My car, is running terrible. I had someone look over the ignition, and everything was sparking fine. You can hear an audible whisp noise under the car, he told me that i probably had leaks before the cat. The car runs fine 30 seconds after a cold start, then you hit the gas and the engine groans, struggles to speed up.

There are quite a bit of backfires going on also. Any thoughts into whats going on, some simple things to check or try replacing . I got this car roughly 1 year 10 months ago, and owe 8 grand on it. To say the least i am pretty pissed off. The car has high mileage, 124k, came with 101 k miles.

Have replaced the plugs since ive owned it, and the coolant. Tranny doing fine, although it looks like it was ripped apart at one time, has red glue looking stuff all down the center of the casing (not fluid)

 

intake leak

 

That "red glue" you refer to could be RTV sealant, used in place of a gasket.