engine shut down 1995 Nissan Altima
Asked by Cutlass_2319 Feb 19, 2017 at 08:17 PM about the 1995 Nissan Altima GXE
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
1995 Nissan Altima. Sometimes it runs good and sometimes it is scary.
Mileage: 68,000 miles. Trans: automatic. Not original owner. Occasionally, the
car will quit on me during a long drive as well as a short drive or even at a
stop. Sometimes, it will restart right away and at other times, much much
longer. At times, at the first start of the day, it wouldn't start. Idle is not rough
or sporadic at any rpm. Temperature gauge shows no overheating. What the
mechanic did find is that the connector wire to the distributor was badly shot. I
replaced it with an aftermarket with still no difference. Mechanic suggested
replacing distributor, which I haven't done yet. I am aware of oil leaking into the
distributor, I checked and found no evidence. Did not check any of the fuel
system components. The only thing I did do was an ignition tune-up. What
shall I do next.
6 Answers
I would check the fuel system... Had an old Rabbit and the fuel filter got all messed up and it was difficult to resolve because it was not consistently failing. Despite only having 68,000 miles ( how do you know this is the valid mileage?), the "time factor" is more against you than anything else. The car is over 21 years old and even if it had only 5,000 original miles, you'd still be experiencing problems. Cars are meant to be driven and exercised and the lack of use even in your particular case is extreme. That's about 3,500 miles per year or less than 250 per month...! Extremely hard to believe . I don't know what you paid for this car, or if you wanted it to be your "daily driver" , but, from what I've learned keeping a couple of cars for almost 20 years, it's not a good idea....Even if you purchased it brand new like I did with my 1995 Honda Accord... Great car, but, the last 5 years was too much... Hopefully you can find a good mechanic. Nissan Altima's are not as easy to maintain as old Honda's, they're much more inconsistent. If you keep this as a weekend or Sunday car, this would be your best bet. At this point, I would definitely NOT advise you to take the car "out of town". Good luck.
Cutlass_2319 answered 7 years ago
I hardly could be believe the mileage myself when I looked at the car. Probably got hooked with the same ole line, "my mama's car" and when a good detailing job. It was intended to be a secondary or weekend use. After reading horror stories on this model, donating was on my mind but want to give one more shot. I believe I have a good mechanic, I trust his judgement. He's an old school hot rodder. Now, you are referring to the fuel filter in the engine compartment and not the fuel pump in the fuel tank....is that correct. I watched a video on Youtube and it showed I had to do several things first before removing the fuel filter. Can't be certain but something about relieving the pressure. Anyways, will double check before attempting to remove it. Thanks for your opinion.
Cutlass_2319 answered 7 years ago
Replaced fuel filter but now the engine shuts down after about a minute.
Your going to save a lot of time and aggravation by taking this car to a professional mechanic.... Could be your entire fuel system delivery, computer, ECU, any possible issue. Good luck.
You "believe" that you have a good mechanic? If you took the car to him already and he could not tell you "EXACTLY" what was wrong, he's a terrible diagnostician.
I had an old mechanic who used me a few times as a guinea pig, fixing things by trial and error.... But, little things kept cropping up and one day he said, " my car could not be fixed!". That was the biggest baloney story ever. I fired him and found a fantastic person who always knows what to do.... Do you see what I mean???
