i have just bought a 2005 ford mondeo 2.0tdci estate. i am having black smoke coming out of the exhaust whenever i accelerate. it is a dry smoke and there are no oil leaks. i have been told to get it put on a ford computer to give me the fault codes so i know what i am dealing with. does anyone know of an independant ford speccialist in coventry that would have one of these machines !Removed! i would rather pay them than pay a ford dealer stupid money for the same thing. many thanks people.

unless the eml is on there may not be any codes stored and paying to have them read may be a wast of time, any decent code reader will read the codes you do not have to have the ford system, black smoke is often caused by a clogged/sticking egr valve or a split intercooler pipe which is connected to the bottom of the egr. the following link will show whats involved on cleaning the egr and manifold and while you have the valve off you can check the rubber intercooler pipe at the same time.

http://fordwiki.co.uk/index.php/EGR_Valve_and_Inlet_Manifold_Clearout_TDCi

if the can has been driven softley in the past it could also be just a buld up of carbon in the exhaust system, you could try some hard driving to 'clear' the build up and see if there is an improvement.