Car too weak to redline in 1st, but idles fine. Wtf?

[Ryann]

It's totally the exhaust.

See scenario 14:

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm

[Earendil]

It's totally the exhaust.

See scenario 14:
http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm

I suppose so... I looked under the car and the cat looks new, though it's smaller than mine. Everything under there is new. The PO said he spent $1400 replacing it all, and it looks like it. Just seems odd...

[Ryann]

Idk, dude. The symptoms and gauge reading point to an obstructed exhaust. Maybe it's a POS Chinese cat who's guts dislodged and turned sideways?

[Earendil]

Ding ding ding! Clogged cat is this weeks winning answer! I pulled the O2 sensor and it ran MUCH better. Naturally not perfect, but the vacuum pressure showed a solid reading at idle with it out, and it kept some amount of vacuum through a much wider range of throttle positions. It could also make it to redline! Now to figure out cat options, and perhaps why it failed prematurely in the first place...
So in the end, my few clues were misleading. The driver at the time that the exhaust blew out said there was a loss of power. Also, that it was a relatively new cat also didn't mean anything. At least I know of a bunch of very solid components in the car!

Thanks everyone for your help!

[Ryann]

Nice! I can think of at least ONE cat option.:D