Was driving to school today on the freeway when the "Check Engine" light comes on, the engine starts to buck and skip, and I immediately take the next exit in neutral and coast to a safe spot. Pop the hood, check all my spark plug wires, and make sure they're seated on the distributor. Try to fire it up again, and it cranks for a few seconds, catches briefly, then sputters out.
Car has 261k+ miles on it, but the distributor was replaced in 2011 after it disintegrated on me... on the freeway.
Car had a fresh tank of gas, battery is fine, alternator's going out, but not gone yet. Need to swap it soon, though.

Should I check the distributor first, or should I look at some other component of the engine?

 

did you check the codes on the ECU?

 

Honestly, I haven't had an opportunity yet, and the engine has run fine when cold twice since the incident. Would the codes still be logged in the ECU?

 

yes, the codes stay in the ECU until it is reset by removing power to it