OK guys i need some help. i bought a 1991 ford F150 and was told that the guy i got the truck from had just rebuilt the motor but never got the truck running correctly. i had notice that inorder to get the truck started he had to turn the distibutor one way or the other and play with the gas pedal. so after i got the truck were i could work on it i noticed that it did not look like the rotor pointed to number one cyl. so i removed the dist. (after getting to tdc) and reinstalled the dist. with the rotor pointing to #1 and i notice that the pointer for the timing mark is not pointing to 0 degrees it is pointing to 10 degrees. i figured that the pointer should be pointing to zero so that when the truck is started and warmed up and the spout connector removed then you could set the timing to 10 degrees before top dead center. i used a compression gauge to tell when the motor was coming to the compression stroke and then used a long but then screw driver to tell when the #1 piston was at tdc.and i notice that when i checked the rotor it was one tooth off from the correct location. and when i moved it over that one tooth the motor turned over easy with the dist. advanced and would bearly turn over when the dist. was retarded. i know that now i am just rambling on now so i will stop. but if any one can give me some pointers i would be greatfull. i think that when the guy put the timing chain on he may have skipped a tooth!

 

Sounds like the timing gears are off. Someone might have either put the marks on a different mark, or just missed on the correct marks. some crank gears come with multiple markings