Hey guys, I took my brother to look at a 2000 SE last night. When we took it for a test drive, the car started to shudder around 2500-3000rpm under mild to moderate acceleration. Upon giving it more gas the shudder seemed to lessen but you could feel the car was hesitating. About half way through our test drive the SES light came on, unfortunately we didn't have the means to pull the code.

Is this a common problem with these cars when they get over 100k? I know my brother really wants this car and cosmetically (inside / out) it appears to be in good shape, but I don't want to get something that I am going to have to put a trans in right away.

Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks,
Chris

I would say any car that has something wrong with it when you buy it is a warning that they may not have taken the best care of it. But the guys here may be able to help and it may be minor. Unless you get a really good deal on a car that your instantly going to drop money in though i would be weary.

For sure, I was only asking because he doesn't have much money so I wanted some opinions on whether or not this was a common problem or easy fix.

I have heard the symptoms before on the forum. I personally have not encountered it so im not sure. Hopefully one of the senior members will be able to really help out. There may be some forums with a similar issue i would do a search for it and see what comes up

when it started to hesitate and the ses light came on did the light flash on and off or just stay on?

It could be as simple as a bad throttle position sensor (search this forum for a TPS test), or as "Quick, honey, get the checkbook!" as a transmission needing a rebuild.

My '97 has a pretty similar issue relating to code P1870 and the TCC wearing away the valve body. Here'* hoping yours is cheap to fix.

Egr...

It was flashing for awhile then it stayed on.

Awesome..

A flashing SES light is according to GM a "potential catalyst damaging condition" aka usually a misfire. Misfires are typically a car in need of a tune up. Afterall the owners manual etc doesn't suggest a tune up unitl after 100K.

It could be anything, it'* most commonly a coil pack, plug or plug wire. If they appear new, I'd wonder about the LIM gasket, although I've never seen one cause an issue.

Well, as a result of this incident and the dealer pretty much refusing to do anything about it if we purchased the car, we've moved on. Its too bad too because the interior was immaculate on it.