peugeot 106 problems

[mike burke]

Hi, i am having some problems with my wifes 106 and wondered if anyone could help? Firstly if you turn the engine on and leave it to idle, after a minute or two it sounds like the engine completely loses power its like a sudden drop (if you understand what i mean).Also it feels like theres a loss of power in 1st and 2nd gears it almost feels like its being held back then has a sudden surge forward and can also stutter especially when changing from 1st to 2nd also my wife has noticed that the fumes produced by the exhaust smell really strong.I changed the sparkplugs last week and noticed that they had black deposits on them, would this mean that the mixture isnt right? If so how do you adjust it and would his cause any of these problems?
Any help would be really appreciated

[the moose]

Check the engine coolant temp sensor on the thermostat housing (green). That can be checked by simply unpluging it. The engine will surge abit if it does then thats fine second check coil pack a strobe scope will help by connection to the ht leads while you check for a seemless strobe of light and finally check the injectors but they are unlikely, try replacing the fuel filter.