Zafira service - What's involved.

I've bought a secondhand Zafira 10 weeks ago, which was serviced a few days
before I took ownership.
The front brakes are now screeching like a banshee and before xmas, we had
to put loads of oil in it as the engine started rattling. There appeared to
be no oil in the engine.
There is no sign of burning oil from the exhaust or dripping oil on the
drive!

What is involved in a service and how can I find out if it really was
serviced?

Many thanks in advance.

 

Hi Macca
Assuming this is not a tongue in cheek question given you say 'loads
of oil' (how much 5 litres worth ??? ) I would think that the 1st
action would have been to have got straight on to the garage or whoever
you bought the car off.
Hopefully you have not leant an expensive lesson by not checking the
basics once a car has been 'serviced'. Checking the oil colour and
level is a must before you even leave the garage forecourt. If found
wrong, you get the manager over to the car there and then. You ask him
to get the engineer who worked on and signed off the car and let him
explain where the oil went. You then get a partial /full refund on the
service cost and consider informing trading standards dept etc.

There is no excuse for you not checking the oil level the day after you
took delivery. Oil is the life blood of your engine. Any shortages
here and you have a big bill looming over the horizon unless very
lucky.

Re the service, your service book should be stamped under the
appropriate year / mileage. Similarly the service book will say what
should have been done. You also ask the garage for a copy of their
maintenance report on your car.

Steve

 

It depends on the age of the car and the service carried out. The 1st,
3rd, 5th etc on the older ones is more or less just an oil & filter
change but the 2nd, 4th etc are far more thorough. A non-franchised
dealer could well ignore the recommended schedule or use cheap oil &
filter too.

What age, model & mileage Zafira? What service history does it have and
when was the last stamp?

Who servicied it and did they stamp it up? Did you but it from a dealer
and are you suspicious that it is a fraudulent stamp/claim?

Brakes may not be touched at small service and you could just have a
stone between a disc & pad. Whatever happens get someone to look at it
ASAP in case it is dangerous.

With regards oil, engine rattling and no oil are not necessarily
connected but they probably are. I would expect the oil warning light
to come on before it reaches the rattling stage. Are you aware that
with a lot of the Zafira engines you must no check the oil immediately
after stopping the engine? It takes a while for the oil to drain back
down to the sump. I reccomend chacking it in the morning before
starting to be sure. I would do this now just to make sure you have not
now overfilled it. It would normally be smoking if you did though. As
with above, ask someone who knows what they are doing to listen to the
engine.

Finally, talk to the people who serviced it, ask what they did and try
and get a copy of the jobcard/invoice altyhough they may not want to
give it to you unless it was done by the selling dealer when you bought
it.

Sorry for the long reply!

Alan