Not buying the bad cat and broken down gas story. I think you need to find another mechanic. Did he explain to you the procedure used to determine the cat was defective? You can perform exotic cast on the cat within infrared thermometer, however, there is a much simpler test. Most young modern-day mechanics warship the diagnostic scanner as a God.They lose sight of the fact that one the most important diagnostic tools in the shop is a vacuum gauge. To do a quick check for a clogged cat hook a vacuum gauge to manifold vacuum.Read manifold vacuum at idle, and then accelerate engine to about 1500 to 2000 RPM.When you accelerate to this speed vacuum should drop sharply and then rise to a reading above your idle reading. If high-speed reading is well below idle, you either have a restricted cat or retarded valve timing. It is hard to say what your real problem is. It could be a failing fuel pump as the other person suggested, but it could be the distributor, ignition module, coil,etc. All of these are common issues to the W124 chassis with gas engine.