Well, It's been a while since I had my LeBaron GTS Turbo 2.2 L, but I'll try.

You are doing the right thing by disconnecting the coolant sensor whilst checking the timing.

The "Hall Effect Sensors" in the distributors fail quite often , and they are cheap and easy to replace. First, check that connector, though !

The timing belts are rubber (of course) and the maintenance interval is around 60K miles. My car was still running fine at 173K with one timing belt change. I had gone through 3 head gaskets by then, though ( it WAS a Turbo).

Good luck.