Loss of Power

[JohnS]

Hey All

I have an 87 Cutlass with a 3.8 that just turned 99K. I was driving home from work today and about halfway home the car seemed to lose all power, it felt like I was driving with the parking brake on. I let off the throttle and it seemed to roll fine like nothing was holding it back. I then punched it and it revved real slow and had no acceleration, by letting off the gas is how I was able to accelerate - it still felt like the parking brake was on but I was able to get up to speed.

I got home and went to grab something off the passenger side floor and it was quite warm, I looked under the car did not see anything out of the ordinary but it hot as hell around the cat. I then went and felt the exhaust coming out of the pipe and it was HOT, could my catalytic converter have finally gone bad? If not any suggestions as to what could be wrong?

Thanks in advance
John

 

[79cutlasssalon442]

Hey All

I have an 87 Cutlass with a 3.8 that just turned 99K. I was driving home from work today and about halfway home the car seemed to lose all power, it felt like I was driving with the parking brake on. I let off the throttle and it seemed to roll fine like nothing was holding it back. I then punched it and it revved real slow and had no acceleration, by letting off the gas is how I was able to accelerate - it still felt like the parking brake was on but I was able to get up to speed.

I got home and went to grab something off the passenger side floor and it was quite warm, I looked under the car did not see anything out of the ordinary but it hot as hell around the cat. I then went and felt the exhaust coming out of the pipe and it was HOT, could my catalytic converter have finally gone bad? If not any suggestions as to what could be wrong?

Thanks in advance
John

yeah, more than likely your cat got clogged..

 

[84dragcutlass]

Sometimes, but not always, the exhaust will smell like sulfur if the cat is clogged. Loss of power is really easy when the engine can get rid of all that pressure and exhaust. If it is i wouldnt try and run it like that long. could cause damage to the engine

 

[RITTER]

If it's all factory exhaust, you should be able to remove the cat fairly easy. I would take it off and see if the acceleration feels any different. If so, put a new converter on and you'll be good to go :idea:

 

[ZZ4CutlaSS]

My 84 cutlass came factory with a 3.8 and I experienced a loss of power. After countless hours of checking it out and using many of 4 letter words! I found that the vacuum operated metal flap on the air inlet for the air cleaner housing was closed while engine was warm causing the engine to choke out talk about pissing me off !

 

[Pontiac455]

Well the easiest waty to check for a plugged exhaust is with a vaccume gauge. Hook it manifold vaccume and start the engine bring the rpm's up to 1500-2000 and watch the gauge. The vacume will decrease and go to 0.

 

[JohnS]

Thanks all, I just ordered a cat, guess we will see what happens.

I also wanted to add that after 25 years the front 4 nuts and bolts and 2 reat hanger bolts will not come out, the rear 2 bolts that hold the long pipe to cat broke so that was easy. I wound up cutting the cat and hanger out and then ground off the bolts for the front flange. Tonight I will drill out what is left left of the 4 bolts and hopefully put it back together Friday after work.

 

[love.those.g's]

Have you ran the car without the cat on? If it was a plugged cat it should run 100% fine without the cat on there. From your description I think you may have a bad misfire. If there are cylinders that are not firing you will experience a huge power loss and the engine will be pushing unburned fuel out into the exhaust which will overheat the cat FAST! You may not want to test-drive your car without the cat because it will be LOUD, but if it is still misfiring after you install the new cat it will just cook that one too. Take it for a spin with the new cat and let us know how it runs...

 

[JohnS]

New cat is installed and after a 20 mile ride the car runs great! Being a 6 the car is not a rocket but I am going to say it feels much stronger then I ever remember. So next up is the O2 sensor, figured after changing the cat this seemed logical.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[love.those.g's]

Sounds like it's good to go. If it was misfiring you would have felt it in the test drive. Glad it's fixed!