Intermittent Zafira issue

hi all,
Got a bit of a prob and wondered if anyone can throw any light before I start chucking money i haven't got at it :-(

Had my year 2000 Zafira automatic (its an Opal badged one) 1.8 CDi - 160000km's - for the past year with no problems. About a month ago it started having problems the, what I thought was the Engine Management light started coming on.. its actually the "Exhaust Emission" light looking at the manual.
Anyhow - if the car is cold it will start no problem and run for the most part absolutely fine. if i then stop and say 5 or 10 mins later start it again the light comes on and the engine will cut out, I have to start it, rev it high then bang it into Drive before the revs go back down the car will then tick along without cutting out but drives very lumpy.
I have had a mechanic to it who retrieved some error codes as follows:
P0100 MAF/VAF Circuit malfunction
He cleaned the sensor and the car appeared a lot smoother than before even when the light wasn't on.
After not too long.. about 20 miles max, the light popped back on again, the lumpy feeling wasn't there so i didn't notice the light straight away as i would have done before.
The lumpiness returned again after not too long and the mechanic has plugged his computer in again .. now getting the following:
P0100 MAF/VAF Circuit malfunction
P0110 IAT Circuit Malfunction
P0340 Camshaft position sensor circuit malfunction
P0130 O2 Sensor circuit malfunction

It appears to my untrained eye then that temperature may be a factor here ????

Questions -
1.Are all these issues possibly related? ie is it one problem manifesting itself on different sensors?
I was going to buy a new MAF valve/sensor (they are around £200-£250 here) but dont want to if its not likely to be that as the other errors have popped up
2.Could the computer be knackered ?? as its unlikely that everything has gone wrong at the same time if its not the same error - thats expensive for a guess
3.Anyone want to buy a Zafira lol
Seriously though anyone got any ideas or experience of this before i start shelling out
thanks in advance guys

hi take a look at this link..it might give you some ideas


http://www.astraownersclub.com/vb/showthread.php?t=254138

Yo Supersterl, many many thanks for the reply. This describes my issue perfectly .. to the T. I've just re-earthed the MAF sensor as described, started the car, the light was still on but the car did not stall. Got out and removed the new earth and the car ground to a halt straight away! interesting. The light has now gone off on the dash.. will run it for a bit and keep you posted of the longer term outcome. Thanks once again. Heres a pic of my handywork

Bah! :-( , stupid light came on again .. did maybe 10k's then it just came on ... looking around and have seen reference to a Pedal Test to see the error codes, have tried it (brake and accelerator to floor turn key ) but nothing out of the ordinary displays on the dashboard, does this method work with an Automatic or indeed with this model, if not is there a method to do this test .. really thought it had fixed it too

For the benefit of anyone watching this post.. the sluggishness completey disappeared when I did the above fix and has not returned at all since - it been more than a week :-) the light has popped on once since then .. maybe the Camshaft sensor? will get it checke out and repost then.. running like a dream though all in all

Hi all ,
Just got the mchanic here now.. the codes I am getting now are :

P0130 O2 Sensor Malfunction
P0110 IAT Circuit Malcunction

The Zaffy is so much better since the fix outlined above was done, the only problem now is that when the car is started up warm, ie its been run, left for 5 /10 mins I will start it then it will cut out straight away, If i apply a little accelerator whilst in "Park" it will tick over and as soon as i put it in "Drive" it ticks over nicely. I have read that these error codes will be activated if the car ever stalls, which as I've just described, it does. Why would it stall when started from warm? Its fine when starting first thing in the morning is the solution as simple as getting the tickover increased ? althoygh the tickover appears about righ when its not in "Park" ?? - just having the cambelt changed as I type this so hopefully apart from my issue with the tickover it'll be good as new for the next year or two .
Any advice, as always, gratefully received.

Its me talking to myself again , for the benefit of anyone watching this thread in the years to come, I asked the mechanic (after seeing reference on this and other forums) to clean the Throttle Body out, since then, and its only been a day, the cutting out problem has gone, it starts from Warm and keeps running, no fault lights coming on.. fingers crossed its just like new (ish)

Cleaning the throttle body out is definitely a must do. It seems to solve many problems. My 1.8 used to lose power whilst driving along. All i'd have to do is take my foot off the accelerator and re-apply and it would be fine again, but since cleaning my throttle body the problem hasn't returned in about 3-4 months now. I think the very small breather hole is the main problem as it is only 1-2mm wide on the inside of the throttle body and easily gets coked up.

Glad to hear you've sorted your problem by the way!!

Nice one guys :-) .. well, nearly 48 hrs in and the old Bus is running like a dream.. i'll stick my neck on the line here and say all my problems identified in the first post have now gone :-) , it feels totally right now to the point I had the tracking done today to get rid of a slightly annoying off centre sterring wheel and have got it booked in to get the Transmission flushed and the trans fluid changed tomorrow, just got to get the Air Con regassed (as summer is round the corner here ) and bobs ya uncle ... me Zaffy will be good for another few K's yet ... thanks again guys, if it wasn't for your initial answer Supersterl i would have had to have got rid of it and had to part chop it at great expense no doubt