Hesitation Pulling Away

[richleighton739]

Hi. I wasn't sure which section to put this under, but this seemed like the best bet.

I have had a 2014 2.2D R-Sport for nearly a year and have generally absolutely loved it.

However, three times now (the latest being last night on the way home from work - hence the post) it has done something very odd when pulling away. I was sitting at the traffic lights on the footbrake, transmission in "D". When the lights went green and I tried to move off, the car barely moved, almost like it was trying to pull away in a high gear, the engine started to bog and I thought for a moment it was going to stall. Lifting and going back on throttle didn't seem to help, but eventually (it felt like ages, but was probably 5 seconds) giving it lots of right foot, it seemed to sort itself out and pull away. There were no recurrences for the rest of the drive home.

A spot of googling last night seemed to suggest that it could be something to do with a link between the brake pedal and accelerator, meant to ensure you don't try to pull away with your foot on the brake, but I have no idea whether that is the case or not. I didn't jump really quickly from brake to accelerator. I was in a queue of traffic so I wasn't attempting a racing get away or anything like that!

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Am I doing something wrong or do I need to be worried about the gearbox?

Thanks!

Rich

[davidr]

I wonder if it is anything to do with the electronic parking brake? I think there's a feature that stops you rolling back when stationary and perhaps that is sticking?

[KevNoble]

Sounds like you are the right track with the brake issue: just a couple of times I have just pulled away, then had to brake, then almost immediately tried to pull away, and there was quite a long pause (couple of seconds) before the car accelerated. It might be something simple like the brake switch ( which deactivates cruise control etc). (XF 3litre Diesel). Good luck.

Kev Noble

[richleighton739]

Thanks chaps that's a good idea. I'm wondering if I let it creep forward and then stopped it before properly trying to pull away and that might have confused things.
Rich

[J44EAG]

These electronic handbrake mechanisms can get sticky at the calipers if not reguarly excercised via the cockpit switch manually. The problem is that mechanisms rarely get the maintenance they deserve until they start to play up. Until I stripped and rebuilt my rear brakes on my 350, the park brake would often fail to release properly as I pulled away from traffic lights. It would then release with an unpleasant jerk upon application of the throttle.

My rebuild included new discs and main pads together with removal of the EPB caliper and replacement of the small EPB pads. (Peculiar to the XJR) The caliper pistons initially needed a lot of wind back force applied with a wind back tool until their stiffness eased. Cleaned up and with new EPB pads fitted, the system has since operated perfectly.

Scheduled for inclusion in the December magazine is my Part Two rear brake reline article in the 350 Forum pages. You might find that of interest. Part One, front R spec big brake overhaul will appear in the next magazine.

S-type later models, X350 and early XF models share many similar components and operating systems and proceedures as well as irksome issues which occasionally occur with higher mileage, age, or if a vehicle has been little used. Often a clean up and lubrication can work wonders.

Hope that helps a little.

Mike K