lack of power/hot catalytic converter

Asked by troubled_trav Jul 20, 2011 at 02:35 PM about the 1988 Toyota 4Runner

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My '88 manual transmission, 4 cyl. 4runner has dramatically lost power...mostly at top end of each gear but has recently wanted to run in only 1st/2nd gear (otherwise, not enough power to run).  At the same time, noticed the catalytic converter smells/feels red-hot.  I've run a compression check and all cylinders appear ok and have replaced wires/plugs.  Can someone tell me what's going on?

4 Answers

troubled_trav answered 13 years ago

Thanks. Someone else suggested the same. So now (perhaps) a bigger question: what's causing the catalytic converter to overheat? The overheating cat is a symptom of what?

Mark helpful
2,125

David answered 13 years ago

it's an 88... could be time for a new cat. it happens. You might be running rich but with the 22re this probably isn't the case. check your plugs for signs. Maybe even change your plugs...

Mark helpful

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