Weird problem

[sgp0511]

New here I have a 1998 qx4 with about 180k on it. Was driving one day and about ten min after putting gas, my truck stalled and would not restart. I towed the truck home and opened the distributor cap and the rotor apparently had broken into pieces. Idk how that could have happened

[sgp0511]

So I put a new rotor and cap and car will still not start. If I crank the motor for a while it will run but will sputter badly and stall

[sgp0511]

I'm thinking distributor went bad?

[4xq]

Just saw you did all three posts - I thought someone had responded.

I've seen a bad distributor shft (or bad bearing) let the rotor hit the cap - pretty rare tho.

The distributors on the late 90's models seem to be a cause of no starts pretty often. I would make sure you have spark at the plug. If you are still missing spark, I would say try a new distributor.

Kind of a long shot, but have you changed your fuel filter recently?

[sgp0511]

So I'm going to scrapyard this weekend and I know that a pathfinder 3.3 distributor will fit but I heard the exterra distributor will also fit, Is this true?

[sgp0511]

Also looks like Nissan quest frontier and mercury villager 3.3 also fits, does this sound right?

[rgk]

When trying to answer a question like that, I get on an auto parts website and look up each vehicle to see if the part numbers match.

You could also call the junkyard or your local parts store.

[atraudes]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_VG_engine#VG33E

Looks like the Frontier may be a good candidate too.

[sgp0511]

so i pulled dist. today and im 99% sure thats my problem. i tried spinning the dist. gear and it is very hard and the shaft that the rotor is on even looks like its bent, causing the rotor to hit the base of the dist. itself. so il get the new dist. this weekend and see how that goes. on to my next problem, the AC. the blower motor itself works. with everything off driving down the road (when it ran) heat would blow out of the floor vents, unless i press the recirculate button, nothing will come out. if i press ac button and turn the temp on full cold, only HOT air, not outside temp air, but HOT air blows out, like its stuck on heat or something. the AC controls are all electronic, so im thinking maybe the control itself went bad? trying to get this thing going for my wife as her daily broke down and she needs this thing running before next week.

[sgp0511]

After a trip to pick n pull and pulling the distributor out of a merc villager van my wife's SUV is now running nice and smooth now if I could just get her ac figured out. I think it is stuck on heat how do I check this

[sgp0511]

So my junk yard distributor bearings went out also, does Nissan make crap distributors or is it just bad luck 2 distributors bearings went out causing stall and no start, already got replacement and running fine again

[sgp0511]

Replacement distributor just went out, WTF 3 distributors within the last few months!!????

[4xq]

I haven't worked on the 3.3 engine, but I agree with you three distributors going out is not a coincidence - two might have been.

I think the problem may be you are not getting oil up to the distributor, which may be causing failure of the bearings. Try and find the oil port that routes oil up to that area, and clean it with a pipe cleaner or use that little tube on brake clean spray and stick it down the hole and try to clean it out.

After you clean it you would want to pull the distributor after several minutes of running and see if oil is getting up there.

Thats the only thing I can think of!

[sgp0511]

My 3rd distributor didn't fail BC of bearings like my first 2 distributors did, was something electrical but I don't know exactly what I know bearings were still good, I just put another one in and I was good to go, now I'm nervous to take a long trip in her just BC I'm afraid the distributor might burn out in the middle of nowhere

[4xq]

Could be just a coincidence the bearings on the first two went out then. You must be a pro at swapping distributors at this point!