97 Geo Metro Problem

I'm having a problem with my girlfriends 97 geo metro.It has 98,000 miles on it and about every now and then it starts making a clicking noise kind of like a valve ticking and last for about 2-4 minutes then quits and when its doing it the car has no pickup hardly and tries to die when idling. I was wondering if anyone knew what might be causing this because it seems like its getting worse and coming more frequently.oh yeah nad the check engine light came on for about a day then went off and hasn't come back on.

oh yeah its a 1.3 liter lsi model if that helps

either you have a lifter sticking or possibly a bad plug wire. might run it after dark and see if you see any of the plug wires arcing