Originally Posted by
Wobba
Which sensor did you change around? Was it the brown one or the white one you need to press to release (single wire I think?) The brown one is knock sensor and the other is oil level, maybe a third oil temperature as well. Won't change much tbh...knock sensor can retard ignition though and reduce performance, but it's a simple piece of kit and rarely goes wrong! Or do you mean the air temp sensor in the inlet manifold?
Bashing the exhaust will unlikely cause such a drop in performance, unless you cracked the manifold. You'll be able to tell by sound and smells of exhaust gases in the cabin.
Does it hit a kind of rev limit and start to bog down?
Could be the coil.
Open the oil cap and check for mayonnaise type substance, and see if the filter has a load of it on it from the camcover pipe which leads back to it.
Other things to check are the fuel lines and fuel filter underneath oin drivers side. If you are running old pipes, a small split will drop pressure and make that smell, plus horrid economy. Check in engine bay for signs of fuel leakage on the drivers side, front of the suspension turret and behind the headlight there.