I have an '89 305 TBI all stock, 160,000 miles. It does some pretty funky stuff. It dies on me at a stop light with no warning about once or twice a month, and starts up again with no problem. It dies on my sometimes too when I put different gas in than I usually do.

When it died on me last month and didn't start back up, I could smell a sulphur smell when cranking it. (ignition module made it start again)

I can hear it knocking when its warm during upshifts, but that goes away if I put 91 octane in it (which seems to hurt performance and gas mileage a little).

Engine surges also at about 1500 rpm, and is just generally more sluggish than i think it should be (i know TBIs are 170 hp but...)

I guess what I wanna know is: could be the cat? one of the guys at the dealer I work at said that sounds like the problem. I hope it is cuz I ordered a cheap direct fit one from checker auto (student--no money--will play later)

Also--what else is need with a new cat? do I need and AIR tube too?

 

The new cat is all you need. If you were to pop the hood and your exhaust manifolds were glowing, your cat is definitely big time clogged.


But yeah, I think it's your cat.

 

thanks. Yeah I'm gonna try to put it on this weekend. We'll see what happens--by the way, does anyone have any advise on how to go about removing the old one and installing the new one??

 

Yup, that's the cat convertor for sure.
To remove it you are going to need a sawz-all.To install a new one you will need to check it for fit and weld it in place.