86 Taurus - Catalytic Convertor?

Ok, here's the scoop. My step-daughter has a piece of crap Taurus. It starts and runs fine first thing after it has been sitting for a long period like overnight or when she is at work. (But monkey here) But, when she drives it for any period of time other than to work and back, after a while it has a hard time getting going from a stop light, like the engine is bogging down. She says it takes about a block before it gets up to speed and drives normally. And it only happens on very hot days. Its not overheating, the coolant level is fine and so is the oil. It may need a tune-up, but if the tuning on it were in real bad shape, I would assume it would run crappy all the time. I'm suspecting the cat but there is no "rotten egg" smell. Unsure if there are any codes being set as half the idiot lights don't work except for the speedometer and temp gauge. I'm going to see about taking it to a shop this weekend to have the cat checked, but I thought I would get your opinion. Thanks for the help.

You need to scan it with an obdI scan tool, available for around 30 bucks or so,, must be done while car is hot, in order for all sensors to be transmitting running info... there might be something there you can work with, check engine light doesn't always set with obdI, depending on the issue.. system is way different from obdII,, good luck and post back anything you might find. Oh yeah, as usual, don't just replace parts hoping, big waste of $$$$, try to diagnose.

Try this site (http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/) It shows how to get the codes without a code reader.

Has the fuel filter been changed? Ford says change it every 30K mi.