94 Nissan Altima
94 Nissan Altima
Hey guys i need some advice/help and or input on what the problem may be. My mother in law has a 1994 Nissan Altima and recently she started having problems with the car. The car starts and drives but after a long drive the car shuts off and when you try to turn it back on it struggles but when it starts it shuts of again and after several times of doing the same thing shes able to drive off, until it happens again. She took it to a mechanic shop and they put it on the computer and they said they think its the fuel pump according to the computer but since the car is old they are not sure :?: and they are charging her close to $600 for the fuel pump job. She wants to be sure what it is cause she thinks they are trying to steal her money. so i told her not to do anything until i found out some info. I searched and seriously not found anything. Thanks...
Re: 94 Nissan Altima (KOJIKI88)
It's the distributor! You need to replace the stock Nissan distributor with a Dorman distributor. I own a 1994 Altima (318,000 miles on it) - my daily driver, a 1998 Altima (78,000 - wife's), and a 1994 240SX (play drifter). The distributor on your car has a well known flaw - at low speeds it heats up and causes an oil seal to leak. Right now yours has a small leak. Oil is passing into an area, in the distributor, that contains a cam timing sensor. The sensor works by passing light through slotted holes in a spinning medal disk. If oil gets on the disk or light reader the sensor will send weird signals to the computer. The computer will try to compensate by adjusting timing or fuel flow, but it only makes the problem worse. The engine will run correctly at high RPMs because the leaking oil gets spun off the disk read by the light sensor. This problem will only get worse. When the oil seal completely breaks you car will not run at all. I have heard of some people solving the problem by drilling a small drain hole at the base of the distributor casing. I opted to simply replace the Nissan distributor with a high quality model. I have had no problems since the replacement.