I have a 1989 pontiac firebird v6 and i took the distributor cap annd rotor off and replaced them and now the car wont start it turns over. the car nnever had problems starting before this?

Make sure the wires are in the corect order then remove cap and look at the rotor if it loos ok try putting the old rotor back on

Best practice is to remove #1 spark plug, roll engine over by hand until #1 piston at top dead center on compression stroke. Remove dist cap , find a surface outside of dist to mark direction rotor is pointing then mark dist body position. Remove dist ,you will notice as you lift dist, rotor will spin backward keep an eye on it, when the rotor stops spinning as you lift, that will be your dropin position for new distributor. That will get you close,enough to start car but you will need a timing light to set exact timing

do a vacuum test on the FPR if it IS holding vacuum, then i would try to test the fuel pump.

check main lead from coil to distributor,if ok the last one faulty

sounds like a weak coil pack

check to make sure you have fire and fuel and then compression you have to have all three for the motor to run

remove cap, have someone crank engine do you see rotor turning

could be, i would replace the distributer cap plus rotor,and new plug wires. hope was help

i melted my module off of mine 89 gta once on my disturbertor and also had the plugs that snaps onto the coil pack cause a lot of problemns because it wasn't snapped all the way don on the coil pack not the plug wires but the wiring harness plugs and it gave mne a lot of problems.may want to check yourself took it to a dealer ship 4 weeks in a row and every time they said it was fixed i drove it for a couple hours and it would quit and not start and that was all it was but it started with a tune up wires, cap ,rotor button.

If it is backfiring the firing order is not correct. turn the crank until the timing mark lines up to zero on the timing cover. Remove the distributor cap, and see where the rotor button is pointed. It should be pointed at number 1. (at this point you have a 50/50 chance) The cam turns half the speed of the crank shaft, this means that even through cylinder number one is at top dead center, it might be on the exhaust stroke instead of compression stroke. If this is the case, you will need to turn the crank shaft one full revolution, and try again.

Reinstall the distributor cap with plug wire number one being placed where the rotor button is pointed. Install the rest of the plug wires in order.