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Comments
There is not much room to insert a magnet. You might be able to just blow out the shavings. Screwdriver is a Phillips. The rotor is underneath the distributor cap. It will be sticking up and is kind of square/triangle shaped. It has one horizontal screw on its base that attaches it to the dist. shaft. There is only one way to install it.
After that, you will see two screws at about 11 and 5 near the perimeter of the distributor housing. Those hold the brown cover on. Do not remove anything else after this. If this is the problem, it will be pretty evident when you look beneath the white disk. Silver metal shavings should be visible. These are what you want out.
You did get (spray) lithium grease, right? You don't want a thin lubricant like WD40 or silicon in there because they will shear away pretty quickly. Also, don't go crazy on the lube. About a nickel to quarter sized amount sprayed around the bearings should do it.
I feel kind of bad after reading back through the posts and discovering that you have a 93 model and I was giving you input on fixing a 99+ model. Completely different engines! I would think checking the coil would be a logical step in diagnosing your issue. Since I don't know what part of the country you are located in, I can't help with store recommendations. Around here, unless it is a special order part, you can usually return a part if you don't damage it trying it out.
Thanks to all of the info here I saved a wad of cash on a new or reman distributor. I instead tore it down, cleaned everything with contact cleaner, and got a replacement bearing from local industrial supply place. After reassembling and reinstalliing the distributor, it fired up & ran with no missing.
Cleared all codes, and restarted, after a few mins the idle stepped up to 2500 rpm, then it would drop & climb repeatedly and the exhaust manifolds started to glow red. It also has plenty of volume exiting the tailpipe.
Shut it off, rescanned for codes and only have knock sensor code. I also recall a co-worker of my wife convincing her to try some water remover & injector cleaner...which she did on the way home from work the other day, problem is she was told to only mix additives into 1/2 tank of fuel instead of full tank.
When my knock sensor went out on my '99, the Check Engine Light came on immediately.
The other code that was thrown off when the knock sensor code came up for me was cylinder misfire, which would tie in with the knock sensor having to respond to the knock or ping caused by the pre-ignition.
I wound up replacing the sensor and three fuel injectors, but I'm not sure I trust that my mechanic shop really knew what they were doing with the injectors.
Intermittent problems can be a pain to trace down. Maybe you just have a poor connection somewhere, like going to the computer. Or maybe the engine computer has a flaky trace or component.
Beats me - anyone?
Steve, visiting host
My ideas are about tapped out. It sounds electrical to me, but that could mean anything from wires to sensors to replacing the whole distributor.
Maybe try asking over in Edmunds Answers - there are some good techs hanging out there and they'll come up with some different angles to think about.
This is not guaranteed to solve your problem but the job is not difficult to do. In your case I would also replace spark plugs, timing belt and flush fuel system but now we are talking about lots of money and still no guarantees.
Oh well, if new dizzy fixes it then I'm only out $15 for the bearing and a couple of hours of my time. At the minute cost of the bearing, it was worth a shot.
Something related to the timing or knock sensor was possibly damaged from operating it with the bad bearing I guess. Or those fuel additives were mixed too strong, maybe. :confuse: Next step is to fill the tank up and see if there are any changes after it gets diluted & circulating.
BTW, I may have a discounted nearly new distributor (cap & rotor never used) to get rid of in the near future.
I keep following this thread because I have a 99 Quest. I spent 2500 dollars on repairs last year and it's running fine now but I don't think I'll be sinking any more money on it if something else pops up. The book value is no more than 4k.
do you still have the distibutor for the nissan quest?
Side note -- radiator blew all over the place about two months ago -- possibly affected a sensor or something??
The van starts and runs fine, but intermittently just dies. It will run fine for weeks with no problem then just shut off while going down the road. Sometimes it will happen only once and at other times it will occur multiple in a day. It seems to be worse in summer. After the van has cooled down in as little as 10-15 minutes, it will restart.
At times there will be a slight shudder and others it isn't noticeable, it just quits.
It is pre 99, so the coil is outside the distributor, and he has had the ICM (ignition control module) replaced.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
specialist that it could be due to a small spring broken inside a pressure cumulator (valve). my villager 95 have that problem but
not sure on the know how to do that job and where to look inside the oil transmission pan, i think i could to do such repair by myself as normally i do, i just need some confirm and few tips !!
thanks !!
This sensor reads the temp and airflow for the computer and if there is a speck of dirt on it, it reads the info incorrectly relaying wrong info to the computer. The computer uses this info to regulate the gas flow and it gets all messed up.
He said that any time you change your air fliter you should always clean your MAF sensor also. It is located just beyond the airfliter housing, right on top of the engine and is simple to clean.
I cant believe I have driven this van this way for so long and all the money that was spent trying to fix the problem and all it was was this!!!
I have read many of the posts and multiple things could cause the engine to run rough but what would cause it to go from perfect to horrible so quickly?
Thanks for reading. Gene55