26th Mar 2010, 01:39

I recently bought a 1994 Altima with 125000 miles on it. Within the first 2 days, it overheated and I replaced the thermostat. A week later I tried to start the car after driving for a few hours or so, and it won't start. I hope it's the starter and not something worse. Also the temp gauge on the dash of the car bounces around, but never goes higher than halfway. How weird is that??

31st Jul 2010, 11:57

I have a 1994 Nissan Altima. Just replaced the distributor due to a crank no start problem. Now it starts, but only after I attempt to turn the engine over a couple times. Once it is running, it idles fine and I can slowly give it gas; fine, but if I accelerate hard or attempt to go uphill (which takes more fuel), the car wants to die, and will if I don't let off the pedal; could this be a weak fuel pump?

7th Sep 2010, 23:25

A friend of mine has a 1994 Altima. It starts fine and runs fine and when it warms up for 45 seconds it shuts itself off. I checked the alternator, it checks good and the fuel pump works. What can I do?

7th May 2011, 17:56

Just want to know what's wrong with my car.

4th Sep 2011, 10:43

It's definitely the distributor. I had the same problem, and it probably wouldn't hurt to buy a can of Seafoam..

3rd Dec 2011, 22:15

Does it have an egg odor; if it does, it sounds like a blown head gasket.

9th Mar 2012, 21:48

I've got a 94 Altima, and I can't seem to figure out if I should replace the ignition switch? It stays running when you shut it off, until you turn the key back to the on position. Someone help me please.

6th Dec 2012, 14:41

I have a 95 Altima. Does anyone know if the catalytic converter would cause the car to run rough and loud? I used the fuel system cleaner and I don't think that helped much.

3rd Jan 2013, 12:06

Check your engine mount. I had this problem. I replaced the intake manifold gasket with no result.

19th Jan 2014, 23:02

I have a 94 Nissan Altima. It was running awesome. I did an oil change regularly, but for 3 months it was turning off on me when stopping at a light or stop sign, but turned on right away. Now my car has started to make a whiny noise while idling, then today I drove it in the morning and it just did a whiny noise, but nothing else. But like 10 hours later I started it up and it was rattling/shaking like the engine was moving a lot. Oh, and I forgot that it started to tug/pull when I accelerate to 40 and up. Are these all separate issues, or are they all the same thing?

1st Jan 2015, 05:49

1994 Nissan Altima. 190k miles.

Had stalling issues. Also sometimes wouldn't start, especially when raining outside. Became more and more frequent, to the point where the car would no longer start.

Anyway, this one had gone through more than 5 (used and new) alternators in past 10 years. Aside from that, the stalling/no start problem was fixed by purchasing a different distributor. What I actually found was that sometimes there was spark, sometimes not, sometimes just at cylinder #3, very confusing.

After testing over and over, it then produced no spark at all on any of the 4 cylinders. However, there was spark coming from the coil. Also, about the spark at the coil, it only sparked when the 4 pin connector was connected to the (not working at the time) distributor. When not connected, there was no spark coming from the coil. Anyway, so there was spark from the coil to the distributor, but not at the spark plugs. That's how I figured out it was the distributor.

To make things more confusing, I replaced the distributor (used one at junkyard) and it would still not run! So I went ahead and bought yet another used one (Hitachi brand this time, at a junkyard, said it was re-manufactured) and the car fired right up!

So anyway, over past year I replaced the alternator and distributor, and the car runs fine. Except the RPM (tachometer) still doesn't work right. The engine runs fine and the RPM increases/decreases as needed, but the tachometer doesn't display it right. That's the only issue I still have to fix; I'm guessing it's an exposed wire somewhere?? Not sure though.

Anyway, I hope maybe this will help someone with similar problems.

Also, I would like to mention, with a car this old, check the vacuum lines, especially the line coming from the EGR pipe. It connects to like that saucer shaped part; mine had completely fallen apart/melted, and there was an exhaust smell often. I thought it was the exhaust manifold to pipe gasket, but after replacing it, the smell was still there. So be sure to check the EGR lines.

9th Jun 2018, 13:08

I have a 94 Altima GXE 5speed with 144xxx. It ran low on gas and died. I filled it up and it wouldn't start, so I had it towed home. I lost my tach, my dash clock, and lights, I've replaced the ECU, fuel pump, fuel filter, distributor, ignition coil, ignition control module and still no luck getting it running. If I go out on a normal day when the car is cold, it will start for about ten seconds, then just dies. I checked the power going to my coil and the power just stops like it's getting intermittent power. I've heard grounds so I cleaned the two on the intake, the one on the passenger strut tower and the two behind the passenger headlight assembly... Anyone have any ideas? I bought this car seven months ago and drove it for three weeks, and I've been dumbfounded time after time.