[Elwood]

Well, I’ve proven again that you cannot assume anything based on someone else’s word. See my 6/9/09 post where I wrote off the suggestion that the distributor could be the source. My “virgin” two owner Cad with 84,000 miles apparently ran the first 30,000 or so on the factory oil. I checked all the grounds, and the evap can charcoal filter first and then pulled the distributor to R&R the pickup coil. The first clue was the need to use a pair of pry bars to extract the distributor. When I finally got the shaft out of the housing the top bushing was visibly egged and the pickup coil points for #4 & #8 were visibly daubed over from contact with the star wheel on the shaft. A quick trip to my favorite salvage yard and $25 (exchange) scored a serviceable replacement distributor and my first test drive seems to indicate a home run! My youngest daughter finished the install so I had to go back tonight and crank the base timing up several degrees to restore some lost power but I am optimistic that the mystery miss has been solved. I have to thank the 4 or 5 of you who have continued to offer help and advise, just wish I had listened a month ago. I’ll try to post a final summary once I’m convinced the gremlins have been banished!
Thanks again!