Hi all, here's what's happened:

Yesterday I was driving home from work & it coughed once going up a moderate hill under moderate throttle. Didn't think much of it. This morning it coughed repeatedly for about 1km of travel, finally letting out a small backfire at 100kph. It ran smoothly for the next 10kms before coughing once or twice again.

Coming home tonight, after about 40kms of driving, it coughed & backfired when I was passing a truck under light/moderate throttle at 90kph. Ran smoothly again for another 10kms, before I went to overtake another truck again at 90kph under light/moderate throttle. s**t hit the fan, cough cough backfire cough BACKFIRE cough BACKFIRE! So I pulled off the road into a side road, and the car stalled halfway through the corner, just went dead! It made a slight metallic grinding noise (like keying the starter when it's already running) as I pulled up.

Anyway, I flicked over to petrol & started the car. Idle was about 1200rpm & there was a loud intake noise. Was obviously a vac leak, I quickly found it, the PCV hose had blown off. I refitted the hose, and the PCV elbow thingy that the hose attaches to on the rocker cover felt kind of loose. I checked for any other things looking out-of-place in the engine bay & the car just stalled again. Both times the car stalled it was smoothe, like I'd just removed the keys from the ignition.

I started up the car again (still on petrol) and drove it the last 10kms home, all very light throttle. I noticed that in 4th gear there was a constant rattle/sound of the belt slipping on metal (?) when I'd accelerate, & it'd go again when I'd back off. It was pretty quiet, but noticeable.

Back home I started the car on gas again as a test, it took a while to turn over, and idled slightly rough. I gave it a gentle rev to about 2000rpm & there was BIG hesitation & a cough.

I noticed there was a bit of oil on the stone guard below the front of the engine? Random coincidence?

Anyway, any advice would be great before I take it to the mechanics.

Thanks

-Dave-