I’m hoping I can get some answers/advice about my car before I approve any expensive repairs, I’ll put my questions after the description of the issues. Thanks for reading 
A quick summary of my car
Kia rio 2013 with 125,000 miles
Regular oil changes for the most part, bought the car 6 years ago around 65,000 miles.
I went to drive my car last week after not driving it for 2 weeks and after 10 minutes of driving, I was coming to a stop for the light up ahead and the check engine light started flashing and I felt the car loosing power and it started to shake, I hit my brakes to not hit the cars ahead of me and the peddle goes to the floor, and the brakes don’t work. I take my foot off the brakes and retry and it works. I then turn the car off and wait 10 minutes and restart it. Then I drove it around 5 minutes to the closest mechanic. The brakes work fine during this time.
I have the codes read and its giving code P0017 (Crankshaft Position - Camshaft Position Correlation Bank 1 - Sensor B)
They replace the crankshaft sensor but it doesn’t do anything. They think it might be something with the timing chain, but they check that and it seems okay. Then they tell me to take it to the dealership since they don’t know what’s happening, but they insist its a timing issue.
I take it to the dealership and they say there’s a leak in the brake line and will cost $1000 to replace, they also say that the camshaft sensor needs replaced.
So my questions are, why would the first mechanic not try replacing the camshaft sensor when replacing the crankshaft sensor didn’t work? The dealership believes this will fix the problem.
and my other question is: are the brakes failing and the car loosing power (Maybe engine misfire) related? my brakes didn’t fail until this happened
Thanks for your help!
[quote=“jenni1011, post:1, topic:191517”] I felt the car loosing power and it started to shake, I hit my brakes to not hit the cars ahead of me and the peddle goes to the floor, and the brakes don’t work… my brakes didn’t fail until this happened
[/quote]
My best guess from afar is that the engine wasn’t just LOSING power at that point, that it had actually stalled at that point, and that you had no power assist for braking.
However, when the brake PEDAL goes to the floor, that is an indication of a bad brake master cylinder, so you really need a competent mechanic to determine whether the master cylinder needs to be replaced. A leaking brake line would also result in a loss of braking power, but it wouldn’t heal itself immediately thereafter.
Yes, a bad camshaft sensor could be the cause of the problem, but I can’t explain why the first mechanic replaced the crankshaft sensor instead of the camshaft sensor. That first mechanic is probably not the right person to resolve the brake issue.
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Welcome to the forum. The mechanics can read live data with their scanners, more than just the codes you reported. At least they were honest enough to say they were stumped instead of throwing parts at it. Maybe you should have the cam sensor replaced too and see what happens. Have the dealer shop show you the brake lines and why they think they need to be replaced. As @VDCdriver said, it could be a bad master brake cylinder.
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Thanks for the reply, sorry about the spelling, I’ll ask the dealership about the master cylinder and have them change the camshaft sensor to see if that fixes the problem.
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Thanks for the reply. I’ll have the dealership replace the camshaft sensor and ask them about the master cylinder, although they only mentioned the brake lines when they called.
Brake lines could be the problem and for that cost I’d want to see them for myself. Wear flat, closed toe shoes when you go for the inspection. Safety first.
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A broken steel brake line will leak brake fluid. They can show you were. 1 brake line costs $1000?
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They quoted me $934 plus tax and only mentioned the brake line. I’m going to ask them to clarify if it really is just one brake line or if there’s something else, because that’s seems quite expensive for just one brake line. I’m going to see if the camshaft sensor fixes the engine issue first though, because I don’t want to spend $1000 on brakes if the engine is done.
I’m guessing you have two unrelated problems. The first is a problem with the brakes causing an intermittent loss of hydraulic function, most likely a problematic brake master cylinder. The second problem is whatever was causing the CEL to flash, creating the misfire. Since you said this all started after the car was unused for 2 weeks, my guess is you have a faulty battery. First step, ask your shop to do a battery/charging system test. The car’s computer isn’t able to tell if there are sensor problems if the battery voltage is low. i.e. the sensor fault codes may be a red herring.
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