Hi folks, first post here and hoping you can help.

The CAT on my Escort has rattled away to itself for months now, and I thought that the baffles maybe were away.

recently, the car seems to have lost power (and in a 1.6 Escort Estate I cant afford to lose power) and there is a really horrible vibrating noise when it reaches 3500 RPM and above. Also there seems to be a burning smell after it.

Could this be the CAT just completely self destructing? Or something more sinister. The car is a 1999 T reg with only 45000 miles on it.