Sorry to make my first post by asking a question, but I'm getting desperate and either didn't search with the right keywords or have a unique issue:

Accelerating hard (approx. half or more down on the accelerator) causes the engine to "shudder" and "surge" and acceleration is non-existent.

I have a 1996 V10 8.0L, standard transmission, with less than 80k miles on it. I've never gotten great gas mileage but haven't really had any major engine problems.

Some history:

There's always been a rattle somewhere underneath that I couldn't find and it got really, really loud a few months ago. While it was doing it, I took my truck to the quick-lube I always use and they knew right away it was my catalytic converter. I at least knew what the problem was and was planning on taking it to an exhaust shop but the noise completely disappeared the next day. It's now the quietest the truck has ever been.

The bog-down problem had been occurring before the converter's noise got loud, but was never a gigantic problem. I could ease into the accelerator and it would be fine.

Now, I just can't accelerate past half throttle. I had my mechanic look at it and he says it's not a tune up issue because I'm not missing and the timing is fine.

I had an injector cleaner service done as well but that didn't seem to help either.

Other guesses from my limited knowledge and research are: fuel pump, fuel filter, some sensor issue, transmission/clutch, or a "clogged" exhaust from the catalytic converter issue. Anyone have an idea or can you point me to a thread that might have covered this before? I'm kinda broke and can't afford to just fix things until it works again.


Thanks for helping out a noob.

 

can you redline the tach? it sure sounds like the cat is plugged to me.

 

i think its a cat problem... sounds like you need to go to magnaflow, get you some hiflows

or, sense you said your broke, this is the easiet way to do it.. will throw a check engine code, but you have to replace anyway... and it will make your truck, loud...

gut the cat... just cut it out, obviously take out all the sensors, and take some rebar, or a "L" shaped tire iron, with the hub cap remover on it, and smash the stuff out... wear a face mask, and try not to breath in the dust, or anything that comes out of it... that stuff is very bad.. get you some couplers from dvanced or autozone, i think they are like 3 bucks a peice, and get some clapms... put it bck in..

now this is not a permanant fix, it is to make the truck run at 99% it wont be great, but youll be able to drive your truck again and not know it is wrong.... may even feel a performance differance... bt it like i said, will trow a check engine light, and wont pass inspection... so it still needs to be replaced when you run about some extra cash to fix it properly... like i said above, get you some hi flows

 

the high-flow magnaflow from summit is $206

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MPE-23285/

 

he has a v10.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MPE-95221/

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MPE-95220/

 

well.. gut both of them then...

and i forgot you can get the cheater sensors... so you can run the dual gutted cats and get away with it

 

Thanks a bunch for all the replies! I can actually red line, at least in 1st or 2nd. I haven't tried it in other gears but probably. I can accelerate as long as I don't floor it, so if I had to I could live with it as long as I don't need to haul something.

Assuming I gut the cat, I have some more questions. With cheater sensors, would it pass emissions? If so, where do I find them? I could probably also find an inspector that looks the other way at least once if I really needed to, so my other question would be how to fool the computer so the check engine light doesn't stay on (I'm assuming that's what the cheater sensors are for, yes?).

Also, if I gut one I'm assuming I should gut both to even out the back pressure?

Thanks again!

 

Gutted cats will not pass an etest. Yes you would need to gut both.
The o2 sims are not cheap, think thefastman.com sells em for 80-85 each (u need 2)
Cheaper way is to put the aft o2 sensors in a plug fouler.
Basically it just pulls the o2s back out of the exhaust stream so it sees a drop in emissions which is whats needed so it wont throw CEL. If by chance it does show a CEL, disconnect the battery, key on for 10sec, key off & reconnect battery, should eliminate it.

 

Does the V-10 have the same style intake that's prone to blowing the gasket?

 

i heard the v-10's dont have that issue but i may be wrong.