# engine shuts down



## hizip (Nov 14, 2016)

1995 Altima GXE. I bought this car about several months ago. The first sign of a problem was when did a hard acceleration to go onto the freeway. It sputtered was very badly. I eased off on the acceleration and it somewhat ran smoothly. Drove it home ok as I avoided a hill or unnecessary acceleration. Took it a repair shop, an ignition tune-up kit was done. The same day taking it from the repair shop, engine felt like skipping. As I droving up a hill, engine shuts down. It restarted after a few minutes and waited for the mechanics to check it out. They test drove it and didn't find anything even after going up the same hill several times. Car went back into the shop and they say its the distributor. They suggested a oem distributor replacement but I thought the cost was way too much. I also read bad experiences with the aftermarket ones. Mechanic also mentioned the wiring harness connector to the distributor was deteriorated. I checked it out and it sure was. So, I bought a generic connector online. After putting the connector, I drove the car for a week with no problem. Now, its gotten worse. Latest and current problem: the engine died out on me at a stop. It restarted quickly. Drove it for 13 miles. Went shopping for 2 hours, when I started the engine, it turns over but won't start. After 40 minutes of trying, it started. Drove it for 2 miles, it dies. Waited 30 minutes to restart. This got repeated 5 times before I reached home. It sits in my garage, afraid not knowing when it will die out on me. Occasionally, I will start it up and run it for 5 minutes and at other times after less than a minute, it will die out. Restart takes about 10-15 minutes. But most times I give up trying to restart it.


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## frankp13 (Jun 18, 2016)

sounds like you might want to replace your mass air flow sensor... my 97 altima gxe was doing the same thing, all the same parts have been replaced before it was sold to me, its actually the reason i got the car, previous owner was tired of putting money into it.. i went to RockAuto and got it from there for around $93 plus shipping. dealers want upwards of $350 or more for the same part and aftermarket stores like autozone and advance auto want around $200, after replacing the mass air flow sensor you have to reprogram the computer to adapt to the new part, its called resetting the parameters, any nissan dealership should be able to do it for you


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## hizip (Nov 14, 2016)

Thank you I will look into the mass air flow sensor. Everyone been telling me its the distributor. With less than 70,000 miles, I am not convinced that its the distributor at this low mileage. But then again, I am not the original owner. I did pull out the distributor and did not see oil leakage in the distributor. But got this other minor problem. With the car in neutral, I would give the engine a quick rev and as the rpm dropped, it would stay at 1500rpm for a while then drop down to 1000rpm.


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## frankp13 (Jun 18, 2016)

also look at the intake manifold gasket, rockauto.com also has them for around $4 plus shipping.. they tend to go bad at 70,000 miles on the altime 2.4l motor, if there is no oil leakage at the distributor then more then likely that is not the issue, the intake gasket is a time consuming repair so try the mass air flow first cause it will only take 30-45 minutes to replace, gasket takes about 4 hours to replace, mass air flow is 4 bolts behind the air box and a clip that holds the connector in


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

hizip said:


> Latest and current problem: the engine died out on me at a stop. It restarted quickly. Drove it for 13 miles. Went shopping for 2 hours, when I started the engine, it turns over but won't start. After 40 minutes of trying, it started. Drove it for 2 miles, it dies. Waited 30 minutes to restart. This got repeated 5 times before I reached home. It sits in my garage, afraid not knowing when it will die out on me. Occasionally, I will start it up and run it for 5 minutes and at other times after less than a minute, it will die out. Restart takes about 10-15 minutes. But most times I give up trying to restart it.


Perform an ECU code readout to see if any fault codes are set; it might help you to pinpoint the source of the problem. Usually with the type of problem you're encountering, this points to a marginal cam position sensor that's located inside the ignition distributor. Make sure that there's no oil inside the distributor that could cause this type of problem. If you plan to replace the distributor, buy an OEM unit, not an aftermarket. Aftermarket unit usually don't work very well and many times are DOA.

As far as diagnosing the MAF; if the engine dies during idle, you can unplug the MAF from the system and normally the engine should continue to run OK indefinitely during idle, so if it dies during idle, then the MAF is not the problem. However if you try to rev it above 2,000 rpm, it will stall out.


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## hizip (Nov 14, 2016)

Thanks. Under your advisement, I replaced the distributor and cleaned the MAF. Everything is working well except. My idle is set at 750 - 800 rpm at 20 degree. Idles fine in PARK or NEUTRAL, but when I engage the car into REVERSE or DRIVE, rpm drops to little above 500rpm. Engine does not die out. Even with this low rpm, engine is running smoothly. When I put it back into Park or Neutral, rpm goes back up 750. Haven't taken the car out on a long haul yet. Any thoughts.


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## frankp13 (Jun 18, 2016)

that is believe it or not the correct idle rpm for this engine, mine does the same thing and I fixed back in july of last year, haven't had a problem since, goes back and forth to Williamsburg Virginia from Newport news at least once a month with no issues.. I would look into replacing the maf before to long, RockAuto has them for around &98 dollars with shipping, 4 bolts and 10 minutes to replace it.


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