Edfiero1, thanks for the quick reply. My catalytic converter was almost completely plugged; I could barely see light looking through either the converter inlet end or outlet. Interestingly, the inlet and outlet honeycomb areas showed no signs of being plugged. Is it normal for the honeycombs to plug-up on the inside? Could that be a clue as to the cause? The installed Magnaflow Universal Converter (#94016) has eliminated the power loss.

Looking forward, my research found that "replacing a bad converter will only temporarily restore things to normal because unless the underlying problem that caused the original converter to fail is identified and fixed, the replacement converter will likely suffer the same fate."

With that in mind, have you, or anyone else, found the cause of a converter plugging-up? What are some areas to consider (e.g.,unburned fuel, burning oil, burning coolant)? Thanks again.