Nissan Repair: transmission question+, mass airflow sensor, crank sensor

Question
QUESTION: My 1999 Nissan pathfinder is starts to jerk while I'm driving on the road. The vehicle starts fine and accelerates normal but after say several miles of driving or about 2-3mins on the road, It starts to get jerky and then I have to slow down.  Sometimes it just dies out when I sit idle at a yield or slow down for parking.  Does this have to do with my fuel injection?  what do I have to do to fix this problem.  Thank you

ANSWER: Marie,

A couple of things that can cause your problem.  One is a distributor, with oil on the optics, that fire the plugs and the other is the mass airflow sensor.  The distributor is easy to diagnose as all that has to be done is the distributor needs to be disassembled and inspected for the presence of oil.  The mass airflow sensor would have to be diagnosed using a digital volt ohm meter.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Von, Thank you for the answer- as I had a certified mechanic look over my car and as you said, 3 things came up in the diagnostics.  The distributor, the 02 airflow sensor, and the crank sensor.  He opened/inspected and cleaned the distributor and it car seem to run good for 2 days, then the problem re-occured only worse this time to where the vehicle was losing acceleration (no speed) even when pressing on the gas, to where it kept slowing, died out & finally ditched me on the road. Tried to start vehicle again but did not want to crank over.  (had to call tow truck) When I got vehicle to mechanics house, tried to start vehicle again, and this time it started.  What do I do next after we change the distributor (cap/router/wires) plugs are new.  What what caused it to have no power to go? or is this another problem? Still jerking.

Answer
Marie,

If the distributor was only cleaned have him inspect it again for oil on the optics.  If there is oil replace the distributor with a rebuilt unit.  No spark is triggered by the optical shutter wheel getting coated.  As a result  the sparkplugs do not fire and it cust out and eventually dies.