pedal on the floor, going barely 3 mi an hr.

[BROWNBEAR360]

Back story. I got the car from a lady that had it parked for 7 yrs. It overheated and blew the cylinder head. It was gonna be a project car, but my sis needed a car ASAP. I Don't have the tools and space to do it and was leaving for an extended trip, so, I payed a friend to change the cylinder head, and while at it, the water pump, pulleys, timing belt, fuel pump, distributor cap, cables , spark plugs, radiator, and oxygen sensor. The car was running but a little sluggish. i had to leave and while i was gone my sis kept on driving it. Then it stopped. she described ot as it losing power even though she was pushing the gas and then stopping. I'm back several months later and the car is parked. I put a new battery the car starts and when i put it in gear, goes supper slow. reverse barely works. changed the MAF nothing. now i noticed the catalytic converter gets red hot, and there is smoke coming from the underside of the car. When i put my hand on the exhaust pipe, i can feel it pushing against my hand fairly strong. don't have much cash left and need to get this done. Before I change the cat, i want to know, what's causing this? I'll post pics when i can.

[Team Lightning]

Sounds like the catalytic converter is plugged/stopped up.
Not sure of the reason, any idea of the condition of the motor?
Did the motor smoke? How many miles on the car?
I had the catcon in my Dakota plug up at 68000. No idea why.
Thankfully it was under warranty.

[BROWNBEAR360]

the motor was was pretty clean, the lady was very good to it. she was the original owner. the car is Fi and has 85,000 miles on it. I want to say the smoke was coming the Cat, when i saw the smoke i looked underneath and that is when i noticed that the cat was red hot.

[Team Lightning]

It could just be one of those things that happened like on my Dakota.

Oh and Welcome to the Site!!

[Movin]

The cat will turn red because it is working but it may not work long if you run it that way. You have unburned fuel and excess oxygen arriving at the cat.

[TorqueEffect]

I am willing to bet the cat is plugged up.

Since you live it the dickest of all states in terms of emissions, you WILL have to get that replaced with a California spec one if it ever hopes to be street legal.

[Ninjawimp]

Similar thing happened to my brothers R-X7. You could always cut the cat off & see if the symptoms are still there

[TominMO]

If the cat is getting a lot of unburned fuel, and you have no power, I'm thinking the timing belt is off a tooth or two. You mentioned that your friend changed it. A simple error that many of us have made.

Also check that he put the plug wires on in the proper order, and ignition timing, and even the plug gaps. One or more plugs may have gotten their gap narrowed if he wasn't careful putting them in.

The car has a newer head, and lots of good parts, so it's probably something simple. Sine it presumably ran fine before it overheated and the car only has 85K on it, looks like the new problem happened since the repairs. I doubt the cat would get plugged up so fast on its own; but if the mechanic screwed something up so that a lot of unburned fuel it getting to it, he may have caused this issue in the process of doing his repairs.

So check all those things I mentioned, then if there is no improvement, check the cat.

[WmWatt]

A vacuum guage, if available, will show up a clogged exhaust without having to disconnect pipe.
See the permanent ("sticky") thread on vaccum guage diagnosis at the top of this forum page.

[Ninjawimp]

Regardless the cat has to be changed since your saying it's glowing red. I would disconnect the cat to see if that is what's robbing your engine power. You have installed all these new parts. Start on something you know is bad & go from there. Its a cat mouse game at this point

[dalebwilson]

BROWNBEAR, If the CAT is factory installed, it can simply be taken off by removing the 4 -17mm nuts.

[1990new]

You can also just remove the two front cat nuts and push the cat up a little to test the engine with the cat loose.

[Movin]

Wait on the new cat, it might still be okay if it can get hot like that , a new cal cat is to expensive to just throw on because your old one might be bad. On top of that cats NEVER cause themselves to turn red, unburned fuel and excess oxygen ALWAYS cause this. Put a new cat on and burn it up too ? right. You never gave any indication of a rough running engine like a spark plug not sparking for some reason or cross wired. A gradual loss of power along with the fuel and oxygen arriving at the cat would point to a timing issue. Check the timing belt marks and ignition timing, both can jump or slip and leave a fairly smooth running engine with no power. If the engine is also rough running which you did not allude to then you would need to check where the spark is going. It needs to arrive capable of jumping 3/4 of an inch and at the right time. The plug needs to be good. You should be able to correct this with no money for parts or very little. After this give the cat a test, those are expensive.

[skswig62]

just take the cat off

[drddan]

Wait on the new cat, it might still be okay if it can get hot like that , a new cal cat is to expensive to just throw on because your old one might be bad. On top of that cats NEVER cause themselves to turn red, unburned fuel and excess oxygen ALWAYS cause this. Put a new cat on and burn it up too ? right. You never gave any indication of a rough running engine like a spark plug not sparking for some reason or cross wired. A gradual loss of power along with the fuel and oxygen arriving at the cat would point to a timing issue. Check the timing belt marks and ignition timing, both can jump or slip and leave a fairly smooth running engine with no power. If the engine is also rough running which you did not allude to then you would need to check where the spark is going. It needs to arrive capable of jumping 3/4 of an inch and at the right time. The plug needs to be good. You should be able to correct this with no money for parts or very little. After this give the cat a test, those are expensive.

^ You want to listen to this guy! Knows a lot! TominMO got it right too!

just take the cat off

This may not work in Cali ... emissions! Plus if he has fuel and timing issue, that will not solve the problem