I "think" my Cat Converter is fubar'd...

So coming home last night...heep starts taking an RPM nose dive..acts like someone is chocking it to death...I figure..thank God I'm only about 3 miles from home.

FInd a sweet spot at about 3K RPM and try and hold it...lasts for less than 10 seconds...start to get paranoid when I'm about 2 miles from home and lose what I'd consider 65% power....

( Where the hell is scotty with more power when ya need the old guy?)

Just get it home...I wonder what the hell....i notice some smoke rolling out from under the rig...great...another problem...like i need this...AND...

the damn cat was glowing red enough to actuall see underneath the rig...faded out after 5 minutes...idles like crap, but will start.

I'm almost pos the cat is toast...simply looking for confermation on this one.

UGH..i need this like I need an anurizm.

TPS sounds like a good place to start to me.

maybe your plugs are too hot?

tps new about 3 months ago...plugs and tune up at the same time. right heat range...all that crap.

nothing comes up when I check for codes either

I have a pancaked cat on mine, definately constricting flow. It does what you describe. I concur for a bad cat.

Most of the time when a cat glows it's from to much fuel. Like a miss.They can plug and cause it to run like you said. If it runs smooth, unbolt the cat then try starting it up and giving it some gas. If all is good you know it's just a plugged cat.

ditto on the running rich ruining a cat...

did it to mine...

Unfortunately I don't remember if it was an O2 sensor or injector problem...

i was being facetious, sorry. x3 on running rich though. Cat would cause header to glow as well.

how's your exhaust manifold? I believe that is what killed my cat.

I had a cat that would plug up as soon as it warmed up. I assumed internal warping caused it to close off with heat. Anyway, the symptoms were normal idle, but inability to get over ~50MPH; nooooo power. After gutting the cat the problem disappeared. Since you have rough idle and no power, You may have more than one problem. Excessively rich fuel mixture could cause rough idle and no power; it will also kill your cat. I'd check fuel pressure and insure the fuel pressure regulator is not leaking internally, which could cause excess fuel pressure at the injectors. A cracked exhaust manifold can trick an ECM into believing the engine is running lean, resulting in an over enrichment to compensate.

i replaced my cat and i think it was around 110.00 put on. i was so thankful it only cost that as my wife's honda civic requires some special one and thats 375.00 itself not including labor. that sucks.