THIS!!! Ask me how I know. Don't just throw money at the problem. Never mind, he's back in business. Y'all have a bunch of smart, and mostly friendly SOB's. I love this forum.
While I am back in business, you're absolutely right. It's tempting, especially for me as a newbie, to just start replacing parts in hopes that eventually the problem will go away. That's great if you're made of money and don't necessarily care about actually diagnosing and finding the problem, but I'd bet that most people who own and drive old cars AREN'T made of money and DO care about diagnosing the problem. Troubleshooting is one skill that I've found to be incredibly important.
And I completely agree, this is a really great forum!!