I replaced the distrubitor because the bearing had failed. New distrubitor works, car starts. Shorted out connector to set timing and the engine cranked but wouldn't start. Took out shorting wire. Still cranked but no start. Disconnected the battery for a few minutes, connected the battery and the enging started. Is this a ECM problem?

I had this problem on a Civic. It turned out that the distributor was way off timing. Once I got it closer, I was able to get it started with the connector jumped. Don't know why it did that though.

It's not an ECM problem. Timing is just too far off. It's best to mark an index line on the distributor and mount, prior to removal. This insures the timing will be close, after you install the new distributor.