HELP! major loss of power!

[Touring240]

I was driving yesterday and all of sudden when I hit the gas It felt like I was on 3 cylinders or something was stuck in the exhaust.at one point I reved it to 6000 and a puff of smoke came out the back and power returned for a few minutes but then it became slow again. wtf is going on?

today after driving some more its the same thing! nearly no power.

timing chain stretching?clogged cat convertor? its the stock 91 engine with 240 kilometers on it

please help

[PabloHoney]

Sounds like a clogged cat to me. Hard telling. You can always take it to an exhaust shop and ask them.

[JNM240]

Scan your ECU. Might be as simple as a coolant temp sensor.

[Touring240]

how do I scan my ecu? I do have a FSM to use as reference.

strangely power has returned. there was rattling coming from the cat as well but now thats gone and it seems to be unclogged.

thanks!

[JNM240]

In your FSM there is a section on the self diagnostic procedure for the ECU. On my 1990, i gain access to the ECU, put the key in the ignition to ON, turn the little knob on the ECU to get to the right diagnostic mode (forget how, havent done it in a looooong time) then read the code it gives. It will give it in a series of light flashes. I belive code 13 is coolant temp sensor, while 55 is all OK. But yours might be different, SOHC and DOHC and all.

[Touring240]

great!thanks for your reply!

[yellow_jacket]

If the cat was rattling around then you really need to replace it or knock it out. I wouldn't want to just let it try to blow all of the trash back because I have actually seen them clog the muffler. Just split the two pipes and see if the honeycomb is still in good shape on the front of the cat.

[Touring240]

thatts good advice thanks

I will pull it apart on saturday to take out the honey comb thats fallen off