1994 Altima, no start

[jackinri]

My sons car, 1994 Altima GXE VIN# IN4BU (OR V?)31DXRC242036 with a production date of 6/04.

Car started after his shift at work, ran 10 seconds and quit. Restarted ran 5 seconds,quit. Quick check showed no spark out of the coil, replaced with new coil. Still no start. OBD shows defective crank sensor. Local dealer says sensor located in the distributor and not serviced, have to replace complete distributor at a $400 cost.Auto Zone, Advanced, and NAPA all show a crank sensor ranging in price from $35 to $60. Was also told there's 2 crank sensors, where are they? Engine code is KA24DE2389CC.

Any help greatly apprciated, he's drivimg MY NEW Silverado!!!

[Ramius83]

The Crank Position Sensor is located on the "front" of the transmission bellhousing, facing the radiator. It is located between the transmission bellhousing and the engine block.

The CAM angle sensor is located in the distributor. That is non-replaceable and can only be changed with a new distributor.

[audtatious]

Erik, thanks for helping the masses out

[Ramius83]

Erik, thanks for helping the masses out

I saw that NSR was getting a little backed up lol and figured I could offer my help/opinion.

[audtatious]

It's much appreciated. I will have to kick our boy in the butt

[jackinri]

Thanks for your reply but we have had no luck in finding this sensor. It's not on the trans bellhousing. and two dealers have said it's located in the distributor, yet alldata shows a very vague schematic showing it's location, somewhere near the transaxle but we haven't been able to find it any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[jackinri]

We figured out that because this is a 94 and not a 95 it is not equipped with a crankposition sensor, this is according to a haynes tear down manual. the bellhousing has the print of where the sensor would be but there is no sensor there. We can only assume that the distributor is the faulty part. The only odd thing is that when his friend plugged in his diagnostic computer it came back crank position sensor I find it strange that it would list this component when it was never on the 94 model.

[boriquaS13]

Try pulling your distributor cap and rotor off and there is a black cover just under the rotor gently pull it off and see if there is any oil in there if I remember correctly there is an optical sensor for cam and crank in the distributor if there is any oil in there it will cloud the optical sensor and not get any spark. Clean with electrical contact cleaner or brake clean blow it dry and reinstall everything and see if it starts. I have seen this more than once on altima's.