E16SE Struggling

After recently buying a new nova the engine seems to be running a bit lumpy...
but things got worse yesturday...

I went to start the engine and it was turning over but it was really struggling to get a good rpm going. after about 15 seconds it cuts out, and same everytime i give it a go.
I had a small ammount of white smoke that looked as tho it was coming near one of the spark plugs.
theres a slight misfire when trying to start but once the engine is running it seems to go.

it has a full tank of petrol, good ammount of oil, new HT leads and plugs are on their way, and the dizzy is clean.


Any ideas? starting to fook me off now and id much rather just buy a new engine but for all the extra hassle and cost i cant justify it.

it sounds like a relay is overheating, or maybe the coil is taterd.

i had this very same problem with my c16se only untill today turns out i was unlucky enough to have 2 broken coil packs went through plugs, leads the lot the went for a new coil pack and it sorted it, maybe try new cap and rotor?

If i was you before you go and splash out on some new ht leads, spark plugs ect ... have a look yourself if all the spark plugs are firing or not ... do them 1 by 1 ... take out your first spark plug, plug it into the ht lead, then earth the spark plug by placing the spark plug on top of the engine, get someone to start the car ... repeat this until you have done all four ... then you will know if the problem is there or somewere else ... hope this helps