1994 Nissan Altima DOA...Please help.

How do you know you have no compression?

I shouldn't say I know but I had it towed to my muffler/break/exhaust technician, he's quite knowledgable abot cars overall, races his own etc, so I am assuming that he knows what he is doing and he has told me that there was zero compression and required more knowledge of the internal engine workings than he had. Do you have any recommendations? My dad has a couple of differnt types of compression testers he uses on his snowmobiles so I could check it myself. Trouble si it would need yet another tow...3 and counting! lol! Any thougts?

Well if the crank is turning and the cam is turning it should have some compression. If you take the oil fill cap off can you see the cam? I'd be skeptical of what the muffler guy says. Not that he's necessarily wrong, but I wouldn't take it as gospel either. How many miles on it?

Approximatley 130 000. I will have a look if I can see the cam, from recollection I cannot but I will check. Is there more than 1 timng chain? Is it possible 1 broke and 1 is ok?

When you crank the engine does the tachometer move ?

probably has a bad distributor, VERY common on the U13U series Altima

That's exactly what I was thinking. He should be getting a check engine light too, but he didnt mention it.

CD

I have not been able to get a check engine light or any other readings per se as I cannot get it to start. As for the tachometer it too stays still as I cannot seem to get it rotating. Is there a way to check the distributor? What can I try or check next? Thanks in advance for all of the advice.

You can turn the key to the "run" position and get the code by making the ECU go into morse code mode, so to speak. The engine does not have to be running.

Also, open the distirbutor up, if there is oil in it, then it is 90% confirming that the distributor is shot.

The common problem with these Altimas, the 1993 to 97 version, I had a

96, is that the distributor and cam position sensor are one unit being driven by the exhaust cam. Over a long time, > 100 K miles, the seal that keeps oil from leaking from the exhasut cam area into the distributor/cam sensor breaks down. Oil gets in and mucks up the cam sensor electronics and eventually killing timing altogether.

Replacing the entire distirbutor (which also replaces the cam postion sensor built into it) fixes it.

CD

Thank you kindly for the great advice. I truly appreciate it.

One more thing, is there a specific way to generate the codes or how to count them? Long flash, short flash etc?

One more thing and this may help me better understand, is there 2 belts that drive the engine? Is it possible the belts and rotor spin from one chain but another that drives the cam etc?

I believe there's 2 for the KA24DE motor. One big chain driven by the crank and connected to the intake cam, the other a small chain connecting the intake cam to the exhaust cam.

CD

Actually there's one chain driven by the crank that drives an idler sprocket, and another chain connected to that that drives both cams. So if either chain broke, the camshafts would not turn.

To the OP, I would pull the dist. cap off, check the position of the rotor, and then go crank the engine for a split second. The go and check the rotor position again and see if it moved. Or, get someone to crank the engine over while you watch the rotor. If it's turning then the chains would have to be OK.

I would vote with the two guys who suggested the cam angle sensor having oil covering the little slots that tell the plugs when to fire. It is commonly referred to as the distributor for the entire thing. I've seen it fail without warning at 90,000 on my '94 and the engine cranked as if it had no compression - probably because it was not firing on the compression strokes. Nissan diagnosed it in 20 mnutes and had me back on the road in two hours with a rebuilt. I've also seen it fail on a friend's '95 but it was intermittent for about six weeks. Two small shops changed many other components before someone suggested the cam angle sensor and that one was fixed in a couple hours also. As the two other guys said, those early Altimas are well known for this problem and taking it to a shop that can definitively check it out would be my recommendation.

Thanks to everyone for all of the advice and reccomendations, as soon as I have a few extra bucks, next week, I'll have it towed to Nissan for the diagnostics as suggested, in the meantime I will have a look for the cams moving, I have tried the rotor spin and in fact it does spin, but I have not checked the cams for movement. Again, many thanks.