I have a 98 JX 2.5 vert that started to have some intermittent hesitation at low speed with acceleration but was running ok today driving home I lost all power and car started to jerk and act like it was trying to go but couldn't! I had to pull into a parking lot to pull over and car was barely moving with the pedal all the way to the floor!! loud put put from the muffler and after I cut the car off and tried to start it again the engine shook terrible! Car is trying to turn over but wont start now! Could this be a bad fuel pump or clogged filter? Please help!!!

 

sounds like the distributor assembly.

 

Hopefully whatever went out threw some codes as it died. Have them read.

 

I dont know because I've never seen an engine light come on or anything with the car! I have someone looking at it today so I hope they figure it out and it's not anything majorly wrong!!

 

What exactly is a dist assembly and what would go wrong with it to make my car lose all power like it's not getting gas?

 

The Distributor assembly is a single unit where all of your spark plugs wires come together and connect to a plastic cap. The plastic cap is attached to a metal piece. The metal piece is the distributor assembly. It houses your coil (which generates the spark) and your camshaft position sensor (one of the parts that tells your computer when to fire the spark). No spark, or badly timed spark will cause your car to do that. It can only be replaced as a unit. A simple repair, but I couldn't find one for less than about $420.00. (The dealer wanted around $800.00)

There are other things it can be though, so have a competent shop take a look.

 

I had a jetta that kinda did this. At idle rpm speed the car would shake. then driving down the highway at night, my lights shut off and came back on, off again then all electronics and instrument panel went off and the car shut down. then the car wouldnt start again. My problem was an alternator that went bad so my battery was just completely dead and wasn't charging while driving. dunno if you have the same issue.

 

I once had an alternator with a short in it that didn't register on the ammeter, kept the battery charged, and didn't turn on the idiot light in the car (1984 Omni) . It's been a while so I forget the exact list of problems I had getting the car smogged one year, but they were many, and markedly similar to your description. However, at night I just so happened to notice a slight arcing in the alternator. I replaced it and ALL of the problems with that car were fixed.

Ya never know...

Good luck