My 2007 Dodge Caliber has lost power and will not accelerate. beyond 5-10 miles per hr. or past 2000 rpms on tach. The shock thunderbolt lightson dash.- electrronic throttle control system problem. how do you service?wating period for local dealer 1 wk. went to. auto zone came up with P0008 code Eng position performance bank with explanationdetected camshaft on bank 1 are misaligned for more than 4 second probable cause mechanical timing component 2jumped mechanical timing. how reliable are code readers I don't know about timing but it seems more like not geting fuel.

When some error codes are displayed the computer puts the car into limp mode - this restricts the speed of the car so you can get home or to a repair shop - you should not drive it now until the problem is solved to avoid any further damage.
You may just have a faulty camshaft position sensor on one bank or maybe the timing belt may have jumped a cog and require replacement.
Code readers are very reliable - the code readers only displays the fault information that is sent from the computer - this tells the mechanic the exact fault or gives them a good starting point to diagnose the problem.
Sometimes resetting the fault codes in the computer with the code reader will fix the problem (it may have just been an incorrect fault indication) - if not - it will default again which confirms the fault and you will need to fix the problem.