Hope someone can advise.

I have recently purchased a 2004 S-Type 2.7d Sport (the one with the exhausts bent down facing the road) with 161,000 miles on the clock.

I have an intermittent fault developing and would like some advice as to what may be wrong before I visit a dealer.

Symptoms are as follows:

Most of the time, having started the engine and accelerating away from stationary the car performs as it should with good power. However, sometimes the car holds back and wont accelerate at all, being lucky to reach 30mph. It feels similar to driving a car which has a speed limiter fitted and you try to go above the limit.

If I pull over and turn the engine off and turn on again the fault clears. At no time is there any fault code displayed.

If however, instead of doing the above procedure, I kick down the accelerator and hold the pedal there, after a delay of at least 5-6 seconds, acceleration will suddenly kick in but in the process smoke is seen to come out of the exhaust when normally there is none.

Today I also noticed that although the car started out ok, when I pulled away from traffic lights on the same journey the fault came back.

Here's hoping someone can advise.

 

The 1st thing I would check are the catalytic converters. If the catalyst has broken up it could cause a blockage at times, giving the symptoms you describe. Many times it won't set any fault codes. Fuel filter would be next to check.