Catalytic converter Dodge Dakota?

Question

I've been trying to figure out for days what could be wrong with my truck and I think I have come up with something. My 1993 Dodge Dakota V6 engine with about 150,000 miles on it has been idling strange. I noticed when I try to accelerate my truck will not speed up past 25mph but the RPMs will rise. The engine sounds like it has no power and I can hear like air coming from the carburetor. Now last week I changed my spark plugs and noticed they had like a black coating of powder on them. So today I noticed that my exhaust had the same black looking powder in it and I have come to a conclusion that my catalytic converter is clogged up which is causing the engine to have no power and getting everything in the manifold dirty.

The catalytic converter is in fact the original one installed back in 1993 so it's never been changed.

So can a clogged catalytic converter cause the problem I described and cause my engine to shake when in drive?

thanks

Answer 1

Check your O2 sensor @ about 150,000 it is past due , they should be changed @ the same time as the plugs.

Are there any codes showing from the computer ? The computer will try covering for something out of perimeters

The throttle position sensor could be bad .

A clogged cat will cause the engine to loose power and choke backfire and die. The RPMs won't go up. the engine is an air-pump pumping air in when no more air can go in it will stop and try coming out .

The black suite or powder is from too rich fuel not completely burning, the cat re-burns the exhaust after the the engine.

The test for a stopped cat is to use a vacuum gage on the intake and a pressure gage in the exhaust before and after the cat    The vacuum should be normal , hi @ idle and lowers some @ speed  the pressure gages should be low before and after the cat , if stopped up cat or muffler the pressure will go hi before the stoppage

What does the trans fluid look like ? dark and smells or red and clear ?

A bad tourque convertercan cause these symptoms

Answer 2

You're on the trail, but not quite.

You are finding the symptoms, but not the cause.

You must figure out why the cat converter when nuclear.  Why did the engine run so rich that this happened...