2000 Buick Century from North America - Comments

Also, (to add to an earlier comment) I recently had the ANTI-LOCK light appear on my instrument panel. The Buick service department told me that the pump was going out and it would be a $1310 repair. That, coupled with the transmission issue, is causing me to consider trading the car either on a new Lacrosse, or Hyundai Sonata. (I have not found any complaints regarding the Buick Lacrosse.)

Here's my story... the 2000 Century I own, started the jerking transmission issue at around 38K. It would reset itself when the engine was turned off, but that stopped working after a while. I've been doing the same scenario for years to keep from putting any money into it. At 105K, it somehow affected the flywheel in my transmission and is now in the shop. The jerky drive got worse, loud ticking sound coming from engine. Apparently, the flywheel was cracked and barely hanging on (the result of years of no attention). I replaced that and the two solenoids. My local tranny guy charged $800...let's see how long it lasts!!

We have a 2000 Buick Century and have loved the comfort and ride. We have 140,000 miles on this vehicle and have been dealing with the transmission problem for several years. When it starts in, we have to turn it off and restart. The Anti-lock brake light stays on all the time. The fuel gage hasn't worked for sometime, and now the gear shift indicator is fading out. (I took the car in today regarding the gear shift indicator, and was told that would be a $300-$400 fix.) If we lose the gear shift indicator, we won't be able to determine whether we have fuel since we've been checking that by the number of miles we've driven (which appears on the gear shift indicator). Although we love the car, we are about done. It is disappointing that such a nice car has so many computer/electrical problems.

My old man bought our 2000 Buick Century w/50k miles about three years ago and I've hated it ever since. Because he works in the city, I have to play chauffeur and I let me tell you, the whine and hard shifting just kills me. Because he is too cheap to pay for a real mechanic, we never found out the problem and I get blamed. Now after reading all this, I'm going to take it to a real transmission shop. Thanks guys!!!

Oh by the way, has anyone else had the plastic bits, knobs, and nick knacks fall down while driving? It started with the AC knobs falling, then the drink holder collapsed, followed by the arm rest springing up without being touched (now it never closes), the steering wheel sheds like a sheep dog, and the factory cassette player ate my David Bowie tape(its still in there!).

I swear I think the car hates me and the feeling is mutual.

I have a 2000 Buick Century at 45k miles I had a hard shift,

dealer replaced the (Pressure Control Solenoid) code reading P1811. Cost $536. Now at 125k miles the same hard shifting is occurring. My mechanic try-ed first to replace the filter and fluid be is hasn't worked. He mentioned it might be time to rebuild the trans. I see many others are having the same problem. It seems this is a issue with the Century transmissions.

I have a 2000 Buick Century. I have 53,000 miles on

it..

Once in a while, the transmission does this hard shift. If I shut the car off and restart, it will go back to normal..

This I saw only happens to me if I am driving in very slow traffic. Remember this is an ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION which is controlled by the computer. THIS I feel is the computer doing this; this is most likely a DEFECT IN ALL OF THESE CENTURYS.

FELLOW BUICK OWNERS!!

I too have a buick. It's a 2000 Century. I bought it as my first car and was very excited because of the supposed reliability. Since last year (my junior year) I started experiencing all the same symptoms EVERYONE is talking about. I also noted that turning off the car and opening the door (to cut all electrical power) cured the symptoms temporarily. To make a long story short, my dad recommended that it was a valve in my transmission. Since he was a mechanic in the Air Force for four years I took his word and began my investigation for easy and CHEAP fixes. I came across this product called TransTune made by a company called SeaFoam. It only costs about 10-15 bucks!! You pour half the bottle into your tranny fluid and I'm telling you it eliminates the issue!!! I was incredibly happy. I let a bit of time go by, specifically a year, and the condition has never returned. THIS IS the way to go! give it like a day or two of running for the fluid to completely clean the valve before you give up hope. I put in a half bottle every six months just to keep on top of it. It won't affect the quality of your tranny fluid.

Now, I'm having another issue. I think there is a slow short somewhere in my car thus draining juice from my battery when my car isn't running. I checked to see if the battery is good and it is, and I had the alternator checked and all is good. I was told that there was a short somewhere and that unless it was found and fixed that it would constantly drain my battery dead. If anyone has had an experience with this or knows a respectable (but not a rip-off) electrician in Pittsburgh, please, please, please drop me a line at ajk.pitt@gmail.com. I've already checked all my lights and in the process of obtaining a voltmeter to check my fuse box.

Thanks!!! and try the TransTune!!!

I to have a 2000 Buick Century with the hard shifting. I bought an extended warranty on the car. The dealership replaced the transmission sensor it worked fine. They did that about 8 months ago. Now the hard shifting and the noise has come back. I also 2 have the ALB light saying on again. It comes and go. My fuel gauge when it goes to about half a tank it will climb up to a full tank. The dealer told me it was the sensor in the fuel tank and the warranty does cover that. I love my car. I also have a piston slap when you first start the car up. The dealer told me I have to leave it overnight for them to hear it. I love the gas millage and the comfort of the car. But now I see that these Buick's have a lot of transmission problems. I think they should have a recall on the transmission.

