hey guys. my car has a weird burning smell like plastic after about a half an hour drive. Its coming from the engine bay aswell. I was wondering if you guys had experienced anything like this? i also think the throttle cable isnt doing its job either as it wont go any faster in 3rd 4th or 5th gear. Its been a nightmare and i have no idea its a 1998 sei sporting if that helps

Does the engine turn over quickly when starting?

Cheers

D

What is the condition of the timing belt? When was the last time changed?

Looks like a slipped tooth to me...

sounds to me like you have a dead coil pack.

the engine is only running on two cylinders hence the rough idle and low power.
the burning is from unburnt fuel leaving the engine and burning in the cat causing it to over heat.

Need more information to be precise ,not enought to make a diagnostic,does the car pull ok in first second etc, when did it start etc

craigb244 said:

sounds to me like you have a dead coil pack.

the engine is only running on two cylinders hence the rough idle and low power.
the burning is from unburnt fuel leaving the engine and burning in the cat causing it to over heat.

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the engine wont run on 2 cylinders lol,no 4 pot engine will:yuck:

PLAYDODGY said:

the engine wont run on 2 cylinders lol,no 4 pot engine will:yuck:

Click to expand...

They will run, just not very well.

Cheers

D

it pulls fine in every gear and it is a little rough on idling, but doesnt sound tappy. but it has just started to happen the last week or so. around the town i live it seems happy apart from the rough idling. but when i take it out on a 60mph road it seems to happen. the timing belt has been done, the previous driver told me that although there are no reciepts present. the engine turns over fine

I would go with coil pack then remove each lead in turn and see which one dosent make a difference. Then try the other from the same pack. If they both don't make a difference it's coil

PLAYDODGY said:

the engine wont run on 2 cylinders lol,no 4 pot engine will:yuck:

Click to expand...

why wouldnt it? It would run on 1 cylinder as long as the single cylinder produces enough power to counteract the drag of the 3 dead cylinders.

A four cylinder engine will run on either one or two cylinders quite easily. I use this fact to diagnose a number of problems, it helps to isolate the particular cylinder that is being affected by whatever the problem is.
Firstly I've seen a coil pack fail. I partly lift the plug caps, start the engine, lift an individual cap a little and, if the coil is OK, an audible crack will be heard. When the cap is lifted too far for the spark to jump easily the engine will stop or run rougher.
Although the coil is probably the main cause of your problem it could be something else. It is amazing what bizzare problems occur occasionally, such as mice carting rubbish into the air filter over winter.

i will try that method and see if it will make any difference. im also taking it to my mums, partners garage on tuesday and hes quite a good mechanic so ill also get his opinion aswell

apostrophe not comma.

Cheers

D

have you tryed a compression test?