i think my cat is clogged.

the car lost power bad yesterday. takes forever to get the rpms up. sometimes it is worse than other times. i thought maybe the intake might b clogged somewhere so i unhooked the tube from the air filter box and it made it worse and occasionally makes a popping noise almost loke its backfiring through the intake. gonna pull the cat out and see if thats the problem b4 i spend the money on a new one.

if anyone has any ideas for me if that doesnt work that would be great. need the car running good again asap. thanks

I would check for adequate fire, and fuel pressure-stick to the basics. Find the test for TPS too

My first guess would be fuel pressure. I would change the fuel filter first and see what happens. If you have access to a vacuum gage, you could hook that up while the engine is running and monitor the vacuum levels. It should stay steady around 20 in at idle. If it drops steadily even when idling, then you could have a clogged cat. There's probably a way to monitor this with the MAP sensor if you have the right diagnostic equipment, but I've only got the "old fashioned" stuff.
If both of those seem okay, then I would try to find a way to measure the fuel pressure. A fuel pump on its way out could probably cause this too - but my experience is that they usually don't give you that much warning.
I had a fuel filter plug up almost solid from a "bad" tank of gas. If you remove it, you should be able to easily blow through it with little resistance (once the fuel is emptied out). If it's very difficult to impossible to blow through, then you've probably found your problem.
Keep us posted...
John

I would check the plugs for proper gap, wear, and cracks 1st.

ok thanks. also the fuel pump and filter are new. just need to find some time to work on it.

hook a vacuum gauge up and start the car, put it in neutral and rev to 2k and hold, if the vacuum builds then drops quickly....cat is shot

ok thanks.

checked out the plugs and wires today and looks fairly new. although there are platinum plugs so i may change them anyway.

i meant to mention that i ran it really low on gas b4 this happened. oops. wasnt paying attention to the gauge and the idiot light came on about 8 miles from the gas station. maybe i should put in another new fuel filter as well.