Hyundai Repair: 2002 hyudia sonta, camshaft sensor, hyudia


Question
I bought this car used it 41000 mile on it Ive owned for about a year it now has 67000 miles on it. It all started with my timing belt had a tooth broke on it. we replace it ourselves. It seem to run ok til it got to normal temp the check enegine light came on. the car completly stop and would not start unless the acclerator was pushed down. I hooked it up to the comp it came back as cam postion sensor. I replace that. still the same problem so I took it to the shop they replace a balance shaft belt and tennsionor.as soon and they reset the check engine light it ran ok for about a day. then the same thing. I took it back in they said it was the mas airflow sensor so i want a second opion so i took it to the dealer. Hyudia said the wrong time belt was on it and the crank postion sesor was bad so they replaced that. I go to pick it up and the same thing. So i had it tow to another shop they said that one time it came up as cam sensor and other time crand sensor they also said that sometimes it was overloading on gas and other times it was getting and sparks so far they have replace my spark my ingintion module and the same thing I have put already 1700 dollars into this car. do you have any advice to give me on what i should do? so far three differnt shops have looked at this car an no one has be able to resolve my problem

Answer
If the camshafts are not timed properly, the vehicle will run poorly when hot and may set a camshaft sensor code.  Since this began occurring after the timing belt was replaced, the camshaft timing is the first thing that should be checked.

You need to stop changing shops.  You cannot get assistance from one shop because another messed up on diagnosis or repair.  Choose one shop and stick with it.  Make sure the shop is well qualified to do the type of diagnosis that's needed.  So far, it doesn't sound like tha last shop has any idea what may be going on.  I don't understand why the shops released the car to you doing the same thing it was doing when you brought it in.  If you don't know how well qualified the shops are, you should probably stick with the dealer.  If your car is still at the last shop, be sure to get all your old parts back so the dealer (or whatever qualified shop is working on your car) can reinstall them if necessary for their diagnosis.

As far as helping you determine what's wrong with your car, that'll be difficult.  It'll help me if I know any stored trouble codes, but I'll probably never really be able to get a good idea of how the car feels when it's running poorly.  Also, based on your question, I presume you have the 4 cylinder.  If you respond with more information or questions, please verify which engine you have.