# 99 Altima 2nd distributor gone bad ???



## mks71 (Jun 8, 2016)

I picked up a 99 SE limited from my kid neighbor, it had a rough idle, misfire, bad EGR, and bad MAF. I replaced the MAF, the EGR, the fuel filter, plugs and wires. I put a fuel pressure gauge on it to monitor the pressure. It has a new battery as well. It still has a intermittent or random misfire so I replaced the distributor, the one that was on it looked new but I replaced it anyway. Right away the car ran like a dream, no misfire, no rough idle, just smooth sailing, that is until earlier today. It is back to rough idle and random misfires. I put about 250 miles on it since replacing the distributor. I do know that the engine is leaking oil on the alternator badly by getting whipped into it from the belt and pullys. Everything on the car works and up until the kid bought it a month or so ago it was a one owner car. My question is what would cause the distributor to go bad more than once and could the alternator be the cause even though it has been tested good. I do not see any oil in the distributor either. Has anyone had any experience with this issue? Thanks in advance.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

The oil being whipped around is likely due to a bad front crank seal. They aren't two bad to replace and the seal is inexpensive. The drive belts will have to be removed (and if they are oil-soaked, should be replaced). The crank pulley is removed and a seal puller is used to pop out the old seal. Brake cleaner can be used to clean up the oil that has been thrown around the front of the engine. The new seal is greased and pressed in with your fingers and tapped with a hammer to seat it flush with the front cover. A Scotch pad can be used to clean up the nose of the crank pulley; if it is badly grooved, a Redi-sleeve can be installed on the crank pulley. The crank pulley is installed along with the bolt and then the drive belts. 

If the alternator is charging 13.2-15.0 volts, it should be fine and likely not the problem. Aftermarket reman distributors are not the most reliable and can be bad out of the box or fail shortly after. The best is a genuine Nissan reman part, which is more expensive, but you get what you pay for. That said, it's impossible for me to tell you if your distributor is faulty or not; it certainly could be. Vacuum leaks or other things that can cause a lean condition or over rich condition can cause misfires, as can faulty fuel injectors, leaking spark plug tube seals (causing oil to build up in the spark plug well and cause an ignition short), poor electrical connections, etc. Most DIY'ers don't have access to scan tools to view datastreaming nor an oscilloscope to view spark patterns, which may be needed to diagnose the cause of the misfirel


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