can anyone help???

I have a 1988 hond accord dx. I recently tried to time it only to find out that I couldn't. The distributor is all the way down as far as it can go but the timing mark for idle is no where near the mark for alignment.
It's almost like I need the distributor to go down further but it's as far as it can go (this is with the advanced vacuum unpluged per manufactures recomeditations). With the advanced disphram plugged in the red timing mark should then be aligned with the pointer and this won't line up either. It's almost like the alignment marks are too high and the distributor can't go down any further. I believe that the distributer is falty but not sure. if anyone has ever had this problem let me know how to fix it.

I had something similar when I broke my timing belt - have you messed with your timing belt at all - I'm guessing maybe you are a tooth off on your cam gear, that's what my problem was - I was about 30 degrees off from the line on the crank pulley even with the distro turned all the way. As soon as I moved it one notch over on the cam gear it started right up. Can't tell you which way to turn though - have to try both ways yourself and see with works.