and it burns oil too (not much smoke though). I've taken a look at the plugs and one of them is oil-fouled. The engine lopes at idle (no change when the wire to the fouled plug is removed during idle) and generally lacks power for acceleration. It is clumsy when engaging the clutch (I retarded the timing a little bit and that seemed to help). I'm thinking that the problem is either the valve guides or seating for that cylinder or a ring is cracked. Any other ideas?

The engine has about 150K on it. D15 16-valve. I'm planning on doing an engine swap after I get another car to get me back and forth to work, but in the meantime I'd like to make sure this one lasts a little longer, if possible. TIA

 

headgasket

 

do a compression test. then if levels are no good do a leak down test. that will help determine where the problem is.

Edit: My car seems to have some of these symptoms as well. clutch engagement is touchy right? upper rpm power just seems like noise instead of pull? idle is low and feels like it's about to die?