# Questions about distributor on 01 Altima



## pest44 (Oct 24, 2004)

I'm looking into this problem for a friend who owns an 01 altima gxe. I've owned maximas for the past 6 years, but am 100% unfamiliar with the nissan 4 cylinders, so here goes. Her problem began with an erratic idle that was diagnosed as the intake gasket by the nissan dealership. $500 later she heads home only to find out that the car takes a long time to start. It now runs smoothly, but it takes a while to start when cold; when warmed up, it's better. She takes it right back to the dealership thinking they left something disconnected by accident. New diagnosis says something about cam position sensor, but remedy is a new distributor. Dealership claims they installed new distributor and car starts and runs fine. Estimate is a little over $500 with the biggest chunk going to parts. 

Based on the search I've done, the distributor is a common part to fail on these vehicles, so it seems logical that is the actual problem. Is the installation of the distributor on these cars basically the same as any other? What is a good source for the distributor? I priced one from NAPA for about $375. Any better prices out there? I've looked on ebay w/o much luck.


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

189 for the distributor at auto zone. lifetime warranty too. you can use the 97.5-01 distributors on your altima. this price was for a 2000. for whatever reason, autozone didnt list an 01 dis. part number is 31-58460. 60 dollar core charge which you get back when you return the old one. 
www.autozone.com


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## pest44 (Oct 24, 2004)

Thanks for the reply. We installed one last night and everything is working great.


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## pest44 (Oct 24, 2004)

Actually all is not well. The car now starts perfectly if cold (after sitting overnight) and right after it has been shut off, but has to crank over for several seconds when shut off for several minutes up to 1.5 hours. When it does finally start, it puffs out some black smoke and then runs fine. The car now has new intake gasket installed by nissan dealership and new distributor, so do you guys have any ideas what the problem could be? Is it possible that we need to adjust the timing? It definitely has improved with the installation of the new distributor, but everything is not fixed yet.


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## sentra2nr (May 26, 2003)

well black smoke sounds like you are trying to start it up with oil in the chamber. May also be a internal problem. Not distributor at all. when you do get it driving does it make a clattering noise when taking off from a stop? Give us some more details so we can help as much as possible. thanks


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## Asleep (Jan 19, 2003)

sentra2nr said:


> well black smoke sounds like you are trying to start it up with oil in the chamber. May also be a internal problem. Not distributor at all. when you do get it driving does it make a clattering noise when taking off from a stop? Give us some more details so we can help as much as possible. thanks


black smoke wouldnt be oil, it would be fuel. im leaning towards o2 sensor or maybe even a bad injector seal. does the car idle wierd at all?


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## pest44 (Oct 24, 2004)

It seems to idle fine after it finally starts up.


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## titan_213 (May 1, 2005)

does it die after it gets hot and then you have to wait to restart it?? if so sounds like you have another bad distributor, the problem with buying the cheaper aftermarket one is that they are remanufactured from old distributors, and the only fix the one problem it has, like your old one sounds like it had an internal oil leak in the distributor, now this one has a bad photo cell.


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