Nissan Repair: losing power and getting very hot quick., nissan stanza, fuel starvation

Question
I was driving down the road today and my car started acting like it was running out of gas. So I went to the store and put gas in it and it acted worse than it did before I put the gas in. I have a 90 Nissan Stanza. It just lost power. And the motor got hot really fast. We took the catalytic converter off and cleaned it out. Cleaned the fuel filter and its still running the same way. Its just louder now.  

Answer
Kimberly,

If the engine is cutting out and coming back on it is the distributor.  If it is the fuel pump you can check it with a pressure gauge.

The part about it getting hot could be from fuel starvation or the thermostat sticking.  I would make sure it did not overheat as it will cook the head and that costs a bunch of money to replace.  So, make sure the water pump is good and the thermostat is good as well as the pressure cap.  You did not say if it was overflowing coolant.  Email me back with what you find.