My 2000 Altima's engine sputtered then died on me. This is the story...I was at a stop sign and the engine and steering wheeling started to sputter. Then as I pulled up to my friends apartment, the engine continued to sputter then there was the smell of gasoline in the air and then the engine shut down. When I took it to a local shop they got the car started but there was a lot of white smoke coming from the exhaust and the smell of gas was still there. So after waiting a few hours at the shop the mechanic told me that it was the distributor cap and hoses and spark plugs were causing the problem. The car started fine, no white smoke, and no more gas smell. I paid a little over 400 bucks to get it fixed. I here writing to see if they did the right thing to repair my car.

Has anyone have the sputtering engine and gas smell coming from the car? Should I have anything else checked out on the car? What caused this? I would like to know that I'm not the only one. Any of your suggestions and replies are helpful, thanks.

 

Sounds reasonable. They replaced the stuff you mentioned and now it runs OK. The sputtering was probably mostly caused when the distributor cap gave out. (called arcing between the electrodes) White smoke is usually a sign of water (antifreeze) getting into the engine somehow. So, maybe that's the hoses they replaced? As for the plugs, it probably needed them.

Hope that helps,

Brad