2001 Buick poor acceleration....

[chimknee]

My son has a 2001 Buick Centry V6 with 86000 miles on it. Recently, when he tries to accelerate, it bogs down and stumbles. To me it would sound like a fuel or timing problem. He took it into Buick today and they told him it was the catalytic converter, and they wanted $650 to fix it. He's held off doing anything and is going to get another opinion. Could a C converter cause this kind of problem? And is that a fair price? Would he be better off going to a muffler shop and have it tested?? TIA

[BNaylor]

Yes the symptom(s) is consistent with a bad CAT convertor so it could be a bad CAT. The $650 is on the high side. The muffler shop cost will probably be less.

Also, contact Buick Customer Service and inform them of your problem. They may cover the cost completely or a percentage of it. Certain 2001-2002 GM cars were delivered with flaky CATs and GM extended the warranty to 10 years or 120K miles, whichever comes first. It was applicable mainly to GM cars with the 3.4L and 3.8L engines but I know of members with the 3.1L where GM covered the repair under the extended warranty. The original CAT warranty is 8 years or 80K miles, whichver comes first.