No, not a real cat! But the catalytic converter. The tracker was acting like it had a clogged exhaust, so I took the catalytic converter off and sure enough, it was melted on the back half and was mostly clogged. so I took the torch and cut the top off of it and pulled all of the honey comb and what looked like asbestos fiber insulation out. Then I Put the top back on and welded it shut (it was made of something that was pretty hard to weld) . It now sounds like a ratty rice rocket as the lack of honey comb and a poorly installed cherry bomb muffler(the muffler is 2" and the trackers pipes were 1 3/4" so I had to fill in the void with ugly welds , I hope to make a new exhaust system that is an actual 2" or 2 1/2" system with a good muffler and cat, and possibly a header ) The thing I dont understand is while the lack of a clogged cat has improved it some on uphills, it still is quite the dog on hills, so I am beginning to wonder if the 50,000 mile(now with 80,000 on it) jdm attarco motor is getting worn out. I have done all that I can to make it run right, and it still is more gutless than it should be, and it burns lots of oil (about a quart every 400 miles) I have tried to advance the timing to get more power, but that just results in tons of pinging(even at 10 degrees).I am also having electrical problems with it(the lights and everything become dim when I am driving at night, plus the lights and heater fan interfere with the fuel injection causing it to idle high and surge). I wish I knew what is up with my ride, because I really dont want to have to take the easy way out by buying another car.

Possibly a bad alternator for all those electrical problems is my guess. I know when mine was bad, if I drove with the wipers, heat, and lights on mine would bog down. Mine's carbed. Not sure if that would effect the f.i since I haven't had f.i. I would put another alternator on first and re tune. That sounds like way too much oil. Was that one of those low mile pull outs? I've heard they take a lot of short trips in Japan and drive in heavy traffic because of the congestion. Maybe 50k was a hard 50 k?

Anyways, check the forum about bad alternators and inspect it. If it's bad, replace and go from there. That's my best guess.

-Adam

And here I thought a gutted cat would give you lots more power.

Go figure

Jeff

I gutted one on a Nissan Quest. Prior to gutting it, it would hardly go 40 on a flat, once it warmed up. I guess as the cat heated, the restriction was worse. It definitely ran better when I got rid of the restriction. I want to say it ran better than new but it had been 110 k since we bought it so it's hard to compare. The muffler was still good. I noticed it sounding a bit more guttural but that's not desirable for a family van.

Probably find yourself at least a new muffler for now and check the alternator. My alternator checked o.k. but I questioned their test when everything else in the charge/ignition system seemed to be o.k. I put in a new alternator and haven't had a problem since. Fix what you know is wrong first, and who knows, maybe your power issue will be solved too. Worst case, you have an extra alternator.

-Adam

I am going to replace the whole exhaust system in a few weeks with 2'' pipe and a magnaflow high flow cat and muffler. As for the alternator, I have been told in the past that it might be that, but the multimeter says differently. When running, the electrical system has 14+ volts, which is where it is supposed to be at. But it would make sense as the regulator is a part of the alternator, and the high idle and surging only occur when it is cold outside. It might be the regulator that is bad, but since it is part of the alternator, you have to replace the alternator if it goes bad. Also, does anyone know if the engine computer gets confused when there is a voltage drop and makes the fuel injector get very noisy. This also happens when I turn on the lights.

14 volts but how many amps. And--like I said, Mine tested fine by 2 parts stores but I didn't trust them and went with my gut. The fuel injection noise symptom sounds like it could lead back to the alternator too. Maybe starved for amps. Better check it out before you burn out something.

-Adam

Could be an alternater issue but I would be checking for a bad ground. Make sure both your engine and frame and body are properly grounded.

Dimmly glowing lights and running one thing affecting another  are a sure sign of a bad ground

Use the voltmeter to check the voltage between the intake manifold and the battery negative. If you can see a voltage drop then definately have a bad ground. The ECU shouldn't get confused by a drop in battery voltage but a bad earth may well confuse it, it could also damage it.