Any mechanics out there?

[Huskylover1]

Hi all. I'm not sure if I am being played around by a mechanic. He's done some work to my car, and I thought it was ready to be picked up. Now he says it's "losing power when hot" and that it needs 2 new cam shaft sensors. He says they cost £150 to buy and £20 to fit. But I can see them on Ebay for just £20! Also, could this even be the cure to it losing power when hot? And finally, if he is telling me the truth, could I just collect the car anyway and drive it to the mechanic that I trust, some 300 miles away? (The reason the car is so far away, is that my Dad bought it for me and we live 300 miles apart). Hope that makes sense! Thanks in advance to anyone who may be able to help. I feel totally powerless here.

I'm not a mechanic by trade, but I'm an engineer and an enthusiastic DIY'er on cars so I know the basics.

1. What work has he done already, and why?
2. Cam shaft sensors... I can't fathom why they would cause the car to lose power when hot, unless it's not adjusting the timing automatically when it warms up maybe? What car is it? How did he diagnose this as the problem?

The cost on eBay is a bit of a red herring, the £20 ones will almost certainly be chinese copies and worth steering clear of. Your mechanic will (hopefully) be using genuine ones, but he will be putting a healthy markup on them.

3. Depending on how much the car is losing power and why, it should be driveable. May not be a fun drive, and if it isn't the camshaft sensors you may end up causing some damage if it's overheating.

Thanks c3pu

It's a Peugeot 207 CC. So far he has fitted a new whole thermo housing. He thought the losing power might be due to a slight blow on the exhaust, but now apparently not.

The reason the car is so far away, is that my Dad bought it for me and we live 300 miles apart)

Can't he return it and get one that isn't so problematic?

The dealership have refused. I know I could make them as I am protected by a certain act (forget which one), but I've now spent a few hundred on it, so want to persevere. And I did get it quite cheap to start with, so have wriggle room, iyswim.

Agree with PP about ebay parts - some of the cheap stuff is shocking.

This Peugeot does indeed require two cam sensors - but it would be rare for both to fail at the same time. Sensors sometimes do annoyingly fail under hotter conditions only.

Most of the time (but annoyingly not always) the sensor failure will be recorded on the car's engine computer - a code for each failure is stored and can be read - pretty much all mechanics have the equipment to read these codes nowadays (although some only have the £20 eBay code readers which aren't that clever).

I'd want to know he had more grounds than just a hunch before changing the sensors as otherwise you're just betting.

As for driving it - depends. Some faults of this type can put the car into "limp home" mode in which there is little power available - that wouldn't be suitable for driving any distance.

I've googled for you and the Bosch sensors (so high quality) are around £40 to £50.

I would be very unhappy with the way they seem to be replacing stuff without actually knowing what's wrong. A decent garage will hook a modern car up to a diagnostic computer to find out what's wrong before replacing parts.

We had a similar problem that turned out to be the VVT motor, apparently it only engages when the engine temp gauge is out of the blue bit. I'm not a mechanic BTW.