>Hi Marshall
>
>Yes I have experienced a similiar phenomenon while driving through the
>Canadian Rockies a couple of summers ago. When I explained this
>condition to the mechanic on my cell when stranded at the top of Rogers
>Pass, he told me to take off the catalytic converter and knock out the
>bits. Inside the converter is a porcelin honeycome core. As you drive,
>the porcelin super heats itself thus vaporizing any unburnt residues
>left over from the combustion cycle of the engine. The catayltic
>converter rattles around and the porcelin breaks off which turn into
>golfball size balls inside. When they get infront of the exhaust port
>entering into the muffler, exhaust can't leave the vehicle, which tends
>to bog the engine down.
>
>A simple test (when the catalytic converter is cold:) is to hit it and
>listen for rattling around. The porcelin is easy to remove by a metal
>bar and a hammer. Dust mask and safety glasses are recommended as debris
>can fly all over the place. We also had a skylight customer explain a
>similiar story. They too were taking a trip through the Rockies to
>Toronto and experienced the same "gaining and losing" outside of
>Chilliwack, B.C. They cleared their cc and it worked for them.
>
>Let me know

And do remember to correct the miss and/or fuel mixture problem that caused
the melt down, and then replace the converter. Destroying the effectiveness
of a cat in this manner is quite illegal. I'm sure no one would mind as an
expedient measure to get out of the mountains, but the root cause should be
found, and repaired.

Joshua Van Tol -- jjvantol@lear.csp.ee.memphis.edu