distorber

oooo, should look at the timing marks...believe the "silent cam" is out of position~

jumped a tooth? slack in the tensioner? tensioner out of alignment? not sure if the "silent" cam drives the distributor...if it's driven off the camshaft does not have this extra part~ I know mazda's got them~

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Corolla

When you do advance it and get it running does it run close to normal. If it does then like breezeway says it probably just jumped a tooth. You'll need to pull the distributor and check the condition of the teeth and the teeth on the cam. The easiest way with out loosing timing is to turn the engine to TDC of the compression stroke on #1 (or any pistion, just remember which one.) pull the cap off and note the rotor posion compared to the distributor and the distributor position to the engine. Unbolt and slide out carefully. Note which way the rotor turns as you pull it out (angled gear cuts cause it to turn). Inspect the gears. For re-installation turn the rotor to the point it rotated to while pulling and slide the dist back in. If the the marks made earlier don't line up you are out one or more teeth. Pull and try again. Caution do not let the motor turn while the dist is out or you'll have to find the TDC point that you had the motor at before. If the gears are fine you can return the dist to the stock location buy re-installing the dist a few teeth over. I usually only move one tooth at a time and test that way I know that I'm going the right way. Good luck.