# 96 Altima distributor question



## RC cola (May 10, 2012)

I'm helping a buddy at work who has the known problem of oil entering the distributor. I was looking at a picture of the distributor on an online site to see what it looked like. 

A frequent response to the condition he has is to replace the O ring. I see an O ring which seals the distributor mount to the block but my question is, this O ring to replace to stop oil entering the distributor, is it actually on the input shaft of the distributor?


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

The serviceable "O" ring on the distributor shaft doesn't prevent oil from entering "into" the distributor; the internal seal is "technically" non-serviceable and is corrected by replacing the distributor assy. I have heard of a couple of people who disassembled their distributor and were able to come up with a match for the internal seal, but it's a time consuming job and seals are not readily available. If you do replace the distributor, the best you can get is a genuine Nissan reman., which also comes with a new cap and rotor. With aftermarket remans., you usually take your chances, though the price is a lot cheaper. Some don't tend to last very long or are even found faulty right out of the box.


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## RC cola (May 10, 2012)

We took the plunge and disassembled the distributor and yes it is a taunting task! If you do not have some kind of press you will not get it apart. I just talked to my buddy and he said he installed it and it runs! He did not take for a spin to see if it would just die as its been doing.

If anyone does decide to disassemble this unit to replace the seal, document the position of the encoder disc and the part the rotor attaches to. Its a press fit so there is no key or positive mating for it on the shaft so its position could be lost. 

It has a lip seal in it that looked ok but oil was present under the bearing. He had cleaned it earlier. I slipped an O ring in the gap between the seal and bushing in the bore. I cleaned the sensor and encoder ring with contact cleaner. 

Time will tell if this was the root of the dying problem short of some thermal breakdown of the sensor.


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## RC cola (May 10, 2012)

I talked to my buddy the other day with this car. He said the car will die around the same distance when driving it out.It will run again after a short wait then no more failures for the rest of the day. So consistently the same described situation happens each day he drives it. He gets the same check engine fault each time indicating the cam position sensor.

Does this indicate a true problem with the sensor? He wants to make sure before investing in a new distributor to find the same condition is still present with a new unit.


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