I have a 2003 Xterra with a 3.3L engine. It has about 100k miles and was running fine and it shut off while driving and now it cranks over but will not start. The rotor in the distributor spins and there is spark so the timing belt is fine. Fuel pump is pumping fuel at least to the fuel rail at what seems to be a adequate flow though I have not verified rail pressure. The engine will temporarily fire if starting fluid is used but dies out immediately after. When using a DMM to check injector pulse I would see a spike of 8v when turning the key to on, it would then settle back to zero. While the engine cranks the DMM will alternate between approx 0V and 1.5V. (this seems low to me so....) I also wired a light bulb to the injectors mating plug and it did not light up at all when cranking the engine over. ( homemade noid light) After taking the distributor cap and rotor off, the dist shaft did not seem to have any play in it nor could I see any shrapnel from a ruined bearing so I do not think that the dist bearing is bad. I have checked all fuses and they all seem to be fine. Currently I am thinking that either the cam pos sensor in the dist is bad or I have a problem with the PCM module. Is the sensor in the distributor replaceable or would the whole dist have to be replaced as a unit? I read that distributors are a common problem on these vehicles but it seemed to be more shaft/bearing oriented more than sensor related. My problems seem to mimic the guy on the thread linked below, I would like to avoid the ~ 300 dollar cost of a new remanufactured dist if possible. Does anyone have any additional suggestions? thanks
http://www.clubxterra.org/forums/showthread.php?t=35895
http://www.clubxterra.org/forums/showthread.php?t=35895