I found this forum last year when I had my tranny (2000 Century) overhauled. The problem came back right away. I've constantly checked back on this forum to see if anyone has really found a fix. I'm pretty sure GM knows about this problem too but don't care. Especially now that they are facing sales problems. They have not even shown concern about this issue. If you notice, first comment on this issue was posted in 2006. I think its time to give up. I've stopped using the car and giving up my 2005 fully loaded Uplander and that's it for me with GM products. Going back to Toyota.

Hey guys. Glad I checked out this site. I too experienced the tranny problem.

Just recently purchased a 2000 Century at 41k with like transmission symptoms. The hard shifting

at higher temperatures and a momentary cure after the engine is turned off for 2-3 minutes. No problem shifting when the engine is cold. After monitoring everybody`s comments, I followed up on the suggestion to installing the Borg Warner solenoid. It works great. I drove in stop-in-go traffic for an hour, let it idle for 15 minutes then took it out again for another 20 minutes. I never could drive over 15 minutes before the hard shifting would start. I hope it can stand the real test of time.

In comparison to the old GM part, it even looks like a better design. It has a screen filter fitted at the very tip of the solenoid for added protection against sediments.

I performed the task myself, but did not go through what some might consider the full procedure of dropping the transmission to removing the drive axles. I did only what I needed in order to pull the gasket cover back far enough to reach the solenoid. Tried to do so without damaging the gasket. It was a hard and tedious job.

Everything in the way has to be removed. The solenoid will not pull out unless you first remove the clip behind holding it in place. I used a tool with a thin hook to pull out the clip. The clip is not visible. A small dentist mirror comes in handy. It`s not a job for the home mechanic without any specialized tools. A type of floor jack is needed to raise or lower the transmission to access lower bolts (T40 star bit).

In view of the work, $600.00 is not a bad figure to be quoted. I`m not willing to pay $1600 or more with the thought of possibly having to return to have it done again. I hope in time the Borg Warner product will prove to have been a good choice. If you are not mechanically inclined, leave it to the professionals. If you remove any brake lines, the brakes will have to be bled. In essence, it`s no simple job.

I want to add to my comments about the Borg Warner solenoid.

A week before changing out the solenoid, I did the fluid filter change, adding a thick treatment, thinking it would cure the shifting problem. I noticed that it didn't shift as hard, but it didn't fix the problem. When I installed the new solenoid, I decided not to add any type of treatment to test the solenoid to see if it could fix the problem without any help. It passed the test great. Before you install the solenoid, the fluid has to be drained first.

So far I`m please with Borg Warner. Glad I read everyone`s comments concerning GM faulty solenoid. No problem with Borg Warner`s solenoid as of yet.

I have found the problem with the 2000 Buick Century transmission - the problem is that there is not a problem, I feel for the people spending all this money on repairing a tranny that is not broke in the first place.

Here is what I have found after some very extensive research. The hard shifting is a diagnostic code, in other words it is like your oil light but instead of a light it shifts hard to tell you that the fluid is getting low. Yes I know when you look at the dipstick it is in the x's, but the computer is set too sensitive and when it goes below the full line into the x's, the hard shifting begins, and if you have tried this make sure your computer has reset.

Do this, make sure the car is nice and warm from a drive around town, put shift lever in park, leave vehicle running, pull tranny dipstick and wipe clean then check level (put dipstick back in trany and pull out again) see that the level is below or at the top line of the x's and add fluid (I suggest you add 1/2 pint of Trans Tune from Seafoam and if needed top off with trany fluid). If you go a little over the line it's OK, 1/8inch max, then sit in the car, foot on the brake, shift through all gears pausing at each one. Do this three times and then turn off vehicle, remove battery cables for 5min, reinstall cables and you should be good to go.

Also instead of removing battery cables you can cycle your ignition key from off to on without starting the vehicle 50 times to reset the computer.

To the above poster.

How recently did you perform this, and how many miles were on your car at the time?

Also approx how many miles have you put on since then, with I'm assuming good results?

I`m also curious with the same questions directed toward the Nov. 24th posting.

I suspect there`s a lot more going on than just with the computer.

Too many people have had transmission flushes and fluid filter changes at the proper level with no change in performance. It was only when the solenoid was change out that it made a difference. Even though GM`s defective solenoid was used, it did at least temporarily solve the problem.

I am more inclined to believe that the Trans Tune product by Seafoam most likely corrected the problem by cleaning out any sediments, putting less stress on the solenoid.

If you`ve first tried to correct the problem by bringing the fluid level up, with also removing the battery cables for 5 minutes or more to reset the computer, without using the Trans Tune, I might agree that the computer is too sensitive.

The fact that you have to use the Trans Tune treatment still, leads me to believe that it is a solenoid problem. The higher the temperature, the more that the solenoid is affected, especially if the fluid is low.

Would like to read anybody`s comments if they`ve tried this procedure without the Trans Tune treatment. If so, it looks like a cheaper fix.

I've got an Impala (3.4 unfortunately) with 160k on it, and now it too has set the P1811 code. The tranny was flushed a while back and was working OK. I added a can of GM transmission seal conditioner (p/n 88861315 in Canada) and so far so good.

I have a 2000 Park Ave with 40,000 miles on with the same problems, and was also curious if anyone else has tried the trans tune by sea foam & dis-connected the battery with any success? And if so, how long did it last?