My son was driving his 96/auto home this weekend and it just died on him. He states it was running fine. 15 minutes and multiple crank attemps later, the car started. It made it about 3 miles and died again. I show up, it starts again after 15 minutes of trying and he drives it home 3 miles. Won't restart after shut down.

The car has fuel, the engine turns over, I am unsure if spark right now

Next morning I get it started and drive from the street to the garage. Shut it off and it won't restart.

I checked the distributor and it was dripping some oil when I removed the cap screws. Although there wasn't any oil in the cap or on the rotor.

I pull the codes and get three; P0340-camshaft position sensor, P0500-vehcile speed sensor, P0325-knock sensor.

Is this a common problem, where should I start?

Thanks, Steve.

Modified by snb73 at 7:19 AM 3/15/2010
Modified by snb73 at 8:11 AM 3/15/2010

oil in the distributor is a common problem. after removing the cap, remove the rotor and inner cover and clean everything up.

i had similar problems and was able to start it back up by cooling components off with electronic parts cleaner. a new distributor was an easy fix.