A cat would cause alot of problems like that?

 

Keep doing what you are doing and when your done borrow a coolant pressure tester from Autozone.

How many miles on the motor? What do you want out of it? You can just do the head gaskets but if you are ok with stock HP putting in a low miles used motor is the easiest fix.

 

Yes, a plugged cat can be very harmful. It will throw a CEL light with a random midfire code. It can also cause too much pressure in the engine and blow a head gasket over time because of too much pressure. I had the same problem on 2 other cars, and you sound like you have the same symptoms I did.

 

Ok thanks, i will do that. the motor has 98k miles on it, i kinda wanted to get full use out of the motor and tranny b4 i went and changed the motor.

 

Is there a way to check to see if the head gaskets are bad other than removing the heads?

 

i will definiately look into that. thank you

 

I do not think a plugged Cat will cause a blown headgasket. The High back pressure will not allow the cylinder to completely evacuate, This would mean the cylinder would draw in less cool oxygen. Less Oxygen = Less power = Less cylinder pressure. Once the back pressure reachs 8-10 PSI No Air will get into the cylinder and you are down to compression test numbers (under 200 PSI)

The reverse is possible a blown head gasket can cause a plugged cat because it screws up the nice clean burn the motor should have.

 

Yes, a plugged can cause head gaskets to leak. I went to the dealership and even got a second opinion elsewhere. You could smell antifreeze when I turned off the car after driving it. Once I replaced the cat, everything was fine. Luckily I got it in time before there was damage to the head gaskets. Both the dealership and other mechanic confirmed a head gasket can blow from a plugged cat.