Altima won't stay running, it dies after few minutes

I have a 97 Altima (early 97 i think, the same as 96), and yesterday all of a sudden the car died. I had to tow the car home. I checked the distributer and it had some oil in it, so i replaiced it with a brand new one. I started the car and everything was kind of fine. after few mins it died. Then i opened that (new) distributer and it looks fine, then I checked the spark that was coming from the coil to the distributer, and no spark, then i went beck to shop and bought the damn coil for 150.00 i put everything back together and checked the spark from coil everything is ok, then the car stated just fine, and again after few minutes of running it died. i checked the coil for spark and no spark, does any one have any idea what might be wrong witht the car? is the problem happening when the car heats up? looks like it worked when it was cold, this is driving me nuts. i do not know what might be the problem when the distributer and coil is fine still no spark???
any help will be appreciated.
Thanks

i forgot to mention that after it dies it will not start back up....

I guess no one here has experienced this kind of problem,
i am very frustrated, the Pep Boys could not even fix it, they told me to go to dealer...i can't beleive it...

Did you try the igniotion switch? My daughter-in-law has the same problem and is thinking of Pep Boys as well.

I had the same problem. I got the spark plugs changed and the distriburator replaced and the car is running now.

Apparently ... this is becoming more and more common as i read the forums. I also had the same problem, where the car would run great until the engine warms up. As soon as it warms up, the car begins to sputter and miss firing. It will then shut off.... Once cool again it will run great ... till it warms back up. My problem was fixed by replacing :

1. Replacing Distributor
2. Replacing Crank Sensors

My mechanic mentioned something about changing the computer, but i think that was BS ... Along the line i replaced the MAF sensor... But you can easily tell when that goes bad. The car will just start sputtering ... from the time you start the engine.

(JUST A WARNING ... AFTER MARKET INTAKES FOR 93-97 ALTIMAS DONT HAVE A SPOT FOR THE TEMP SENSOR, ONCE YOU INSTALL THE INTAKE, IT WILL WORK PROPERLY FOR ABOUT 2-3 WEEKS, THEN THE CAR WILL START MISSING AND IT WILL EVENTUALLY STALL.... SO DONT FORGET TO PROPERLY MOUNT THE TEMP SENSOR )

If you'r still having a problem... hit me up
Goodluck

-G-
_____

I had the same problem. I got the spark plugs changed and the distriburator replaced and the car is running now.

not saying it is your problem but the intake gaskets are a common failed part , in theory as the car warms up the metal expands causing a unmetered air source the ecm tries to compensate but goes into fail safe . so this is how to check for intake leak 1. use a piece of card board about the size of the valve cover and hold it between the valve cover and the top of the fuel rail this for your protection dont want to hit spark plug wires .get a can of carb cleaner and spray at intake runners if engine starts to die down than the intake is not sealed

Hey guy! I hope you resolved your Altima issue as I have the same problem with 97 manual trans. I changed the distributor and coil and my fuel system checks out OK when hot. Can you help? Thanks