Carb or Ignition issue?

So I replaced the Distributor with no success.

I have an aftermarket coil on the way. I really hope this fixes this because I do not feel confident taking this 1800ish mile round trip for a school.

BTW the packing was good and no oil in the distributor. I keep telling myself it has to be ignition system due to how intermittent it is so I may end up purchasing new plugs and perhaps wires.

I would think that if it was the carb then it would be constant......

I appreciate all the suggestions.

When was the last time the plugs & wires were replaced?

What do the plugs look like right now?

ABE, I replaced them less than a year ago and the truck gets light mileage because I only live about 9 miles from my work. I will have to pull the plugs to check them sometime this week.

I think I'm going to pull the exhaust and check the pre-cat and cat just to look in there

Good idea. I have a header on mine, and the main cat is opened up.

Short trips (nine miles) can foul the plugs, simple fix, we hope.

Ruled out water in tank? Pull the fuel line before the filter, stick in two litre bottle, pump away, view results.

Is the fuel filter suppose to be semi-full to full?

I just noticed that mine is not, its like maybe an 1/8 full. I already replaced the fuel pump and fuel filter.

Do you this there is possibly something in the tank causing starvation like debris or rust hitting the sock? Or maybe clogged return line?

Check the fuel pressure before the filter and through (after) the filter, should be the same and within specs for the truck. Is this pump in the tank? If so, can you hear it run? How much fuel is in the tank, enough for the pump to pick up?
Before you reconnect the fuel line to the outlet side, run the fuel pump with the outlet of the filter pointed up. It should fill up or mostly. Now reconnect the outlet hose.

Disconnect the fuel line at the carburetor and put the line into a clear container, then crank the engine over. What you are going to be looking for is good pressure into the container and also that the container fills up fairly quickly. If both tests fail then maybe pump is bad or sock in tank has clogged. Have you taken the filter off and tried to blow through it. Water can clog the filter, swelling the pores in the paper closed. Even new parts can fail so don't let the fact that you just replaced parts lead you to assume they aren't bad.

There is also a 14 mm headed bolt on the bottom of the tank that you can remove to pull a fuel sample. You might have an amoeba blob of water in the bottom of the tank and that will foul brand new filters.

So I changed out the coil, problem still persists.

I am more leaning towards a fuel issue now. I am going to change out the fuel filter again along with new spark plugs.

I have faith she will make the trip up to Tennessee just may be a little longer than I had anticipated. I still have to change out my clutch master before I leave as well.

I think once I get back I will take some time off of work and perhaps just try to get a Sportage to change the engine out with.

So..... I will say Betsy (my Mazda) made it safe and sound to Tennessee. Gas mileage wasn't the best and it sprung an exhaust leak an hour away from my destination but it DID make it.

I also suspect I have a small head gasket leak in my coolant system (overflow tank seems to spew out after slowing down for gas). Not a lot that gets out but still enough for me to notice.

Pretty interesting to see that I was one of the oldest vehicles on the road and saw countless newer vehicles broken down on the side of the road (99+).

Kudos to my truck for keeping it real, not bad for a 25 year old truck!