Can't help with the cam deal but I would recommend you look at the ignition coil to spark plug connection for each cylinder. If you get crud or oil in that area, you got nothing but trouble.Originally Posted by leighton 535i
Oil will cause the spark to go to ground on the outside of the plug instead of across the gap.
If you have crud (resistance) between the coil and the plug, you will burn up the connection between the two (money).
Edit: I missread the year of your car as a 1998 with coil over plug ignition, sorry. But the point of losing high tension voltage during high loads on the engine is valid either way, you just have more 'stuff' between the coil and each plug. What does the inside of your distributor cap look like? Any faint black lines running from the center to the bottom? These lines are from the high tension zap running to ground along the inside of the cap.
Any oily film on the inside? If so, its time to fix the oil leaking into the distributor. You might could get by for a while by just cleaning the cap with a good solvent but you know the oil will come back causing the same problem.
Either way check it out as it isn't too hard to get to...
Brian