Vauxhall 1.9 derv - Gen me up (for a friend)

[beko1987]

Gnomeotoole, occasional poster to this parish is looking for a bigger family car, now he has shacked up with a bird who has 2 kids of her own, and Gareth has a daughter he has occasional need for a bigger car than the CRV for holidays and seating arrangements with 2 kids in car seats. Plus I think he is bored of the CRV (Anyone want a CRV in Jewish Racing gold with 2 pedals and a recent professionally* fitted exhaust?)

 

We have been looking, and his eye has been drawn to Zafiras with the 1.9 derv engine of boringness. He read honest john, which as we all know is the benchmark for unbiased* car reviews, and the jist there was OMGSTAYAWAY, which I'm not so sure about. We feel that 99% of the bad reviews of the engine there are from people who really should have bought a petrol, but never having run that engine in any of our cars we have no idea. My stepdad had 5 zafiras with that engine, but being company cars if it did ever go wrong he wouldn't have cared, and tbh I don't recall them ever giving issues.

 

So, could we have the collective experiences of the 1.9 derv as fitted to probably every model type of vauxhall and some saabs this millennium? They can't be that bad surely, the laws of averages compared to how many units will be out there mus be favorable surely?

 

I'll then let him drive our Zafira one day so he can look at all of that side. 1.9 derv faziras are cheaper and more plentiful than the equivilant people carriers of it's type, hence why he is drawn to them

[bub2006]

Can't fault the 2.0 dti in earlier zafira. If it's a zaf B though I think the 120 is meant to be more reliable.

[beko1987]

Yea it'll be a zafira B. He's trying to copy me I think (I don't blame him...)

[Rusty_Rocket]

It's a Fiat engine, also used in Alfas.  The usual diesel caveats apply, like EGR gumming up, injector seals can leak, air mass meter failures etc.  But, it's an 'ok' engine as far as common rail diesels go.  There's literally hundreds of thousands of these running around, the majority giving good service.

There is an issue with the swirl flaps gumming up and pushing the actuating rod off- not sure if this is a problem or not on an oldie.  Timing belt change isn't overly simple and the water pump is weak- it must be changed every time you do the belt.

Check the DMF/ clutch are ok before buying! 

[sierraman]

Are we talking the 1.9 in the Vectra not the 2.0 in the Insignia?

[Bren]

1.9 150 is better than 120. Same economy but more power. Glow plugs on 120 are PITA to remove - Jeremy Beadle hands are a must. Every 150 vectra we looked at was shagged - the 150 does have swirl flap / manifold issues.

[beko1987]

Are we talking the 1.9 in the Vectra not the 2.0 in the Insignia?

Its the 1.9 in the Zafira, Wikipedia says it was the one designed with fiat, so the derv in various fiats and alas as well as the astra h, Zafira B, signum, vectra etc.

 

Not sure on the 120 or 150 bit though

[Hendry]

Gearboxes are weak, the Astra 1.9 CDTis run an M32 gearbox, as do Astra VXRs with different ratios, while the Vectras use an F40 which is much stronger, id guess at the Zafira running the M32 as well, but im not 100%, it was a very common problem on Astras when i frequented the owners forums, with it being widely phrased that the boxes were made of chocolate, my mate also had a 4year old 1.9 150 Astra which the gearbox was failing on at around 55K miles, the way to tell is to put it in gear and pull away, watch the stick and if it moves quite a bit then the box is on the way out, do this through all the gears on a test drive and if it moves more than a wee bit then same again, faulty box.

 

Then youve got the usual diesel DMF and clutch issues which are almost a consumable/service item on most diesels now.

 

Alternators for some reason are another massive weak point on these cars/engines, loads of folk on the forums had theirs fail.

 

Inlet manifold swirl flaps as said, and EGR valves.

 

if it was me and i was in the market for a Zafira I reckon id buy a 1.8 petrol, the trade off of higher running costs is that its going to cost you less in repair bills long term so youd actually be better off with the petrol one, if it had to be a diesel id be going for the 1.7 CDTi, I believe this is the fairly bullet proof old GM diesel engine but with common rail added to it. Different between 120s and 150s arent just a different map etc. the 120 is an 8valve while the 150 is 16valve. 

[Cavcraft]

Gearboxes differ with BHP: 120 mostly had the F32, all 150s have F40. The latter are supposed to be the better, though the 32 in my 120 was fine.