the problem is with my 93 z28. I recently bought it with 129k miles all stock I changed out the plugs, wires and coil. msd coil, taylor 8.2 wires. acdelco plugs. the car ran great then out of no where the idle dropped to around 300-500 rpms and the car just chugs along. no acceleration at all, cat got red hot and started smoking. after letting the car sit for about fifteen minutes it will run correctly like nothing happened for about a block then stop again and either chug or just die sometimes without restart.

 

If the catalytic converter got that hot to start smoking it is DEFINITLY plugged. That and the chugs along sounds like what mine did when the cat was plugged.

 

If it was plugged will i still be able to drive the car? Or does it get plugged when the cat heats up?

 

Its been plugged if it gets that hot, and when it gets plugged it doesnt always completely plug, but yours sounds like its almost completely plugged, so basically the engine cant run at any kind of rpms because the exhaust has no where to go. I think it gets worse once the cat heats up because the its basically just a ceramic brick in your exhaust, and once it cracks your exhaust basically fires it into a glossy, ceramic pot like substance.

 

i drove it less than a hour ago and it ran fine, i only went about about 5 miles. with no problems and the car ran like it was supposed to.

 

Ok now thats wierd, if it were the cat it would do it all the time, but the fact that the catalytic converter got that hot indicates a potentially serious problem, is the ses light on? You should probably have it professionally checked.

 

nope no light came on, ive been reading about the opti's on here. im thinking it might be that.

 

ya my car did something similar and hesitated radomly on my 94z and it ended up being the opti.....i would also check ur fuel pressure

 

that happened in my friends rx7, the entire exhaust pipes were flaming red and then all of a sudden a huge pop and it shot a 6 foot flame out the exhaust lol

 

Run it with an open y-pipe and see ifyou get any problems.