Focus 1.8 TDCI Cam Sensor replaced in Keswick

Hi,

I've just got back from Keswick where I had to be towed to a local garage by the RAC.My '02 Focus cut out and would not restart (and I was just off to the shop to get some beer to take back to the campsite in the gorgeous weather !)

I was convinced my car was terminally ill however they revived it by replacing the Cam Position Sensor.

I was charged =A3120 for this which is about double what I was expecting. They had replaced a =A326 part! Is this a bit steep ? They charged for diagnoses and labour on top of that which is kind of niggling on my mind. It's a fairly common fault on a very common car isn't it ?

Also the RAC guy could not get his laptop to connect to the ECU, would he have diagnosed and or replaced the CPS if he had ?

I was quite pleased overall but I am wondering if a little letter of complaint to the RAC is in order, any similar experiences or comments ? Are there any other parts like this that I could replace to avoid a repeat of this ?

Simon

Reply to
mr p
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Over a £120 bill? You were stranded, you were rescued, your car that you thought was terminal was mended for a relatively small amount of money (about two tanks of fuel). I day say that if you had known what the fault was and had the luxury of shopping around you probably could have got a cheaper repair but you didn't have that luxury.

Count your blessings I reckon.

Tim

Reply to
Tim

How did you work out your expected cost?

The cost of the actual part has absolutely no relation to the time taken to replace it.

If it's all so easy, why didn't you just diagnose it and fit it yourself?

Who knows? It's unlikely he carried a spare for this.

You could complain to Ford that it disabled the car. On my BMW, failure of either the crank or cam position sensor merely puts it into limp home mode on reduced power.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

IMHO, you were charged a fair price. Most garages charge 1/2 an hour labour for looking at a fault that would be logged in the ECU. The equipment needed is expensive, training in its use is needed, and these things all have to be paid for.

The fact that it is a common fault is no help at all on a modern car. Would you rather they had taken a guess, got it wrong, and then charged for all the bits they swapped, as some garages would?

If you broke down, got towed to a garage that were willing and able to fix it straight away, and were charged a reasonable price, I'd call that a result!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Other thing is unless it was done early this morning, it was fixed during a bank holiday weekend. Where most would charge a premium.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I did consider that; if it was the case, the OP got a bargain!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Thanks for the replies and opinions. I was certainly stranded and at the end of the day the RAC and the local garage did indeed sort it out, the guy even stopped at the shop on the way back after towing the car for me to get some beer :-)

It sounds like the cam sensor is not the sort of fault that would normally be expected to be fixed at the road side then.. Although if he'd been able to read the codes it would have shown up as a fault I reckon

This was on Sunday / Monday last week btw, Half way through my trip .

Reply to
mr p

When i got towed from home to citroen it cost me £100 for a 4 mile journey i was happy that it cost so little

Reply to
steve robinson

It all depends on the car - I dunno your Focus. Some are quite easy to change, others more difficult. But it's probably as easy to take the car to a garage to do it as to go and get a sensor, come back and fit it.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

It's possible to read the codes from the dash.

See:

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Scroll down to *Self Diagnostics Mode*

My Jeep has a similar feature and it's useful for diagnosing sensor failures without having to pay for diagnostic computer.

Your experience is an example of why it's worth learning basic maintenance. Although in the same circumstances I'd have coughed up the £120 to get it fixed, it's less hassle.

Reply to
Steve Firth

It's fairly easy to change on the Focus, but if the OP had taken a chance and done that, then it still didn't start, what would he have done next?

As you say, he did the best thing.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

I'm surprised it killed the engine, though. There will also be a crank position sensor, which should allow it to run in limp home mode using a sort of wasted spark system. And going to batch rather than sequential injection. Unless Ford were too tight to provide this.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Yes I remembered playing with this mode in the past. The RAC man reckoned it was the EGR valve to start with... He seemed fairly confident so I waited for him to turn up !

Reply to
mr p

but only a few codes can come through that way. I have come across a few 'ecu cannot connect' faults recently, you need to go back to the earlier software to read them. One the other day on a petrol focus was good, a scan showed that the ecu thought the temp. was minus 40 degrees C and was over fuelling like mad.

Reply to
Mrcheerful
[...]

It's a diesel...

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Oh dear. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Heh!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

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