# It's a mystery why it stalls



## ryan6817 (Jun 27, 2006)

I have a 1995 Altima, it is in the shop right now because of it stalling, I was told just this morning that he, my mechanic, has seen 3 of these Nissan's with the same problem and he is very puzzled as to why they stall out like they do. My local Nissan dealer does not even know.

If anyone has figured it out PLEASE let me know, that way I dont have to spend hundreds of dollars to try and get it fixed. Or if anyone has figured a way to even jimmy-rig it so it runs at stops, that would be cool too.

Thanx


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

ryan6817 said:


> I have a 1995 Altima, it is in the shop right now because of it stalling, I was told just this morning that he, my mechanic, has seen 3 of these Nissan's with the same problem and he is very puzzled as to why they stall out like they do. My local Nissan dealer does not even know.
> 
> If anyone has figured it out PLEASE let me know, that way I dont have to spend hundreds of dollars to try and get it fixed. Or if anyone has figured a way to even jimmy-rig it so it runs at stops, that would be cool too.
> 
> Thanx



I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and place my reputation at stake.
Tell the mechanic to see if the distributor is bad. Remove the distributor cap and see if there is oil there. If so you found your problem.
In general, the mechanic or dealship should scan the car's computer if a code is there it will pin point your problem.

Good luck


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## Peter Brock (Jun 9, 2006)

I agree that the problem is probably the distributor, but I am beginning to think that the oil problem is not the main culprit. I just went through the same thing and corrected the problem by replacing the distributor (I have 240,000 miles on my car). I have an old high school friend who has been a Nissan mechanic for years now. He asked me if I saw my tach go crazy just before the stall. I told him yes. He then told me that the circuit board that is in the distributor that has to do with the cam position sensing goes bad. I my distributor (1994 SE) this is all epoxied in place and can't be removed...so it is expensive, but fixes the problem. My car would stall and then start right up again. It got kind of crazy though when I would stall in heavy traffic on the highway!! Hope this helps...Good luck!


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## smokefly (Jun 21, 2006)

May I ask you where you replaced your distributor and how much you spent?
I had the similar problem and some nice guy here in this forum suggested me to replace the distributor with a brand new one. I am still collecting money...
One of my friends knows a mechanic and that guy thinks it might be the problem from the mass air flow meter. However he is not quite sure.
After reading in this forum for quite a few days, I got the feeling that this kind of problem is due to a bad distributor most of the time.
Time to order a genuine distributor from a nissan dealer now. 



Peter Brock said:


> I agree that the problem is probably the distributor, but I am beginning to think that the oil problem is not the main culprit. I just went through the same thing and corrected the problem by replacing the distributor (I have 240,000 miles on my car). I have an old high school friend who has been a Nissan mechanic for years now. He asked me if I saw my tach go crazy just before the stall. I told him yes. He then told me that the circuit board that is in the distributor that has to do with the cam position sensing goes bad. I my distributor (1994 SE) this is all epoxied in place and can't be removed...so it is expensive, but fixes the problem. My car would stall and then start right up again. It got kind of crazy though when I would stall in heavy traffic on the highway!! Hope this helps...Good luck!


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## smerf (Jul 1, 2006)

I have a 1994 altima, i just replaced the distributor, but my car still just dies at random with no sputters or anything.. just out... my intruments panel doesnt go crazy either... eventually the car will start again but sometimes it may take hours before it decides to just start right up. The hose going into the fuel filter was definitely weathered and will be replaced today, but while im at the auto part store, what else could be causing this problem?


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## Peter Brock (Jun 9, 2006)

I ended up going to a dealer for my distributor because I had read so much about problems with after market parts. My price was around $400 because of a discount. You can do a little better if you find an OEM part on the internet.
The one I got was remanufactured (whatever that means), but it was easy to replace and works for now at least. 
Another thing that I had forgotten to mention in my last thread is that my "check engine" light never went on. That was another clue to my mechanic friend that it was the distributor. I assume that any of the O2 or flow sensors would trip the light.


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## smokefly (Jun 21, 2006)

Forgot to ask. Did you friend do the computer scan and get any code?



Peter Brock said:


> I ended up going to a dealer for my distributor because I had read so much about problems with after market parts. My price was around $400 because of a discount. You can do a little better if you find an OEM part on the internet.
> The one I got was remanufactured (whatever that means), but it was easy to replace and works for now at least.
> Another thing that I had forgotten to mention in my last thread is that my "check engine" light never went on. That was another clue to my mechanic friend that it was the distributor. I assume that any of the O2 or flow sensors would trip the light.


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

smerf said:


> I have a 1994 altima, i just replaced the distributor, but my car still just dies at random with no sputters or anything.. just out... my intruments panel doesnt go crazy either... eventually the car will start again but sometimes it may take hours before it decides to just start right up. The hose going into the fuel filter was definitely weathered and will be replaced today, but while im at the auto part store, what else could be causing this problem?



