Morning all! vaguelly...
I have a 1995 hyundai excel sprint, auto transmission....over the last week or so, I have been having difficulties with it.....

It started out that the engine was whirring sort of softly when in drive and reverse.. Not in park or neutral.... And it eventuated to whirring all through all the gears, quite loudly. Sluggish like anything... Nearly no acceleration, and massive loss of power up inclines. Also the transmission feels like it is slipping; It isn't changing appropriatly, smoothly and/or quickly. Sometimes it doesn't change and I am left freewheeling and inadvertantly revving the engine. Not to mention that I have gone from 692km to a 45L tank, down to 300km to a tank.... And here in Australia, that is a costly little venture.

Theories to date have been:
Plugs and leads
Coil pack
Fuel Filter
Auto Tranny fluid/filter
Bad batch of fuel
Computer


Work so far includes:
New plugs and leads
New genuine coil pack
New genuine fuel filter


All that has happened since then, is the brand new plugs now need replacing, as the have burnt over the electrodes. The engine still whirs, some power has returned.
A supposedly carwise friend of mine has suggested that the massive fuel consumption and burning of the plugs is indicative of an excessively fuel rich burn... And it may have been incited by poor fuel, and the computer has compensated values, and stuck....
The whirring is a severe worry to me, as it sounds also reminiscent of a pump under excessive loading...
To be honest, I am 19... I build guitars, not tinker with cars. I need the car for work and University. And I am absolutely besotted with the X3 excels, as I have been around them since I was 5.

Can anyone please advise me on a possible problem and or solution?
Greatly appreciated.
Matt Mulcahy.