what could it be?
Asked by R_P89 Mar 29, 2013 at 11:32 AM about the 1999 Nissan Altima GXE
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
My wife has a 99 nissan altima with 105, xxx miles on it. She was driving down a hill yesterday and the car
just all of a sudden died in motion. She made it into a parking lot barely. We called a tow truck and he
confirmed it wasn't the alternator by the way the car still tried to turn over. The car still has power and it
doesn't have the clicking sound when trying to turn on.
What could it be???
10 Answers
migration_judge_roy answered 11 years ago
the distributor goes wumpus on these on account of an oil leak near the distributor...had this with MY '94 Altima ran terrible, dead-headin' with the spark, even bent a rod with the misfire before I discovered this hidden treat, after I discovered the problem of the leaking oil above the distributor mended the leak, fitted it with the new one, and it was never the same after that....but ran ok~ look to the distributor says the guru!~
migration_judge_roy answered 11 years ago
you most assuredly have clean battery terminals and ground connection to the frame...if this hasn't been done and a fresh battery (newer then seven years) I'd wonder, but this needs to be done if we are to get a good take on what just happened here~
migration_judge_roy answered 11 years ago
hopefully this will not be a distributor out of whack, like on mine-
migration_judge_roy answered 11 years ago
I'd look at the little grommet above the distributor to see if oil is leaking onto the wires-
Battery terminals and ground connection are good with a brand new battery less than a month old. It sounds like it can't get gas flow to start up when trying to start it. Could the distributor have an affect on that?
migration_judge_roy answered 11 years ago
sound like a dead fuel pump. You could peel back the cover (located in the trunk) and test voltage to it...listen for the whine of it not on.
migration_judge_roy answered 11 years ago
as an in-tank pump needs to have gasoline in there to keep it cool. If it was run low=failure.
thank you for your time
migration_judge_roy answered 11 years ago
no not on yours, besides it's five years after and do suppose this oil leaking into critical components was addressed by '99....sorry for the false alarm, but your fuel pump is a suspect...think on these you can get it without havin' to drop the tank.
migration_judge_roy answered 11 years ago
you're quite welcome R_P89, have to celebrate this victory as at first came up with the wrong answer based on my since corrected Altima problem. so what's the story, she ran it down so the fuel pump couldn't cool, overheated and put you in the spot you're in now? or simple unexplained failure?~
