1990 grand am 2.3l (quad 4) dohc i took the timing cover off and vibration damper off following the instructions from haynes repair manua
lined up the mark on crankshaft sprocket with the block and i noticed on the tensioner that the e-clip was missing and that the sprockets were you line up with 8mm bolt hole were wrong there were to be on the bottom to line up but there are on top i have read the manual over and over ive looked all over the net and still having problems any help or advice will be very great thanks the car has a rough idle no power when driving loud cut off the catalytic converter checked about all the sensors couple of friends said the timing and also when i put the headlights on @ night the dash and radio/clock go out you cant see anything turn the head lights off and they work thanks again

Why did you remove the timing cover off, etc? Is it because you have rough idle, no power, loud noise coming from the catalytic converter?

The problem may just be a bad ignition coil housing which costs about $60. This is what it looks like http://partimages.genpt.com/partimages/72737.jpg

i have replaced the ignition coil housing and checked about every other sensor a few guys said check the timing so i took it apart last night and i see that the tensioner E-clip is gone and that the camshaft sprockets that has the bolt hole were you put the 8mm bolt threw them to take off the sprockets are on the top when they should be at the bottom 180 degrees off

i went to auto zone for a new one (tensioner) or just the E-clip the tensioner box didn't have the mounting bolts or the clip so that didnt do any good so i got a few different sizes of clips and hope i have time to put it on today(sunday) 7 year going to wrestling tournment about 300 kids and thank you for the quick replies