1995 Nissan Altima Weird Problem

You might want to suspect the crank angle sensor that sends the light pulse to initate firing the plugs. There's a seal on these early Altimas (maybe all 2.4L engines) that tends to let oil get in. The leaking oil obscures or partially obscures the little slots in a spinning disk so the light cannot be detected reliably by the sensor on the other side. One symptom is that they run well again after sitting awhile because the hot oil drains off the slots. My '94 Altima didn't have much of an intermittent phase, but a friend had one that was intermittent like yours for about six weeks. Nissan has a good supply of rebuilt units. Installed by Nissan three years ago I paid $675. But, I've heard much lower costs from independents.

"Orv" wrote in news:LKYUg.3282$V6.2395@fed1read06:

Thanks for the input, that would certainly explain it. I'd suspected the distributor seal because there was a lot of "funk" in the old distributor cap, but when I inspected the cam position sensor, the little slots were all clear.

I guess I'll pull it and inspect the seal.

Thanks again!

Not to argue but if the disc with the slit in the senson spins, centrifugal forces will keep it clean, unless there is a ton of oil sipping in.

On the other hand, the fact that when hot it stalls would lead me to believe it is an electrical problem, perhaps ignition wires, distributor cap full of rust, ignition coil.

Good luck

B> If I drive it until it's warmed up, it's like the timing goes all to hell.

when it is acting up try disconnecting the mass air flow meter in the air inlet hose and see if it is better if it seems ok then it may be a mass air flow sensor bad