Nissan Repair: 99 quest knock sensor and distributor, knock sensor, nissan quest

Question
hello, i had problems with my 99 nissan quest recently and I was told the diag was to replace the distributor and knock sensor. the van has about 117000 miles, is this a common problem? should i have one repair done as oppose to both repairs? also van was running but tried recently and it did not start. is this the same problem or something else?

Answer
Matilda,

Yes, after 100K miles they both tend to fail.  Not a problem and I would have both done and be done with it.  The car should run for a good long time after you replace these.  The knock sensor keeps the engine from pinging, that hurts engine parts.  The distributor is what is probably causing the car not to run.  That would have to be replaced first.  But, the knock sensor needs to be replaced to restore gas mileage.  If the computer sees a bad knock sensor it retards timing and that hurts mileage.