20 Minutes and Kaput!

[NovaRally77]

I have a 1994, Nissan Altima GXE, it has the 2.4L Twin Cam 4 cylinder engine with a standard 5-speed tranny and the car has about 146000 miles on it. I have discovered that my car will not run when the motor gets up to operating temperature. It started when it began to get cold here and snowed for the first time. It wouldn't start at all. I have solved that problem and now that I have, it wont run for longer than 20 minutes. I can start it and not touch a thing, 20 minutes later it is dead. I have sat in it and watched the tach and temp gauges. Nothing out of the ordinary. It is just once it gets warm, which is about 20 minutes after it has been started, it dies. Once it dies, the engine will not start again until it has cooled down again. I am absolutely lost. Any Ideas? Please Help!

[Crunk_Altimas]

This is in the ball park but i had a similar problem once and come to find out it was a clogged air filter check it out goodluck

[NovaRally77]

Thanks for your post but i have replaced the air filter within the last 150 miles or so. I don't think that that would have anything to do with it. Thanks again!

[PEARL1]

those cars are known for crank sensors going bad, usually they just die and thats it, also maybe the ignition module, both of these are def sensitive to temperature when they are on their way out

good luck

[NovaRally77]

Thanks for your post! I have researched the "crank sensor" a little and found that it is a dealer part. Also I am a little confused as to what the part actually is. According to what I have found out, the part is inside the distributor and therefore, you must replace the distributor. The dealer says that it is actually called a "crank angle position sensor". Is this the case, or am I chasing the wrong part? Any further help would be appreciated.

[mechman58]

Hey, did you ever resolve this? I need help with same problem. I replaced the distributor and coil. Thanks, Tim