car wont accelerate

ok i have a 01 alero with 80k miles. basically it revs fine motor runs strong in neutral and drive, no misses or anything. as soon as i put it into gear it accelerates really slow and i have to let off the gas to get it to shift into the next gear, it wont go past 4000 rpm in any gear and maxs out at like 45-50 mph. i thaught the cat might be clogged, and had a backpressure test done and there is alot more back pressure then there should be. i dont have the 300 bucks for a new cat, can i just gut it out?

[TheMeaningOfLife]

You can, but it will sounf terrible and might not be legal in your state, go take one off a wreaked alero.

[antichrysler]

my alero did the exact same thing before i traded it in
problemm with the tranny...... it's mazdas problem now

its not the tranny, the tranny was rpelaced with 58,000 miles on it, and it was fine before it sat for 2 years.

[antichrysler]

i wouldn't be surprised if it was the tranny.... if it sat for 2 years there's all sorts of things that can be wrong with it

[Cliff8928]

it could be a fuel pump that can't produce enough pressure anymore. I've had that happen on a truck before.

[Kilroy]

Originally Posted by Cliff8928

it could be a fuel pump that can't produce enough pressure anymore. I've had that happen on a truck before.

Or more on that, a clogged fuel filter. I had that exact problem on a previous car I owned.

not a fuel pump problem. i changed the filter and drained the tank after i got the car. its not the tranny either, i had it up on jackstands and it ran all the way to 6400 rpm or so with no load. when there is a load on it , it surges not like a tranny going out, its reall bad till 3000 then it has a ton of power then it stops at 4000. i chaged the plugs and there was nothing left on 5 of them, im thinking that it ran rich enough for so long that it just clogged the cat, also the car had no muffler on it and it was as quiet as a stock alero, and when i cut out the resonator it barely changed the pitch, still quiet, so its ovbiously the cat. i just wanted to now if anyone gutted one? itll be basically open headers.

haha omg you shoulda hear the video i made, 3.4 open headers sound slike a top fuel drag car. haha yep it was the cat clogged. my neigbors look at me funny.

[TheMeaningOfLife]

Well show use the video!

[Redog]

Yeah I like to see and hear that video