I have an '87 with a 2.6L / auto transmission. The engine has been running OK. It was blowing out a pretty good stream of coolant out the head gasket in the area facing the firewall. I pulled the head and replaced the head gasket and put everything back together last night. I have spark on all 4 wires, engine turns over just fine, but the engine won't start. I shot down the carb starting fluid to see if it would fire off - no chugging, no burps, nothing.

When I pulled the head, the cam shaft sproket remained on the holder and the chain didn't move and I didn't move the cam shaft. When I pulled the distributor, I market the shaft and even took a picture of it. It went in just as it came out.

After it not starting the first round of trials, I pulled spark plug #1, put a feeler into the cylinder, looked for a goodly amount of air coming out of the spark plug hole and found where the pitston was at TDC. I then pulled the distributor cap and found the rotor in the plug #1 position. I tried to restart - nogo.

I then shot some starting fluid into cylinder #1 and dropped the plug back in and tried to start it - still no firing.....

I'm out of solutions on this one. Could I be 180 off on the timing? I don't have a timing light (may have to get a cheap one...) so I can't say whether I am on time. I tried starting with the distributor in the middle (where it was before the head gasket fix), and then at each end of the slot travel. The engine is not firing.

Any ideas? I'm at a standstill as to what to check next. Thanks in advance for any help you folks can give.