The symptoms you describe lead me to believe that you switched the sparkplug
wires on one side of the engine.

This would explain the bad performance, and would also explain the red hot
cat.

I had this happen to me, and was so busy troubleshooting the crappy
acceleration, that I barely noticed that the insulation for the taillight
wiring harness was smoking and that the rear was hot as hell.

Then I looked at the cat, and yes, it was red.

So double check those spark plug wires, and hopefully you have not fried the
cat completely.  Mine was okay afterwards.

See ya on the list,.

RSF

PS. Don't buy a new cat until your CO levels are indicating that the cat is
not working... it is an expensive creature to just replace for the hell of
it, and usually requires some exhaust pipe cutting and welding and a new
oxygen sensor etc.

IMPORTANT!!! In order to reply to me, you must have the word "FISH"
somewhere in the subject line of the email.  Otherwise it goes directly in
the trash.

<�)))>{   <�)))>{   <�)))>{   <�)))>{   <�)))>{   <�)))>{

Robert S. Fish
Salzburg, Austria
1987 Wolfsburg Vanagon 2.1 GL Weekender
1987 Golf Cabriolet
1991 Golf

----- Original Message -----
From: "lauterba" <lauterba@BELLSOUTH.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2003 3:08 AM
Subject: Red hot catalytic converter

I think that I have a clogged catalytic converter, but I would like to get
the wisdom of the list before ordering a new one.

I have about 30 miles on my rebuilt 1.9L WBX.  Just about everything is new
on the engine except for the ECU.  Grounds are clean and tight.  I had it
out tonight near dusk and drove abut 15 miles.  New engine has had a great
deal of difficulty getting up to speed, no pep, etc.  When I got home I
found that the muffler end of the catalytic converter was red hot along with
part of the muffler.

The catalytic converter was out of the van for about five weeks while I was
doing the engine transplant.  No problems before I took it out.

John Lauterbach
Macon, GA
'84 7-passenger