Ok so my wife was driving my 87 Z28 the other day...and started having some issues. She said she wasnt able to get it above 20 mph, and was smelling exhaust fumes pretty bad in car. To use her words...the car smelled like burnt gas inside. She said no matter what she did, she couldnt get it about 20. So she took it home and parked it and hasnt driven it since.

After calling several shops...and without them looking at it, they all deduced that the converter was bad and causing a block. Its the original converter...and I was planning on replacing it anyway.

However what I am wondering is...could this be the cause of the problem? The transmission is brand new and still under warranty...so if its bad I can get that replaced for free...but she said it shifted fine, she just couldnt get any power out of it. She said now when she starts the car it runs rough, and when she shifts it into gear it wants to stall.

Any insight would be appreciated since I am not there and cannot look at it personally.

 

One sign that there is a clogged cat, is if it turns "red hot" when the car is at operating temperature. She might want to check that out.

 

what induction does the car have? tbi, tpi or carb? I had the mounting flange on my old quadrajet break on one corner and it caused this exact problem. something to check if before you buy a cat.

 

Its a TPI from what I can see. I have yet to actually physically see the car. I can only see pictures for now.