My father-in-law is experiencing a loss of power with his '88 745, especially when going up hills. Recently, his mechanic replaced the exhaust system aft of the catalytic converter. He said that he had a difficult time with the replacement. I am wondering if there was a lot of hammering at the rear of the catalytic converter, if he could have done damage to the "gravel" in the cat causing a blockage. We found a hose blown off near the air intake (one with a breather coming off of it) and I'm wondering if he is getting backpressure in the system.
What is the average life of a catalytic converter? This car has 135,000 miles and I seem to remember they must be replaced about 150,000 miles but I could be wrong. Is there an easy test to check the converter? How about holding your hand up to the exhaust and see if there is an appropriate amount of air coming out? I am going over later to look a little deeper so any ideas would be appreciated.
Randy in Pittsburgh