Ok I've had the typical dakota problems of the back fireing, no power, sometimes no start. then run like a raped ape. Have done a lot of work replacing, distribitor,map, throttel and air sensors. EGR valve and SBEC. Ran good for 2 days. Now won't start. Have fuel,spark, and distributor timing is right on TDC. I'm thinking along the line of valve cam timing may be way off, which would indicate timing chain. But before I get into all that I need to know if the distributor is driven off the valve cam. If it is then timing chain wouldnt seem the cause. If it's driven off the oil pump that is driven off the crank shaft, then timing chain looks to be problem. Can anyone tell me what the distributor is driven off of ?

 

distributor is driven off the camshaft. It in turn drives the distributor. Did you set Sync when you replaced the distributor?

 

O yes, made shure #1 cylinder was at TDC and rotor was set to #1 position. BTW this distributor dosn't have a gear on the bottom, it has a shaved end that fits into the oil pump shaft. Distributor was change 2 months ago, new pickup , cap and rotor . Computer was replaced 2 weeks ago. That's why I questioned what drove the distributor. I deffinatly have spark, and fuel. Even tried giving it a shot of starting fluid down the throttel body, didn't make any diffrence, not even a back fire. That's whats so strange about this, I have all the basics for it to start and run, yet not fireing up. I have it broken down to ready to pull the harmonic balancer, but want to be shure . If the distrubitor is deffinatly driven off the camshaft I barking up the wrong tree.

 

Take your hand and cover up the tail-pipe flat palmed, and then get someone to try and start it. If it's sucking in, the timing chain is broken. If it's blowing out, then your problem lays elsewhere. On another note, have you happened to check for CEL codes yet?