i was riding along about 65 mph and was going up a hill the strain on the motor seemed to make the valves rattle and the car shut off,,,i put it in netrual and it did crank back up but the service engine soon lite on the left side of the dash came on and stayed on,as i drove it back home everytime i would pull a hill or get in on it the valves (i think) would rattle, when there is no strain on tha motor the thing runs fine. this problem just started today,,the car has 182,000 miles on it and has ran fine up until now. i am planning to take it to a former buick certified mech to have the codes ran to see whats up,,,anybody out there had any thing silimar happen??? is this a MAJOR PROBLEM?????

Sometimes a pinging and rattling going uphill or under load, can be emissions related. i.e. egr valve or a sensor like that. Or could be intake leak etc. Some possibilities. I would guess it is sensor related, but first thing to do is get it scanned because it won't pass inspection with the SES light on.

o.k. i had the car scanned by 2 different shops it read a misfire on cylinder 4,, both shops suggested to change the wires,, do i need to change the plugs too??

oh yea i also had the code erased and the lite went off.

How many miles, how do they look only you can determine this.

Generally, I tune my cars up every Summer, but manufacturer's suggestions and whether you have platinum plugs, warrantied wires etc, all play into that also. In your situation, if in doubt about when the plugs were last changed or if they are still good, replace with new. Other usual tuneup items include the PCV valve(controls blowby), distributor cap/rotor if not DIS, fuel filter(many overlook this) and air filter. Along with oil changes every 3,000 miles, these items maintained can go far in prolonging the life of your vehicle. Routine maintenance is the key. Good luck.