car problems

[Marco Canta]

hey guys,

my 97 se-r failed to start in my garage 2 days ago.
AAA figured it was my starter so we push started it to
get to the dealer.  the dealer replaced the starter
and also found that the front brakes needed replacing
for a total of $570.

well last night as i was driving home from a car wash,
my car stalls on a busy intersection.  thanks to AAA,
i get home.  so i get it towed to the same dealer
again today, and they tell me that now it's the
distributor.  now they want $500+ to replace the
distributor, and i have to wait 2 days.

well, i have a few questions.

1.  any idea on what could have caused the distributor
to break all of a sudden?  new starter?  dealer
tinkering?  maybe something else that caused both the
starter and distributor to break?

2.  should the dealer have spotted the faulty
distributor on the first visit?

3.  how can i correctly diagnose if it's the
distributor or the starter or something else?  it
doesn't seem to be a big deal to replace these parts,
so maybe i can save on labor costs in the future.

4.  any recommendations on good car shops in the
pasadena area that's cheaper than the dealer?  i've
been used to having warranty so i just kinda got used
to taking my car to the dealer.

sorry for the extra rambling, but i'm still a bit
emotional from all this.

thanks for any constructive advice.