Distributor woes

[nissan4x4]

My 88 pathfinder wont start and we think it's the distributor, i have a replacement for it off of ebay. but im really hesitent to take it out for ive heard alot of people say it messes the timing up if you take it out, and dont put it back exactley right.im wondering if the electronic part i could swap out of it instaed of taking the whole thing out or is that what causes it?

[Simon]

Just take it out. It's really simple. Either mark, or take a picture of the rotor position on the old one BEFORE you take it out, but after you have the cap off. Also make note of the distributor's rotational position near the adjustment screw. It's on the right side of the distributor, looking at it from the front of the truck, and is also the screw that holds the whole thing in.

 

Once you've got the old one out, swap the rotor to the new distributor, and install so that the rotor points to the same place it did when the old distributor was in there. Then line up the distributor with the block and tighten down the adjustment screw. For this part, if you have a timing light, you can leave the adjustment screw a little loose, and use the light to set the timing while turning the distributor. When you've got that set, tighten down the screw.