system cuts in, its not possible to accellerate the engine - the car thinks its skidding so doesn't allow you to make things worse......I'm nearly sure there's a connection here.
John

 

[cliff1010]

John, sorry I should have explained better, it seems we had a few things wrong at the same time. I not knowing enough about the car workings associated the limp home mode when the anti skid light comes on with a loss of power. On checking the car on a fault PC ( sorry dont know the name ) the air flow metre came up this was dismantled and was full of gunk reducing the flow. The throttle body ws also full of gunk, this also cleaned resulted in the car being undrivable and I could not even get it to a garage.

It has been explained the gearbox may be causing the antiskid light to come on and needs the fluid replaced ( not sure if this is right ) but now the car seems to run ok I can at least test it. The car has been tested by a friend who drove it up to 80 miles an hour with no problems. I am not convinced but will test and post results.

Cliff

 

[cliff1010]

John should have said the old air flow metre was replaced and we saw no difference ( replaced with a new one not 2nd hand ) he thought about it and reduced the air flow on this new metre with the cardboard cut out
( shape of a polo )
and the car ran ok.

Cliff

 

[Burnerman]

Please keep us updated on this one Cliff - I can't comment on the anti skid / auto box syndrome - thats beyond me - but I realise that gunge in the throttle body is bad, and likewise the airflow meter. I've never heard of reducing its throat diameter!
It sounds like your engine has a good many miles on it, if its producing crankcase fumes like this....these are what clogs up the throttle and air flow gadgets.
John

 

[cliff1010]

Yes will post the finding shortly, the engine I believe has done about 70K

Cliff

 

[cliff1010]

Update on fix;
Well fingers crossed all seems fine. I seem to have purchased a few parts i didn't need but in all I am happy the car is running fine now and seems to be ok.

In short the air flow metre and throttle body were gunked up when these were cleaned the car ran terrible. sorry cant think of the part name think it was a crank body case ? quoted £200 from vauxhall but approx 40 on ebay. Car still ran rubbish until 2 small holes were spotted in the side of the throttle body cleaned those out car runs a treat. Still changed the auto fluid and all ok.

Hope this in turn helps someone with same issues
Cliff