I HAVE A 1999 NISSAN SENTRA WITH 80,000 MILES. I RECENTLY GAVE IT A FULL TUNE-UP AND CHANGED THE DISTRIBUTOR. I ALSO BOUGHT A BRAND NEW BATTERY ALL WITHIN 3 MONTHS. EVERY NOW AND THEN MY CAR IS GIVING ME ROUGH STARTS. WHEN I TURN THE KEY IT WILL REV LIKE 4 OR FIVE TIMES THEN KICK OVER AND START. SOMETIMES IT WILL PUTTER A LITTLE, THEN START. DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT MY BE. ALSO, THEY DO USE NGK SPARK PLUGS FOR THE TUNE-UP. THIS PROBLEM IS NOT PERSISTENT. IT IS EVERY NOW AND THEN. DO YOU THINK IT COULD BE THE STARTER. SOMEONE CHECKED TO SEE IF MY ALTERNATOR IS CHARGING PROPERLY AND IT IS! THANKS IN ADVANCE GUYS!

TONY

 

Relax with the CAPS.

your altenator might not be holding charge or the starter is going bad.

 

Might be your battery. If you have dead cells in that, then even though you're alternator is recharging the battery while you drive, over time the dead cells lose their stored charge and will give you a rougher start. I'd take my car to the local Autozone or a decent mechanic and have them check the battery first, before bothering with the starter. A hint that this might be true is if you notice that the intermitent time when the car fails to start is when the car has been sitting for a longer period of time... ie.. starting the car after going to the mall for a couple of hours, versus letting the car sit over night.

Just my $0.02

 

Are you trying to say that your car is starting and then stalling back out because that's what it sounds like you are trying to say. Your starter is cranking fine, right? It's very hard to say what is exactly going on without being there or a better description. If you replaced those things that you said and your car is stalling out (like I think that you said), then it could be any number of things. Did you gap the plugs properly? You might have a bad or dirty idle air control motor. Any number of sensors could be shot - o2 sensor, mass airfllow sensor, or especially temp. sensor which a lot of people overlook (example: it might be telling the ECU that it is -300 degrees causing the motor to run extemely rich). Are you getting a check engine light? Sorry, but I really can't be of any more assistance without more information.