Larry,
Take off the top cover for the timing belt (couple screws or
clips) and have a look. If it has broken, it won't be on the pulley
but down inside the lower section of the cover. I, too, have heard
of the rotor buttons breaking up. They are supposed to be glued onto
the distributor shaft so if it has been broken, it will require
something to break up the rest of it and clean up the shaft. A
decent pair of RoBo grips, etc. will take care of it but be careful
to not pry up on the shaft.......Jack
Easiest way (for me) is pop off the dizzy cap, and turn the engine
over by hand (ratchet on the crank pulley) and watch for rotation in
the rotor.
When you tried to crank it, did it crank at normal speed, or sound
really fast cranking, faster than normal? This is usually an
indication of a broken belt (read: bent valves).. Also, you may find
that popping off the dizzy cap that the rotor button may have broken
apart. I've seen this a couple of times before, and a simple $5
button fixed the problem. Not to say that it is your case, but
hopefully so!
A backfire indicates a timing error, so I would not suspect a fuel
pump, but more on the timing/ignition side of things..
Keep us informed!
Ricky in Winchester, VA
