Nissan Repair: skip, spark plug wires, phillips screws


Question
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Followup To
Question -
I own a 1994 nissan sentra. I am experiencing a skip or stutter at 40-45mph or so. I have replaced the rotor and cap. I put gasahol in the tank to see if it was water in the tank. No success. Any suggestions?
Answer -
It should be the distributor.  There is an optical pickup in the distributor that gets oil on it whent he distributor shaft seal fails.  If you are mechanically inclined remove the distributor cap and rotor and the cover that is under these.  Two phillips screws hold the cover on and there is one that holds the top of the shaft on.  Once these are removed you can see if there is oil on the disc that spins betweent he LED pickup and sender.  If there is oil in there the distributor is bad.  Ones at the wrecking yard will be ready to fail so you have to go for a rebuilt.  Aftermarket units go for $300 and Nissan wants $500.  I went the Nissan route and it came with a cap and rotor already installed and I was back on the road in less than an hour.

Any chance this could be from spark plug wires, ignition coil, brain(computer)? The stutter is very mild and seems to be specific in these MPH 35-45. Thank you very much for your time and Merry Christmas.

Answer
I need you to define stutter?  If the car is bucking at this speed have you taken the car out of overdrive?  If it still does it with the overdrive off I would still say the distributor.  You could check the wires but the problem is if the car is going to sputter at this speed and not below or above it is probably not the cap or wires as the faster the car is driven the more the coil or secondary electrical fields would break down.  Does the car run bad above the speeds you indicate?  The easy way is to take the cap and rotor off and take the cover off the distributor and see if it has oil on the optical disc.