My 2006 1.8 litre vauxhall Zafira has air venting problem which no one seems to know how to fix. Including the main dealer! There is hardley any air blowing onto the windscreen wherever the venting knob is set. A real problem in this weather. The blower motor is fine with plenty of flow from dashboard vents and into the footwells. There is also plenty of heat from heater rad when selected. A sheet of A4 placed over windscreen vent hardley moves, yet the main dealer can't find anything wrong. Has anybody had similar problems or got any ideas?

Dave, Bournemouth, January 2010

Pete has written it in very good short and simple way...mine is in detail
I managed to fix my Zafira's air vent problem ( I have sold my car but putting comments on to help other people).
 
Here is what I did:-
 
How to diagnose the problem. Please switch off your car and take the keys out so nothing is switch on.
 
Turn the vent setting knob carefully and try to hear plastic to plastic or plastic to metal clicking noise or ticking noise. At some point you will hear it when you turn the air vent setting knob.
 
If you can hear it then detect where it is coming from. In my case it was in middle of my dashboard where air vent opening mechanism is.
 
For this you will have to follow the black cable which goes from the vent setting knob to the mechanism. This cable is like accelerator cable black on top and silver in middle which open- close air vent paths.
 
You will have to remove driver side foot well air pipe connections. Once you have removed the cover and air pipe which has few hole to give the air, you should be able to see the air vent mechanism with torch. if you have not been able to see you might have to remove some more things but I didn't have to. I only remove couple of plastic part that were in the way.
Now if air vent mechanism is visible to you this means 50 percent of your job is done.
Now while keeping an eye on mechanism turn the setting knob. You will see 5-6 cm long and about one to one & half CM wide (similar size to one of your finger) moves. One side of this plastic part should stay in one place and when you move setting knob only one side should move with Cable movement to open air paths.
 
In my case one side that was not supposed to move was moving- broken which didn't let the other side of this part move enough to be able to open air vent towards screen. I think this is the problem with most Zafiras.
 
(Example) In my previous post I gave the example like wrist watch. So like on your wrist watch all the handle move and go round but middle mechanism which has all handles attached keeps them in middle.....Imagine if there was a string on the other side of watch handle which makes handle move but in the middle there is only a nail that keep them in middle...and what if this nail breaks and string is still trying to pull the handle what would not work correctly. (I really hope this makes sense if not see below)
 
One side that should stay in its place is held by a plastic pole -nail. This pole-nail is about 2-5 mm thick and breaks or comes off from its place due to strain of user turning knob the opposite way than it is described in owner's manual. It is a quite common mistake by most drivers that if we want to go to next setting on either side we will move the setting knob quickly there when it might be wrong move I.e. opposite side rather that going round as prescribed in manual. For example if your watch can only go forward but you need to set the time just 1 hour back. you have no choice but to go round and reset your time but if you force your watch to go back 1 hour what happens...............(if you don't know, it breaks)
Fixing and Preventing.
 
Once you have found the problem it is easy to cure. You can either use silicon based glue or super glue to fix the broken plastic pole- nail. BEST THING IS TO GO TO MOTOR SCRAP YARD AND FIND THIS PART FROM A ZAFIRA (if that Zafira does not have the same issue) or you might be able to find same part on other Vauxhall cars but make sure it matches the part you have taken off.
In my case I had to temporally fix it with glue and when I found good part from scrap yard from Zafira. (I didn't look in other models but I guess it may be same on other Vauxhall models.
 
Once you have put new -fixed part in PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU ONLY TURN THE KNOB ONE WAY AS IT IS DESCRIBED IN OWNERS MANUAL.
 
I have not gone into details how to take it off and put it on. If you have time in your hand you can go to scrap yard and have a go there before doing your own car. It is quite easy to do if you are good at fixing things. It is not easy to describe as to how to take is off and put it on and it has been nearly 3 years since I sold mine. 
 
While you are at it clean or change pollen filter.
 
Good luck. 

Mamoon, March 2016

The mechanism that directs the air is your problem .When you turn the air vent knob to change the air eg dash vents floor vents windscreen ect there is a small arm that jumps out of place so it gets stuck and cant turn you will have air from dash vents and dash floor vent only.I had been told it was blower motor and pollen filter also .part available from breakers yards

pete, February 2015

Hi can anyone help my Vauxhall zafira 2007 heating started to play up.my wife was driving it the other day and she said.she could smell smoke & see it.now it's not working.but all the lights work on panel.maybe motor?any info let me know

james, March 2014

I have the same problem, i was told it maybe the pollen filter blocked, or the motors stuck on recirculation. i was to removed the glove box and the servo was stuck. A couple of smacks and it went back to normal. We have never touched the button since. i hope this helps.

gerald, April 2013

My 2009 1.9CDTi has had the same problem twice , the first time the garage had it for a week and fixed the fault, less than a year later same thing, fortunately still under wrranty. not impressed and loosing confidence in vauxhall.
They told me what it was in techno language which could mean anything, will probably get rid of car.

drew, November 2011

I have this problem on 2003 Zafira and I noticed that when you move your venting knob it does not do it's job. Basically you have set it up for your windscreen but the actual mechanism that open/close all the vent/air path does not open it properly.

Reason for this is a small knob is broken(a plastic nail on the mechanism that holds 1 side in one place while you move your setting knob on different setting e.g clock middle mechanism holds all handles in 1 place while the are moving every second {hope it makes sense}). (that is the problem with my Zafira) This small knob is on the mechanism and breakes quite easly if you twist the venting setting knob clockwise. It has been suggested in manual book that it should only be turned anty clockwise. (correct me if I am wrong as it might be other way round as it has been ages since i check my manual).

I have not been able to fix it yet properly but I will let you know when I have but for the time being cleaning pollen filter/ removing it and closing the middle air vent or some side vents for first few minutes helps.

Thanks

Mamoon Rashid, Leeds, September 2011

I just changed the pollen filter but the problem hasn't solved, still no air going to the window blower. Any suggestions?
Cheers

walter, July 2011

I have the same problem. Changing the pollen filter will solve the problem? or should the dashboard being removed to solve it? Hope to hear some solutions.
Cheers

walter, July 2011

DAVE I WAS TOLD TO CLOSE THE MIDDLE VENTS ON MY ZAFIRA AND IT HAS WORKED ATREAT ON THE SCREEN.
ALSO I HAVE JUST HAD A BULB REPLACED ON THE MILEAGE ,THE WHOLE DAHBOARD HAD TO COME OFF,
THE BULB COST 25P AND THE WHOLE JOB £60

POPPOPS, February 2010

it is most definatly your pollen filter is blocked ive had the same problem for 9 months, i took it out problem solved, its like a furnace in my car now, you dont need it unless your an asma sufferer or something like that

bren, February 2010

I have the same problem! I've been advised to remove/replace the pollen filter which is apparently behind the glove box! Going to have a go tomorrow - I'll let you know how things go!

Jo, January 2010

Dave, I have 56 Zafira with the same problem. Main dealer wants to have the car in to remove the dash board, says that the vent 'flaps' aren't opening enough on drivers side! So far they have changed the pollen filter which seems to have helped, waiting to book the car in. Hope this helps

Justin, Manchester, January 2010