Timing Marks 1991 Olds Cutlass Ciera

I'm working on my son's 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera 4 cyl 2.5L. It was acting like the timing was way off. ( Wouldn't start - backfiring etc ). I took it apart and noticed the chain tensioner pad was cracked. I replaced the two sprockets, chain, and tensioner. Thier was no marks on the car block or anywhere else to line up the two marks on the crank and cam sprockets. In one manual it shows that you just line up the marks on the cam and crank sprocket with each other?? I did this and put it all back together, but it still is acting the same way. Is thier anything else that could throw the timing off like this? It also seems like it has no compression.
Any help would be appreciated!
Regards,
Greg