Hi There!! :-)

I had the weirdest experience this morning on my way home from work.
My 1985 1.9 L Vanagon was cruising down the highway when all of a sudden
it started to miss and back fire.  I pulled over to see what the problem
was and to my amazement the distributor was NOT seated all the way into
the hole in the block.  I was able to turn the rotor by hand but felt
some resistance at one point.  The hold down bracket was tightly in it's
proper place and I was not able to turn the distributor before losing
it.  Of course I had to get towed back home and have been trying to
figure out why it won't run at all now.

Now here's the question....Does this distributor go in only one way???
I tried to install it at 180� but it would not seat.  It will only go
in one way and will seat all the way down into the block.  Once it's in
this position the rotor does not turn around by hand.  When I do turn it
over, the rotor does move clockwise on it's own.

By the way, it does have spark and I could smell gas, but the plugs
aren't really wet.  At some points it sounds like it's trying to catch ,
but I can't get it to start at all now.  Also at one point when I pulled
the distributor out, the grooved portion in the block lifted out about
an inch and I pushed it back down.  It has a spring that sticks up in
the center.  I also need to know the firing order and which plug is what
cylinder number (LF, LR, RF & RR).  If I know this, I can see if Number
One plug matches up to the rotor.

Any help, recommendations, suggestions or comments would be greatly
appreciated to help save my sanity (what little there is left of it)!!
:-)  Thank you for taking the time to read my sad story!!

Have A Good Day!!

Kevin (Stranded In Pennsylvania)
sevenkevin@webtv.net