87 Dakota problems.

My wife and son bought an 87 Dakota that is carbureted. It is an auto with 172,000 miles. I did not drive it before they bought it but did hear it run. It idles pretty smooth but runs like puke . I pulled the plugs out and they look good and I replaced the distributor cap and rotor. It acts like the timimg is off. It has no power and if you try to rush it, it will backfire thru the carburetor. Can you set and adjust the timing on these with a timing light just like the older vehicles? I don't want to throw a bunch of parts at it without knowing for sure what is wrong. The EGR light is on also. They bought it from a 97 year old man who drove it like a 97 year old man. We ran some seafoam thru the carb while running the engine and sprayed carb cleaner in, on and around the carb. Nothing seemed to help. I am inclined to check the timing if it is indicated. Any ideas of what might be wrong would be appreciated. I would not have bought the truck if that tells you how bad it runs

It is the distributor. Go to a junk yard aand pull a distributor out of one there ($25)

When you take yours out of the engine, mark the underside of the actual distributor(not cap) up with a mark on the engine (so you can put the other one in the right way.


The you'll have to re-do the timing.

Should fix it!:banghead:

u said your egr light is on then u need to change that because it will foul out your pulls it happened to me i dont think its your timing for those just put it on tdc and there should be a line inside the distribitor and it should be on that line with the #1 cylinder