engine is running rough and sputtering

Change fuel filter and get the fuel pressure tested, running low to often can over heat internal pumps and cause failure.

Are you referring to the fuel pump? If so how accessible is it, I would like to do this myself!

Check pressure first, no value in changing the pump if the fuel pressure is ok, you may just have a blocked filter, do the simple things first.

Thank you.

I had the car looked at by a mechanic who said i needed a new distributor cap so i got the wires and the cap repkaced the car starts up fine but if i stop at a light it will cut off i think the wir wss are not in place correctly i need help it ran fine before this repair
Help

Hi:
If the wires were not properly installed, you will have a constant misfire or it wouldn't run. I attached a pic below that shows the proper firing order and where the wires go.

Next, since the vehicle was worked on, I suspect something was bumped or left disconnected creating an engine vacuum leak, which would cause the idle issue. Here is a link that explains how to find a vacuum leak. Do this if the wires are correct.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-an-engine-vacuum-gauge

Make sure the air intake from the air box is properly attached and nothing is unplugged. Also, here is a link that explains common causes of a stall at idle.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/stall-at-idle

Let me know what you find or if you have other questions.

Take care,
Joe

Engine Performance problem
2000 Nissan Xterra 6 cyl Two Wheel Drive Automatic

My xterra runs terrible (cant make it up hills) after warm up. At first I thought it was a clogged fuel filter because it was behaving like it was starved for fuel. I replaced the feul filter then the cap, plugs, and plug-wires. Still runs really rough after warm upl

Why is my car running so poorly now. Just happened yesterday....no prior problem. Runs good cold and then starts running rough as it gets warm and then shakes and hardly has power when warm??? No codes showing when scanned.

I had a similar problem. Truck would misfire and rough idle after engine was warm. Same knock sensor code.

I had a distributor bearing that failed in the distributor rotor. When engine was cool, the rotor was moving in all the thick grease so no problem. Once engine warmed up, the grease thinned out and truck was surging, cutting off, rough idle, extreme heat in exhaust.

Mechanic said the rotor looked like a rats nest of metal shavings from the failed bearings and washer.

Replaced distributor cap, distributor rotor, spark plugs, and wired. ($1100 total) Now I need to replace the valve cover gaskets since the intense heat melted the gasket and is causing a minor oil leak.

Heat was caused from the misfiring, which opened the injectors, causing them to dump huge loads of fuel into the cylinder. All that gas caused the temperature to skyrocket. Fortunately, I did not ruin the Cat converters with the heat.