driveability problem

[D. Jones]

Yesterday I was driving my 46 1/2 ton that has a stock 59 ab motor. I stopped at a stop light, when I started to take off the motor rapidly bucked and jumped three or four times then seemed to settle down and run OK for a 1/2 mile or so then bucked and jumped again. Today It will start and run but it just doesn't want to run at all right. If you step on the gas it makes obnoxious noises and jumps then nearly stops then jumps again and refuses to accelerate unless you back off and feather it up lightly, all the time running horribly. It has to be ignition the way it acts. I've checked the points and wires and have looked for any loose connections and not found anything. I put the dwell meter on and it is holding a steady 35 degrees. I put the timing light on it, yes it has a timing mark and pointer, and the timing is jumping all over the place, it appears to be way slow then will jump ahead and then back.


This motor normally purrs like a tom cat in a creamery.

I've never had any similar problem and perhaps I'm over thinking the problem, but I'm kind of stuck. Any ideas?

Found the problem. I started wondering about the coil so I checked it and couldn't get a reading across the secondary. Changed the coil and it ran better, but still not the way it should, it still had some roughness. I then changed the condenser, which by the way only had about 50 miles on it, that did it. Never had a condenser that failed that way before. In the past when a condenser went bad the engine just quit running. Fortunately I had a spare on hand, as soon as I installed it I drove to the parts store and ordered five more so I'll have a few spares just in case.

Thanks for looking and the advice.