Hello all. Clearly I'm new here so please forgive me if I make any protocol
errors.

I have a 2000 Accord EX with about 120K on it. I changed the oil last week
and like a dumbass didn't notice that the old oil filter gasket was stuck to
the block. Needless to say the oil leaked out on my wife on her way to work.
The oil light finally came on and before she could pull over the check
engine light came on and the engine stopped running.

She had the car towed to a Honda dealership and I explained what I did to
the service writer. He came back a few hours later with the news that I
needed a new coil and ingniters. I was hard pressed to buy it but gave the
ok to proceed. Obviously that didn't fix the problem as the next call from
them stated that the engine was ruined. The wanted $4.5K to put a used motor
with 89K miles on it in the car.

I sent a tow truck to bring the car home. It's in the garage now.

It damn sure doesn't appear to be ruined. It turns over freely by hand and
with the starter. It trys to start but won't.

Now for the real puzzle. The timing belt seems ok. With the tdc mark on the
crank centered, the spoke on the cam pully marked 'up' pointing up, and the
#1 piston up, shouldn't the distributor rotor point either to the number 1
or 4 contact, depending on whether #1 is on the exhaust or combustion
stroke?

It doesn't It points at, or nearly at, #2.

When I put this distributor on a replacement motor I bought it points
directly at #1 under the same circumstances. When I put the distributor off
the 'new' motor on the one in the car, it points at #2.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I and my ex-mechanic buddy are
completely stumped.

Thanks in advance.

Jim in Florida