Have the ECU scanned. Its all so quiet possible that the distributor, if not from Nissan, is bad.


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## amancha (Jul 5, 2006)

I am having a similar issue with my 2003 Altima. If I drive a short distance and turn the car off then I can't get it to go anywhere. It doesn't die on me but if I push on the gas, it won't go anywhere. The service engine soon light is lit. Would this be the fuel sensor?


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

amancha said:


> I am having a similar issue with my 2003 Altima. If I drive a short distance and turn the car off then I can't get it to go anywhere. It doesn't die on me but if I push on the gas, it won't go anywhere. The service engine soon light is lit. Would this be the fuel sensor?



Post this in the 2001-2003 forum you'll get better responses there


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## pyrobum22 (Aug 2, 2006)

Another suggestion: I had the same sort of problem and my distributor was just bad. I would also look into cleaning your throttle body because over time junk just accumiclates behind the throttle "butterfly" in your throttlebody this junk can restrict the airflow to your engine at idle.. causing it to stall or even the gas pedal to stick. not to mention it helps a little on gas. just take off the air cleaner assembly and use a can of carb and a toothbrush in there to get it all nice and clean. the car will start up rough but get on the gas for a minute it will even itself back out. Good luck


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## amancha (Jul 5, 2006)

pyrobum22 said:


> Another suggestion: I had the same sort of problem and my distributor was just bad. I would also look into cleaning your throttle body because over time junk just accumiclates behind the throttle "butterfly" in your throttlebody this junk can restrict the airflow to your engine at idle.. causing it to stall or even the gas pedal to stick. not to mention it helps a little on gas. just take off the air cleaner assembly and use a can of carb and a toothbrush in there to get it all nice and clean. the car will start up rough but get on the gas for a minute it will even itself back out. Good luck



Thank you for the suggestion which is exactly what I did. However, it ran for 1 day and started acting bad again. The engine light came back on and it still idled rough.


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

amancha said:


> Thank you for the suggestion which is exactly what I did. However, it ran for 1 day and started acting bad again. The engine light came back on and it still idled rough.



As I stated before, your question really belongs in the 2002+ section of this forum not here. Your Altima is a completely different model and engine design and you'll get much better responses to your questions in the 2002+. However, not to sound cold, did you at least have the car's computer scanned for the stored codes? If not, then I suggest you have a reputable mechanic or Autozone do that first. Next, after you get the code, post it on the 2002 forum. 

Good Luck
Frank


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## pyrobum22 (Aug 2, 2006)

Yeah, new cars are processors with wheels. Autozone uses a generic scantool that gets some DTC's (stored codes) but not always all of them. You may need to go to nissan and get a technician to use the nissan specified scantool. I work at a dodge dealership myself and i can tell you now we charge $100 just to hook that thing up. But you may want to look at your spark plugs and see if any have cracked poreclin. Because that can cause the car to run REAL bad. Good luck


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## shayak_b (Aug 9, 2006)

ryan6817 said:


> I have a 1995 Altima, it is in the shop right now because of it stalling, I was told just this morning that he, my mechanic, has seen 3 of these Nissan's with the same problem and he is very puzzled as to why they stall out like they do. My local Nissan dealer does not even know.
> 
> If anyone has figured it out PLEASE let me know, that way I dont have to spend hundreds of dollars to try and get it fixed. Or if anyone has figured a way to even jimmy-rig it so it runs at stops, that would be cool too.
> 
> Thanx


I have the exact same problem as above. I've tried replacing the MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor, the distributor and the temperature sensor, but am yet to figure out the problem. I don't see any error codes, the service engine light is not on. The car stalls at idle or even when I'm pulling up at a stop sign, which has led to several embarassing situations like getting stuck in the middle of an intersection. Also, I see plenty of black smoke from the exhaust, like the engine is running rich. While this is happening, when I'm cruising, sometimes I lose power. Both my mechanic and I are stumped as to the reason why it does this. Has anyone seen/solved this problem before? ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

shayak_b said:


> I have the exact same problem as above. I've tried replacing the MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor, the distributor and the temperature sensor, but am yet to figure out the problem. I don't see any error codes, the service engine light is not on. The car stalls at idle or even when I'm pulling up at a stop sign, which has led to several embarassing situations like getting stuck in the middle of an intersection. Also, I see plenty of black smoke from the exhaust, like the engine is running rich. While this is happening, when I'm cruising, sometimes I lose power. Both my mechanic and I are stumped as to the reason why it does this. Has anyone seen/solved this problem before? ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!



Regardless if the check engine light (CEL) is on or not, you should have the computer scanned for any stored coded. With that said, it sound like your distributor might be the culprit. To verify this, remove the cap and rotor, if there's any oil in there you found the problem.

Frank


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