# 2002 Nissan Altima- sputtering & more



## KristenL (Oct 16, 2012)

I have a 2002 Nissan Altima 2.5 with 130k miles. I have had some things replaced such as the crankshaft positions sensor(replaced this twice), engine speed sensor, valve cover, valve cover gasket, spark plugs, spark plug boots, and I think thats all under the hood. I did all this over about a 2-3 month time frame but still having the same problem. Oil is in where the spark plugs are, the engine oil smells like gas and is thick, it sputters (not all the time), does not want to start immediately(like its flooded), blows smoke when started (white/light grey), getting bad gas mileage. The code shows that two of the cylinders are misfiring, before and after all the work done. I have no idea what to do next. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I really do not want to buy another car considering I just bought this one a year ago and paid it off earlier this year. Thanks!


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

I addressed your concern under another thread where you posted.


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## Vics96Altima (Oct 20, 2012)

Just a suggestion but, have you replaced the Distributer cap and roter? I have a 96 Altima was having missing and starting issues until it completly died... ended up being a cap and roter... you can remove the cap and inspect the contacts on the cap and the tip of the rotor to see if they are burned bad.. Just a thought


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

2002 Altimas do not have distributors; they use a coil-on-plug setup.


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## FriendlyNismoTech (Oct 28, 2012)

You're describing a failed head gasket. Water/Coolant is entering the combustion chamber which is what is resulting in the greyish/white smoke. The oil in the spark plug tubes is a result of failed tube seals, I'd suggest replacing the rocker cover to fix that. But to verify a failed head gasket do the following. Warm the engine up, not hot, just op temp. Shut it off, remove the engine cover, pull out plugs 2 and 3, and inspect the cylinders with a bright led light, check every 10 mins until the engine completely cools, I'd bet lunch that you'll see a liquid pool on top of the cylinders. If you have access to a compression tester or a leak down tester you can do this as well much quicker. But for the average DIYer most dont have those tools.


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## sharonis (Apr 9, 2010)

*Oil in the spark plugs /value cover gasket*

I can relate to all this thread. I am going thur this process. It now has a Random misfire reading . 'Run Great But on acceleration it has missing going on. It also has been random start up acting up. Had to hold the gas down to get it to start. The check engine lights do not come on. Ran through some test and it read code PO507 Aslo it would not preform IAVL proceder. I would like to know if it needs to be Flashed. Or looking a replacing the throttle motor.


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