Xantia dimension 16v Low power and heavy smoke!

[pete_1969]

HI,
I drove my Xantia to work this morning, no probs..stopped for 10mins, then when i started off again the engine had real problems -as if it was ready to stall all the time, and sounded like it was misfring and rumbling along with really low power. I know next to nothing about cars, but it sounded like it wasnt firing on all cylinders, spluttering along.
When I stopped(about 10 miles to the next service station) there was white smoke belching out from the back of the car, even seeping out through the boot. The whole underside was very hot, and the smoke and heat took about 1/2 hour to dissapear. The oil had burnt pretty low when i checked it, although had been ok a few days ago - no obvious leaks.
Water/coolant etc are all fine as far as I can see.
The engine will turn over ok, but has virtually no power.
Sounds bad to me
anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance if anyone can help.
cheers,
peter

[AndersDK]

Sounds to me like the cat has been nearly strangled by engine oil.
Could also be the other way around : the cat has internal debries causing strangling of the engine - this way in turn causing a heavy oil consumption. Either way get it checked ASAP by your trusted as it is likely to get worse and more expensive ...

[pete_1969]

Thanks for the advice
apparently its the Coil pack thats gone, a garage swapped one from another xantia and it went fine, although they didnt take it for a drive...only two plugs were sparking, hence the low power- I've hopefully got a replacement from the local scrappy for £30 coming tomorrow (cheapest new one i could find was £92 +VAT from GSF).
Still a bit worried about all that smoke though...cant help thinking something else in the engine might have got damaged with the heat, so I'll try it with the £30 coil pack before i invest anymore cash.
cheers again for the help