Diagnosing a bad CAT?

[Drew]

I have a 94 prelude that seems to be noticeably losing power slowly over time, particularly when going up steep hills it struggles. I did a compression test all cylinders are pretty even as far as compression. Spark plugs are perfect, not burning any oil from what I can tell. Fuel filter has been replaced. I recently replaced a distributor without redoing the ignition timing afterward.My theory is the car was running lean which melted my CAT. However I don’t know how to verify this, I have no desire to go near that 24 year old rusted to crap exhaust system if I don’t have to. The only time I have ever seen this car throw a check engine light is if I unplug something, so im assuming this ancient OBD1 computer cant tell if the cat is bad. Any other way to find out?

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[Billy]

You can use a manifold vacuum gauge to identify a clogged cat.

[Richard Kirshy]

Might have a look here…..
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=testing+for+a+bad+catalytic+converter

[Author]

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