I was going to hijack another thread, but decided to start a new one. On Saturday my xterra started running really crappy. I made it home, but it died in my driveway.

I checked here on the site to see if anybody had any Ideas, and the consensus seems to be the distributor. well I dropped it off at the shop, because I wasn't sure enought to drop $300 on a distributor and that not be the cause.

They called me today and said they got all sorts of different codes, like NOC sensor and such. They said it is the distributor. They opened up the distributor and said that some of the internal bearings are missing completely and there is all sorts of metal shavings inside. They are going to replace the distributor and I should be good to go.

My question is how did that happen? is this something that just happens all the sudden or is it gradual? Is there something else wrong that would cause this to happen? I just got this truck about 3 weeks ago, and now I think I know why I got a good deal on it.

Funny. Same thing happened to me on Saturday. We were driving around Houston and the thing started bucking, and then it died on the freeway. I had to rent a uhaul trailer and tow the thing back home to college station. I bought a good code reader and pulled the codes on it. I'm getting:

P0325 - Knock Sensor 1
P0340 - Camshaft Position Sensor (pending)
P0325 - Knock Sensor 1 (Pending)
P0300 - Random/Multiple cylinder Misfire Detected (pending)

Pending means the computer detected it, but not enough times to actually trip the Check Engine Light. I have no idea why I'm getting a normal P0325 and a pending one as well.

Anywho, the kicker here is the P0340 - Camshaft Position Sensor. The camshaft position sensor is built into your distributor. There is a metal disk with 360 tiny holes in it that spins. An LED light shines through the holes and a sensor reads the flashes and determines the position of the camshaft that way. So I'm ordering me a new distributor today.

Now my story doesn't exactly match up with yours. I took pics of the distributor, and didn't see any visible problems, except the O-Ring is pretty bad. Here they are:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/weirich_j/Xterra/Dizzy/DSC_0006.jpg

You can see the metal disc with the holes in it here:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/weirich_j/Xterra/Dizzy/DSC_0005.jpg

I did have some black looking debris on the gear when I pulled it out:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/weirich_j/Xterra/Dizzy/DSC_0002.jpg

The Mechanic showed me mine when I picked up the truck yesterday. It was pretty screwed up. the shaft wouldn't even spin. He told me he was surprised that I made it in to the shop.

I ended up paying $540 for the repairs. I know I could have got the part cheaper and did it myself, but I wasn't sure enough what the problem was to fix it. also I don't know how to do the timing. my local auto parts store only had a refurb distributor for $300 so I wouldn't have saved that much anyway. I never knew it was so expensive to fix import vehicles. I have only always had GM. the part on my old truck would have been $60.

FYI, my new distributer came in today from Advance Auto. Brand new with a lifetime warranty for $300. I got it installed and it started right up like a champ.

they sell for under $200 on ebay new. mine is on its way out. have to order soon.

i think nissan bought some cheep bearing for the dist and now we are paying the price i think you did the right thing and got a after market dist instead of oem it should be the end of the problem.

Same issue on 2000 3.3L; 245K miles on OEM Hitachi distributor; cleaned metal shavings out - problem went away and returned intermittently; extremely rough idle to no-run conditions; replaced distributor - problem gone for over four weeks now with daily usage; research the ebay sites carefully; I'm told there are some compatibility issues with certain aftermarket types on the 3.3L application; I ordered mine from FCP Groton; pretty good service with phone customer service and fast shipping; possibly free in some cases.

well i had to do the same thing guys. i got my dist. from ebay for 183 brand new. my only problem now is trying to get it running right. It is chocking out bad at 3 grand now.