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Every now and then, I start my vehicle and I start driving it but the speedo doesn't move, the gear 'D' indicator on the dashboard display flashes and the car won't go more than about 20kph, it's still running smooth, sounds normal. Nothing I do ( extra revs ) helps and I just hope it gets me to my destination, which it always does. I turn the vehicle off and leave it for an hour then start it up and if I'm lucky, it resumes normally. If I'm not lucky it continues, it still does it when I restart it. It seems to happen after filling it up with petrol but not all the time. Mechanics are perplexed and I am worried about it. Any ideas?

Hi there,
It sounds like you may have a speed sensor faulting intermittently and it puts the transmission into a 'failsafe' get home mode. If the vehicles' computer doesn't know how fast the vehicle is travelling it won't know how to make the vehicle run correctly and so shuts down and limps home. The "D" light flashing would indicate a potential fault code in the transmission diagnostics. So I think it would need a scan check, or leaving with an expert for a few days to try and simulate it.

Thanks so much for your help, apparently a sensor cost $400+ its has to be a genuine ford part and then there is labour. I maybe use the car once a week for short trips to the supermarket, it's. Has only done that ' weird' think twice in about 4 months, given the car is old and tired do you think I could leave it since the only time it played up was when I ran the petrol tank on empty, then filled it up. Is it possible I could have stirred up debri that caused the car to play up?

Hi there,
Your car is built with a number of filters that would generally weed out any contaminates that would affect the vehicle running, it may be a coincidence that the fault occurs when the tank is empty. We wouldn't recommend waiting too long to get it fixed as the fault may worsen and leave you stranded or cost more to repair.

Thank you so much, your expert advice is invaluable for someone completely in the dark regarding such matters. I will get it sorted quickly and hopefully won't be back with any other problems to seek advice on anytime soon. :-)