Keep burning distributors

KELLEY FITZGERALD

MEMBER
1999 NISSAN PATHFINDER
2WD
AUTOMATIC
194,111 MILES

In the past five months I have put a new distributor in it twice. The first time the car was bucking and jerking and we thought it was a miss. Changed all the spark plugs and the wires and it still did it. Took it to a mechanic and he put the distributor on it. About two months later it just died. All the dash lights came on and it would not turn over. It would crank but not turn. I had it towed to the mechanic and he put a new distributor on. Today the same thing happened. I had the last distributor replaced March 30. I had it towed to the mechanic and he put another distributor on.

What is causing these to go bad?

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,747 POSTS

Any time there is an electrical issue that causes things to burn out fast it's usually caused by a bad connection. When an electrical connection is weak, often times it causes an arc. An arc creates higher temps than what are expected. The result is it will burn out components. Also, a bad ground can do a similar type thing. Make sure the ground between the battery and the engine block is good, clean and tight.