Ok i know its not a camaro but my roommate at school has a 96 accord that we were taking to the mall the other day and as we were going up the onramp to get onto the interstate all the sudden the car had NO get up at all.

We pulled to the sholder and the idle was a little rough but it would rev fine in park so we took off and the car would max out at 15 mph. The trans wasnt slipping it just felt like we were towing a trailer and the car had no pep.

We pulled to the sholder again and put the car in park and it idled rough and cut off. After we refired the car it felt fine good idle and we pulled off but as soon as the car got a load on it, it went back to struggling.

We limped it home and had a tow truck tow it home, the check engine light never came on but while we had it in the parking lot i got out of the car and it had a funny smell that i have never smelled before in a car and the tail pipe had a hissing sound. like an air leak, sounded like one of the tools you hook to your air compressor and blow parts dry after you clean them. Strange noise.

Just wondering if you guys have any thoughts on what could be going on since i know alot of guys on the fourm are good mechanics.

I told him my vote is on the ignition system? Or i thought maybe a stuck exhaust valve could explain the air leak sound out the exhaust.

 

Plugged catalytic converter.

 

Thats what ive had a couple people tell me, ill give yall an update and see if this changes anybody's mind or helps the diagnosis.
After the car was towed home it starts up and drives fine. It was driven for 50+ miles trying to duplicate the problem but couldn't.

 

It had a chance to cool..... Crawl underneath (yeah, I know, neat trick on an accord) and thump the cat with something like a block of wood. (you just want it to wiggle, you are not trying to knock it off the car....) See if it rattles. If so, its bad, and the chunks have just gotten into a position where they are not able to readily block flow.

If all seems solid.... It is going to be a bit more challenging to figger out.

 

Thanks, just looking for all kinds of ideas to help him try!