Pontiac Repair: 1995 Pontiac Bonneville Shudders on Acceleration, pontiac bonneville, spark plug wire

Question
Hi. I have a 1995 Pontiac Bonneville SE (3800 Series II V6, not supercharged). It has about 170,000 miles, 70,000 miles on the second transmission. It has overall been an extremely reliable and problem free car until recently. Lately it has been shuddering on quick acceleration between 35-50 mph and between 55-70 mph. On a slow & steady acceleration it is as smooth as silk, but on a quick acceleration, for example passing another vehicle or accelerating from a stop light, the car shudders and resists until it reaches at least 2000 rpms. It has become fairly easy to replicate this phenomenon, but if you let off the accelerator briefly and then return acceleration it returns to smooth operation. Does this perhaps sound like a transmission problem or might there be something less catastrophic at fault? Unfortunately the car is not worth a new tranny so I'm hoping for the latter. Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

Answer
Hey Austin:

can you make this car do it if you have it in gear and press the brake and rais the engine idle up to that same RPM band? if so it's an engine misfire issue and not a trasnmission problem. it could be from a bad ignition coil or bad spark plug wire... if not and it only happens going down the road it could be a trasnmission issue like 3'rd gear srating to go bad.. without seeing it anf feeling it do it it's just a guess. Good luck :)