Driving home yesterday, had travelled about 30 miles so engine properly warm.
I accelerate away from a roundabout, along a dual carriageway, and try to pass a slower vehicle.
Sudden loss of power, and after a couple of seconds the service warning light comes on.
Continue to drive home, noting that engine won't spin faster than about
2,000 rpm. At under 2,000 rpm performance is more-or-less normal.I think engine is more noisy. Normally it is noisy when cold and on load - if it were a petrol engine I would describe it as pinking. But now it makes that noise on load all the time, and louder.
Most recent service was last November, has done maybe 5,000 miles since. Service light usually shows for several seconds after starting - I imagine this is normal. I have also seen it on two other occasions where it came mid-journey on for no apparent reason - but after stopping and re-starting it didn't come back on. Not aware that this affected performance at the time - but this was slow town driving so I might not have been aware of a revs limit.
I can't get it booked into my usual garage for any sort of faultfinding today - so is it likely to be safe to drive?
Any guesses as to the problem?
Vehicle is relatively low mileage - about 75,000 - of which 20,000 are mine in the last 15 months.