Technical Engine wont accelerate under load help!!

[Secret Pirate]

Hey guys new to this site but got a major prob!! When the car is sat parked up, i can put my foot on the accelerator and it will rev freely, however as soon as i start to drive the engine seems to be choking its'self and wont go much past 4000rpm or less. At one stage there was lots of white smoke pouring out (not steam or oil) it stank of burnt petrol!! That seems to of stopped since i took off the air box pipes from the radiator?????
:bang: Any ideas?? Thanks for any feedback

 

[bulldog5046]

which enigne are we talking about here?

 

[Secret Pirate]

Sorry should of said DOH!!! 1.8i 16v elx petrol 1997

 

[bulldog5046]

you checked the oil and water havent mixed? checked the levels? if you can do a compression test, but i dont know what else to suggest for a petrol, i'm not that experienced, polecat will be about in the next few days as he doesnt got on much, sure he can help you out.

 

[jug]

one of the coils may have gone, the engine can compensate fairly well for one cylinder not firing when not under load, but it becomes more noticable when driving, and not been able to reach high revs is usually a sign one of the coils has packed in, as is the smell of unburnt fuel, its also a common problem on the 1.8.

do a quick test to see all the plugs are sparking, either by removing each one and inspecting its spark or using a multimeter to measure the resistance across the LT input pins on each coil, obviously all 4 coils should have a similar resistance, if one stands out as been different id get to a scrapyard and try and find one with a similar resistance to the others. should cost £5 max.

 

[Secret Pirate]

Thanks, Jug, for your advice. I have checked the coils...all seems fine, I've removed the plugs and all the same colour etc.
revs fine out of gear? Just not past 5000 rpm accelerating ??
Confused still, anyone, adTHANKSvance.

 

[Roberto]

MAF Sensor ? I'm not sure if the 1.8 has one (strange, seeing as I have a 1.8 LOL) but this sounds very much like what happens when a MAF sensor goes.

 

[bulldog5046]

just to add could be the lambda/maf mix, if the maf has gone could be overfueling and the lambda is stopping the engine running properly.