Hello, all. I'm Piggybear. I live in Florida and drive an 01 Altima GXE. Anything else, just ask!

Now, down to business.
Yesterday, my car started acting funny as I was going down the road. It was shaking and sputtering really bad like a cylinder wasn't firing. I get home, shut it off, and go inside to grab a few things. When I went back out and tried to start it, it was still acting funny, I get around the block and it dies. I kept trying to start it and when it finally came to life, it was still sputtering and when I put it in gear it died. I got it started again and gave it has and it kept running. I went to rev it up to try and straighten out the idle and it died again.

I pop the hood and start looking around and found out a plug wire came off the distributor. I plugged it in and started it. Smooth idle again! Gave it gas and it died... This time with a puff of black smoke out of the exhaust and some smoke coming out of the intake. Like a major double ended backfire. I tried for almost an hour and that was the best result.

I tried one last time to crank it up and I heard loud metallic tink come from under the hood and saw more smoke out of the intake. I pushed it home and called it a night.

I have never come across this before and can use your help. Any suggestions are very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

If anyone is reading this. Update: I got it started, it idles fine. But when I give it gas it stalls. This leads me to believe it's the fuel pump (filter is less than a month and 1000 miles old).

Now there's a new symptom. I hear metallic thinking while it's running. Like something broke off in there. Does anyone know what could have broke? I'm thinking a valve spring and hoping it's not something deeper inside the block.

Again, any help is appreciated.

Hey Piggybear... I can tell you off the bat its not a fuel pump i had a vehicle with fuel pump issues and only thing it did was just die after warming up and no bad ratlling or shaking of the vehicle. You said you also heard a metallic tinking i want to be sure its not a knock and have you checked your oil pan under the vehicle for and damage caused from inside.. I dont want to scare you but i had a similar problem with another vehicle except im not 100% sure but i believe a bolt was shot through my oil pan and ended up being a piston rod knocking... You also said there was black smoke i would start by making sure nothing is blocked up such as air filter and hoses and also check the converter on the exhaust when you get the car warmed up make sure its not lava red if it is its clogged up.. Also it could be dumping to much fuel into the engine that can also cause the black smoke. Make sure you check all the spark plugs wires and distributor cap to make sure the is no build up or any damage done to them. I have never heard of a spark plug wire being blown off the distributor cap that is new for me and not being a smart ss but are they the correct plugs and wires for the vehicle and are the on nice and snug i dont think they will just pop off even if theres a backfire.. Well i hope i could have helped you out some thats about all i could think of off the top of my head im sure there are alot of others that may be able to give you more advice or even add to mine keep us updated.