my SRi is dying(i think)

[Potswalker]

this is a bit of a long shot but maybe somebody has had a similar problem.
Basically its intermittently running very poorly. the garage seems to think that the engine may be shutting down one/two cylinders. the engine violently vibrates at times. its kicking out white smoke and inside the engine bay smells. all of these problems are intermittent and sorry to be vague but I have no idea what to do other than fork out money and get it on a diagnostic machine :cry:

[Mike]

mine done the identical before the "big bang"

id burnt out the piston rings in cylinder 3, melted a spark plug, blown the head gasket and the timing was out by 2 teeth!

had new head gasket, plugs + leads, 11 thou piston skim, crank re-ground and an oil change. ?288! :|