'88 98 underpowered and whining

[f1sh]

On the interstate the other day the car ('88 olds 98 Regency 3800) started making a whining sound when it went into overdrive. THe sound seemed to be coming from the drive belt area. The car then began to do it any time I pushed the accelerator and continued to get worse. The whining is accompanied by a serious loss of power. Also a hissing noise like air being pushed through somewhere it isn't supposed to go. Replaced the water pump, no change. Found a couple of the pistons type things in the EGR valve were broken so replaced it. Still no change. By chance, I finnished that up when it was dark and after 2-3 minutes of the car being on, the exhaust headers were GLOWING red. Can't tell if the exhaust pressuree is normal or not.

My guess is exhaust isn't being passed through the system normaly which causes air to be pushed though couplings by headers and the EGR valve (which lead to those pistons breaking on the valve).

Would a clogged catalytic converter cause that much back pressure???

Nick

[f1sh]

Answer to my own question: YES. The cat could cause that much back pressure. New cat, car like new again, and once again a satisfied Olds owner.

[jbmckee]

Originally Posted by f1sh

Answer to my own question: YES. The cat could cause that much back pressure. New cat, car like new again, and once again a satisfied Olds owner.

Hi f1sh,

If I'm undersating your post correctly, you *did* replace the cat? How many miles did you have on the previous cat before it was replaced?

Regards,

Jay

[f1sh]

I did replace it. There was 206K on the car. I have only had it for the last 53K and this was the first time I replaced it. As far as I can tell, it was the original on there.

[jbmckee]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the reply. Now I know what to look for when mine starts acting up and possibly when to expect it.

Do you know what causes the cat converter to slowly clog over time? Gasoline by-products, bad gas, oil blow-by, something else??? (This might warrant a new thread)

Regards,

Jay

[f1sh]

Jay,

Honestly, I don't know what causes them to clogg. I would assume mainly all the carbon build-up.

I do know that mine was mainly corroded and the honeycomb had broken apart and slipped back to clogg the exit. This caused almost no exhaust to be able to escape the way it is supposed to. So instead, it escaped through the EGR valve, and the exhaust couplings coming off of the headders.

If you check out the new thread I posted, I was having the problem described there before the cat went bad so I figure all those bursts of pressure from the backfires and sputtering my have been what caused the worn out honeycomb to break up and slip back.

Nick