Update,
sorry I forgot to mention that before turning it upside down and cranking it I emptied the fuel tank./
pulled starter cover and removed the flywheel nut & washer. I could see the keyway groove on the crank, but could not see a corresponding groove anywhere on the flywheel. I guess I would need to pull the flywheel to find it and if necessary re-index it. I do not have a gear puller that small in my tools so it will have to wait till tomorrow daylight to mess with.
I then unhooked the ground kill switch lead just in case it or the switch was shorted, reassembled the pull rope cover, refilled with clean fresh gas and attempted to start it again. This time while cranking w/choke on I saw a mist come out of the area by the muffler, or possibly the decomp valve and it smelled slightly of fuel. I am guessing spark is too weak, or flywheel is off kilter.
I just ordered an OEM ignition coil from ebay, it is fairly obvious to me after examining the current coil it is a cheap no name brand, no markings probably from china, and **** it I will just change it anyway. it will take a week or two to arrive so that another weekend with no large saw, only the little poulan.
which reminds me, I watched a video last night on you tube of a person doing a spark test on a poulan PP5020a. he took a used but known good plug and bent it out till its gap was 1/8" or .125 and it was jumping the gap well enough that his camera could see it in the video.....mine I can barely see in my shop..gotta squint so I am now betting on spark issue.
I will pull the flywheel tommorrow and check to see if the sheer key has sheared and if it has I will fix that also.
do these saws have a set of points and condenser under the flywheel like old B&S engines? If they do I should probably order a new set of those also.