Was going from Phoenix to Moab yesterday when about 30 minutes outside of Flagstaff my truck lost acceleration power on the highway. When ever I tried to accelerate it would maintain the current speed (barely), but would go no faster.

After pulling over and checking some things out I tried to drive the truck up a small hill in hopes of getting better cell phone reception and my truck would not get past 35 mph.

Double-checking everything I did notice some slack in the throttle cable and accelerator pedal, as well as a bad smell, but that's about it.

Had to get the truck towed back to Flagstaff. The mechanic took it on a test drive. He said he did a pressure test and the fuel pump seemed fine. I asked about the slack in the throttle cable and pedal and he said, "the cable is on there and it is engaging the pedal". He thinks it's the cat. converter.

So I'm currently stuck in Flagstaff until at least Monday because the guy who works on cat. converters only works Mon-Fri.

Any thoughts? Could it very well be the cat. converter? The only thing I really noticed on the drive out was a loud "wind" noise between 70-75 mph. Other than that it seemed to be driving fine. I really don't want to spend the money if it really isn't a problem. Basically what I'm saying is that I don't fully trust the mechanic but I'm stuck here.

 

Was the bad smell a rotten eggs smell? Your symptoms are indicative of a shot converter, most likely due to a bad plenum, but you can deal with that at a later (but soon) time. IE; when you get home. Read sticky at the top of forum. But it definitely sounds like the cat is toast seeing as fuel pressure was good and it happened so quickly. You could go beat on it and see if it rattles or remove the pre-cat o2 sensor and see if that makes a difference, but it sounds like you will be waiting on a cat. converter.

 

+1..... I suppose if unscrewing the o2 gets it running, you could leave it that way until you get home.