Help my Dodge is running like a Chevy

[jf5.9]

Woke up in this beautiful 17 degree weather today - took off in my 98 1500 with the 5.9 made it 3/10's of a mile down my road and then turned onto the highway. Thought what I heard to be the Cat's core break free completely in the converter. Now the truck has nothing to speak of for movement over idling. Exhaust is super quiet now compared to before. RPM's are staying steady, so is Oil pressure, CEL came on during the debacle too. I restarted the truck once I got it parked to a safe place and the fuel pump primed nice an loud but i haven't tested actual pressure at the rail. My question is does it make since that the cat is choking off the engine causing it to run so poorly? That's what makes sense to me and im planning on cutting the cat off when I get off work as of now. Any help, or suggestions are appreciated on this one. Thanks guys.

 

[dodge dude94]

It's really quite simple: Your cat is busted and clogged up.
Ditch the cat or replace it and you'll find that your problem will disappear.

 

[WhiteExpress]

Certainly sounds like a bad cat.
Hello High Flow aftermarket Cat!

 

[jf5.9]

That's what I was thinking - just thought its best to make sure with some other dodge guys - sometimes I jump to conclusions that end up being the stupidest things ever when the truck acts up. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[HolyRamBatman]

That's what I was thinking - just thought its best to make sure with some other dodge guys - sometimes I jump to conclusions that end up being the stupidest things ever when the truck acts up. Thanks for the help guys.

You too? I'm not alone...

 

[jf5.9]

usually if a love tap from the 8lb sledge or the Metabo doesn't fix it right off it goes down from there

 

[jf5.9]

Update for anyone interested - got off work late had a lil bit of daylight left but it was too cold and not enough light to jack up the truck and cut the cat out proper. So I metabo'd an x in it and bent out the flanges, started it up and she is back to running like my Dodge. Prolly going to look to switch it to true dual this weekend as I already have dual outlet from before the axle back so its just a matter of welding in straight pipe and an H pipe or can i just straight both sides unconnected? Not sure about all that fancy exhaust workings lol. Anybody that knows more feel free to point me in the right direction.

 

[dodge dude94]

Front O2 sensor needs to be in an X-pipe, rear O2 can just be in one pipe.

 

[jf5.9]

So not getting into the true duals right off the bat so I had a friend weld a patch over the cat. All I can say is Damn does the truck run better. Gas Mileage and felt power in the top end has changed for the better. I might be just imagining it but the bottom end does seem to have suffered at all. Also something that is really weird is since the hole is patched I'm not throwing a CEL anymore, and that is with nothing inside the CAT at all . . . . thought that was weird but ill take it. Just thought I would share the update.

 

[Johnn123]

So not getting into the true duals right off the bat so I had a friend weld a patch over the cat. All I can say is Damn does the truck run better. Gas Mileage and felt power in the top end has changed for the better. I might be just imagining it but the bottom end does seem to have suffered at all. Also something that is really weird is since the hole is patched I'm not throwing a CEL anymore, and that is with nothing inside the CAT at all . . . . thought that was weird but ill take it. Just thought I would share the update.

You should read the stickied plenum thread, as that is probably what killed your cat Glad to hear your running so much better though!

 

[jf5.9]

I read it when I replaced it with the Hughes Plenum. I thought I had caught it early enough when I took care off it. The front half of the cat interior was all cracked up and some pieces turned sideways inside of the cat. I think thats actually what did it.