1994 Nissan Altima GXE from North America - Comments

The distributor is a constant issue with the 2.4L motor. the O-ring in the head tends to go bad causing oil to get into the distributor.

The fuel injectors also have a problem when the o-rings go bad over time causing the motor to flood itself.

The center console armrest is very uncomfortable because of it being made out of plastic and not being padded.

The car is very comfortable to drive.

The automatic trans is a little sluggish if you want a quick response from the car, but overall I have never had any problems with it.

The car is very quick however at the 150hp rating at the crank for a 4door family car made back in the early 90's.

May I ask what did you do about your distributor problem?

Yes, I'd also like to know whether Nissan admitted any repair liability or fix for this seemingly common problem of the o ring leaking or going bad on the Altima?

Also, is there only one o ring on the entire distributor?

Is there anyway one can access an entire schematic of a distributor from one of these items?

Is there anywhere I could get a pictorial instruction on how to change this o ring. I have an actual Nissan Factory manul and there isn't even a picture of the distributor in the entire 500 page manual. Not even a mention of how to change this o ring, or even a hint that this could lead to a problem.

Also have problem with the distributor "o" ring. Can't seem to find a a parts list in order to ask for correct part. Vehicle has over 140,000 miles on it and drives great. Need to fix the oil leak from the distributor.

This seems to be a common problem.

I have looked at various car repair books, among them Chiltons, Haynes, and even an actual black bindered 1996 GXE Altima FACTORY manual about this problem. There is no mention of this O ring problem, let alone a repair tactic. Is this an Altima dirty little secret?

Is Nissan offering FREE repair for this?

I wonder... Does anybody know where I can even attempt to find a picture of a stripped down or pictorial of the physical breakdown of a

1996 Nissan Altima distributor with the actual location of these o rings and how to change them? Anybody?

In most cars a PCV is easy to replace, but not in the 1994 Altima. It hides at the back of the engine. It is very difficult to reach, even harder to replace. In my opinion the PCV location and the distributor are bad designs.

Worse than anything I have read on this page, Nissan Altima has a very bad cylinder head material/ design. I have fixed a few Nissan Altima from 1993 to 1997 model year to find burned cylinderhead. Many case, the aluminum gap between the 2 exhaust valve totally melt. The melting section makes the valve seat to be dislocate to create a lot of leak through gap bt valve and valve seat.

Pull out the disributor, take off the old o ring and put on a new one. Slide the distributor back in and you're done. Make sure its facing in the same exact location though.

I got a new distributor with a lifetime guarantee for the same price as a rebuilt one that I could find locally. The distributor actually uses an electronic part to time the engine. Incidentally there are seals inside and outside which most individuals cannot replace because of the needed tools. I kept my 96 Altima running by using an electronics plastic safe spray cleaner and let it dry thoroughly for about an hour before using the car. Three days later the part to arrived and I installed it.

Oh my God what is happening to my Altima!

I own a 1997 Nissan Altima automatic with 135k miles.

Recently FOR no reason, it started all these weird symptoms associated with stalling and no start.

After the ritualistic spark plug wire, spark plug, air filter, oil filter, gas filter change happened (I did it myself), I brought it to the mechanic who told me there was weak or no spark, and that I needed a distributor

A new one from Nissan is 485 dollars plus 85 for the install!

Is it true that I could have changed an o-ring myself for 5 dollars, and saved myself 700 dollars!

I also looked at the actual Nissan Factory manual, and THERE IS NO PICTURE OF O RINGS OR DISCUSSION OF O RINGS FAILING OR OIL IN THE DISTRIBUTOR DISCUSSION.

IS THIS A REAL PROBLEM THAT IS HIDDEN WITH 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 NISSAN ALTIMAS?

HAVE THERE BEEN RECALLS TO REPLACE THIS OR REMEDY THIS PROBLEM FROM NISSAN THAT I HAVE NOT KNOWN ABOUT!

I am extremely upset and would like to hear from a mechanic or two to let me know the truth about this.

If this 5 dollar part causes so much problems, how many tens of thousands of people have been swindled?

I'd like to know if it is possible for someone with some mechanical knowledge to remove the distributor and replace the o-ring, but most importantly the correct procedure to determine if a distributor is indeed bad?

Also since the same engine is in all the 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 Nissan Altimas, do they all take the same distributor?

I had the same problem with a 1996 Nissan Altima. It started missing, died, and then wouldn't start (this was in a parking lot). Came back the next day... it started and ran well enough to get home. The car would run sort-of okay for about 20-30 minutes, then start missing a bunch, die, and not start.

It was indeed the distributor. My brother and I took it out, took the rotor off (and the plastic cap under it). There was a whole lot of oil in there. We did see the O-Ring on the shaft, but couldn't see how that could possibly be letting all the oil in. Seems like it was something else internal. Bought a distributor at the parts store for about 150, and put that in. Runs great now.

It was actually fairly easy to replace. Just keep track of which way the rotor's pointing. Didn't have to set any timing in our case.

This post may come too late for some nevertheless I thought of sharing with all of you..

Oil in distributor is a very common problem in Nissan Altima. There is a very cheap solution for this:

Items Needed:

1 Box wrench

1 10mm socket

1 Distributor O-ring set (easily procured from Auto-shops for less than $5.00)

3-4 Tissue papers

short neck Philips screwdriver.

Total Time: 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Procedure:

- Towards the right side (yours facing the open hood) of the engine you can see a black box from where ignition cables run to the spark plugs - that's the distributor cap

- Remove the cap by unscrewing 2 or 3 screws (you may have to remove the ignition wire coming from the ignition coil to the distributor to get access to one of the screws)

- You will see the distributor head, there is a screw that you need to remove to remove it from the axle (sometimes it may not be in a position so that the screw is easily accessible and needs to rotate the camshaft. The quickest way to do this it by just trying to start off your car until you see the screw however make sure that you have removed the ignition wire between distributor and ignition coil and is out of your way. The other way is to rotate the crankshaft which can be easily googled out)

- Remove the 2 screws (or 3) holding the distributor to the engine body

- Now slowly, but with persistent tries pull out the distributor from the engine (you may need to twist n turn a bit to remove the distributor)

- Open the black cover on the distributor and be ready with

tissue papers to absorb all the oil collected in the distributor

- Thoroughly clean the distributor using the tissue paper and ensure that there is no more oil or gunk on the camshaft position sensor disk (the slotted disk).

- using a sharp knife, cut the gasket on the shaft of the distributor (remember there may be 2 more gaskets, 1 on the cover of the distributor and 2nd between the distributor and distributor cover. Handle carefully and clean them too)

- Match the size of the old o-ring with the new one

- Installation is reverse of dismantling process mentioned above.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

1. During this entire exercise, the engine should be cool

2. Ignition wire between distributor and ignition coil should be removed and in case you plan to crank up the engine, ensure that the open terminals are far from you

3. Do not crank up or change the position of the camshaft. In case you do then you need to go through an elaborate process of finding the correct position which is beyond the scope of this discussion.

Hope this helps you save your hard earned money by avoiding the entire distributor replacement and labor costs of the mechanic.

- Aseem

It is very useful for me. I just get the same problem. I spent CAD$350 to change my distributor one and half year ago.

Few days ago start to loss power during high way driving. Taking to the mechanic, he told me have to change distributor again. Oh my god.

Open it and find some oil inside.

My question is what size O-ring it is and what kind of, so I can get it back before I open to fix it by meself.

Thanks for your information.