95 altima wont start

Hi, I have a 95 Nissan Altima 2.4. Over the past few days when I went to start the car is misfired pretty bad and after running for a few seconds it smothed out. Yesterday on my way home I stopped at a gas station and when I went to start it up it would not start. I when back and tested for gas. There was plenty of gas. I pulled the coil wire of the distributer and tested it for spark by putting a phillips screw driver in the end of the coil wire and touching it to metal and it showed no spark when it was turning over. I'm going to order a ignition coil I guess(which will be easy to replace but expensive). I was wondering if anyone has had the same problems? What they did. Can I take the coil to a nissan dealer and have it tested. I called a nissan dealer and they said that is was probably a intake gasket or my distibutor. I can see why they might think that but it doesn't explain why there is no spark coming for the ignition coil. Did I test the coil correctly. Do you know of a better way to test the coil? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, JON

Change the distributor, they have a seal in them that leaks oil, core charge is high, Autozone usually has them in stock