Please help!!!

[hughjayteens]

Had my 400 for almost 3 weeks now and love it... All has been fine and dandy until today, but I just nipped home at lunchtime and when I came to restart the car (it had been VERY hot in traffic and on the fans a lot) it really didn't want to idle...

Tickover was running at only 500rpm or so and it needed a lot of gas to get moving.. Started backfiring a bit and then when I got a clear stretch of road I gave it some welly thinking it might clear it's throat.
It pulled well until maybe 3000rpm and then seemed to lose power... It was like that all the way back to the office..

It got very wet last night, but seemed OK this morning and it has been parked in a heated car park this morning...

I tried pulling the leads off and giving them a quick squirt of WD40, but i noticed they were looking rather scorched at the ends.....

It does get used in town a lot and runs hot a lot - I am going to go for a long high speed blast, but it is not due a service for another 2k - Should I maybe change the plugs and leads?

[met]

in the steve heath book it mentions that the insulation on the coil can start to break down because of the heat.when it and the engine gets hot it can start to fail which results in a reduced spark and the engine either will not start or will misfire due to lack of sparks.he goes on to suggest that applying an ice pack onto the coil to see if this helps could confirm the diagnosis....dont forget to take the bag of peas off before setting off though!!!i think a replacement coil is about £20-£30
hope this is the prob cos its nice n cheap.
met & 400hc