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hey everyone I'm new here.

I am a new owner of a 76 Chevy luv. It has a new cap rotor points coil wires plugs. About 90 percent of the time its running really rough with a horrible miss. if I give it a lot of gas it will rev up sounds like its running on 2 cylinders. the points are gapped correctlyand I don't know what would be causing it. The other 10 percent of the time it will run perfect. it all started the other day when you going down a gravel road got a little bumpy.

Thanks.

Are you sure it's ignition related and not a bad carb?

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

When it would not fire, I would have someone crank and I'd pull a plug wire and see if it would arc out on the block. It wouldn't. Making me think that its part of the ignition system. It smellls like plenty of gas also lol

You did replace the condenser also? Located on the outside of the distributor body. If so you may have a bad one, replace it again.

Yup I replaced the condensor. I guess I could try a new one, there only like 5$. Its weird, I started it up this morning, ran like a top then two minutes or so in, ran like crap and wouldn't idle and all that. The spark doesnt seem to powerful, could the condensor cause that? Re checked pounys, put them at .019. Cleaned all the connections. Ill check the connections at the coil for 9v tonight and ill check the ground in the distributor. Its definately not a fuel problem. She's getting more than enough from when it doesn't fire.

I have installed many new condensers that were bad from the box.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

Ill d o that and get back to you tomorrow. Thanks

Yup here. They seemed to have forgotten how to make them now days. One bad one on a 59 Ford truck and another bad one on a 72 Chev Pu.

Gapping the points is fine to start with, but the points should be set by using a dwell meter. The dwell is 52 to 54 degrees. I agree with Luvrv8 a that new condenser can be bad out of box. I also can tell you that there are 2 different condensers available and the wrong one will let the engine run good for a while and then bust up causing the misfire/poor performance. The carb is not to blame at this moment in time.
Valve adjustment should also be checked and adjusted to spec that is noted on under hood catalyst label.
Spark plug gap should be checked as well. Hope this helps.
Mike.

Thank you. Just a note, it was running perfect for a week or so before it started doing this. Previous owner replaced everything, I replaced the coil and wires.

The condenser dont matter i ran mine for a year without a condenser no problems ummm it can be ur wires that are bad or ur coil is getting week make sure ur timing is set right

I had the same problem on mine it was the timing and the points once i changed the points that did the trick to get yourself out of points find an izusu pup i found one at the junkyard tpok the dizzy and wqs a perfect match started right up no more points bought it for 30 buks the dizzy ajd it was out of an 86pup same motpr and everyrhing except the fan

In thinking about trying to find one. I hate points with a passion lol. Again, everything in the ignition under the hood is brand new (couple weeks old looks like ).could someone give Mr pointers on how to test condensir, points, etc to check for functionality.

Where can I get a dwell meter? Any other vehicle that I have set the points on I never checkcked the dwell, it it actually ran comparedd to this. This runs like its on two or three cylinders, then will clear up and run fine. The drive home was fun, it would run like a sick dog, then it would all of a sudden run perfect. Drive for 5 6 minutes, then start to miss and backfire and then would die, luckily it was 1am on my way home so the roads were clear. Tomorrow morning I'm gonna start it and see if it does it again. Ill check and clean plugs and report back. Thanks.

I forgot to mention check all your vacuum hoses make sure ur not leaking air into cuz to much air might cause that mine happen to be one of the smog pump hoses it was leaking air plugged it and wala

The condenser does matter. Will not run correctly without it, and will burn up the new points in short order.
You may be thinking about the radio noise suppressor ones. Those don't matter.

Are we going to go over the "you don't need a condensor" thing again. It does matter, it is needed. Please stop offering bad info.

Setting the points with a dwell meter is best, I have a SnapOn dwell meter. Setting your points with feeler gauges will work but it is best with a meter. I would replace the condensor and reset the points. There is a test for the condensor but I have forgotten it at this time.

EDIT:
I found this on condensers
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/ignition/ig129.htm

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

Thank you for that link. I replaced the condensor, and what do you know. She runs! I figure if it was there from factory, its there for a reason. Thanks all. Now I'm just gonna rebuild my fuse block and get new fuses... These are a wiggle old and are pulling apart

Good to hear. And again, if the factory put it there it's needed. They don't add parts to cars just to add money to the build cost.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

The way you described it being so off and on it sounded like a flaky electrical connection, but new condensors seem to be one of the most common things to be bad out of the box for me. I always keep a known good one as a spare in the truck. (Along with points, rotor, cap and usually a couple long plug wires)

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good

to test the condenser,you need to charge it (have it hooked up and turn the ignition on) then unscrew the lil wire,and with insulated pliers (just to be safe) touch the wire lead too the condenser. if it unloads electricity (basically like a capacitor) then its good,no electrical arc and its no good.